The Collegiate Laws of Life Essay Contest asked Penn State Students to explore ethical values and intercultural issues, and their talent for expressing their views in writing. Below, you will find the honorable mention essay from Nathan Kutz , responding to the prompt:
“What you think, you become.” ~Mahatma Gandhi.
The Paterno Fellows Program hopes to provide an “education for leadership” and to help students develop ethical principles. What is your personal honor code?
The Affectionate Pursuit By: Nathan Kutz
During the first Harry Potter movie, Harry gazes into the mirror of erised. He finds himself enthralled with fantasy-filled delight as he sees his parents standing by his side. Oh, how he longs to know them and feel their presence. With adrenaline pumping bliss, he grabs his best friend Ron and drags him in front of the mirror. Only, once Ron gazes into the mirror, he does not see Harry’s parents but himself as a sports champion. Perplexed, the two boys cannot understand why they see different fantasies. Later they realize that the mirror shows one’s deepest desires. Notice that Erised is desire spelled backwards. Throughout the series, these highest passions shape Harry and Ron’s characters and actions. All other desires come and go at the mercy of these ruling passions. Everyone has a driving passion, that thing which one cannot live without. An infinite desire for success, to make a difference, for intimacy, acceptance, power, sex, comfort, or pleasure, we all have some ultimate obsession that fuels us. Ruling passions command one’s actions, thoughts, and future. Like an unrelenting river, it erodes all other desires. It is possible to change the river’s course but takes a great deal of effort. Ruling passions have deep roots, normally back to childhood, to something traumatic or drastic. For example, the elementary school kid who was never accepted by his peers, sat dejected alone at lunch, and was always picked last for sports at recess insatiably thirsts for acceptance and belonging. Like a compass that always points north, one’s ruling passions guide one’s ethics. If that kid who yearns for acceptance finds approval in a group that smokes, he will smoke. If that acceptance comes from grades, he will study. Sometimes these desires manifest themselves in horrific ways such as cutting, drugs, or eating disorders. No one develops an eating disorder because he or she genuinely loves pain or hates all foods. One usually develops anorexia because of body image or a desire for control. Ruling passions shape our identity. In a desire for others to act morally, one cannot simply impose rules, administer punishment, or offer rewards. Behavior management is tiring and sometimes temporarily fruitful but ultimately fails to produce lasting change. Only once ultimate desires shift will behavior genuinely conform. Forcing someone to act ethically is like mowing weeds, they will regrow the next day. However, if you can affect the roots, then true change can occur. One cannot replace an ultimate desire with a less enticing desire. Only once an object of greater affection and worth arises does the lesser give way. For example, as children, blocks and dolls captivated our attention. However, questions arise when blocks captivate a grown man’s attention. The only way to genuinely change one’s internal compass is to find a greater more pure affection. What is the greatest object of your affections? Does that desire deserve that position? If one is truly honest with oneself, his highest affection is himself. His comfort, protection, success, and most of all pleasure top the list as his greatest affections. However, the moment one seeks pleasure, it becomes elusive. Joseph Butler made this argument famous by stating, “I must desire things other than my own welfare in order to get welfare.” If one pursues charity work for the sake of one’s own pleasure, then he will cease to gain pleasure from it because it is the focus of one’s attention. However, if one focuses on charity work for the sake of increasing others’ standards of living, then pleasure comes abundantly. As humans, we are designed to set our affections on something greater than ourselves. In my personal search for a sufficient higher affection, I have read history, philosophy, and multiple religious texts. However, none of them have captivated my heart and thoughts more than the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. He lived counter culturally and taught with great authority and wisdom. He promised that, “He who seeks to save his own life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” His statement seems so counterintuitive! I am only sure that I have one life, so why should I give it up? After contemplation, Jesus is communicating the same principle as Joseph Butler. If I set my personal welfare and joy as my object of highest affection, then I will lose my life. However, by setting my affections on Jesus and emulating his life, I gain abundant personal welfare and joy. Although it seems that I am losing my life by setting Jesus as my affection, I am actually gaining life more abundantly. Carefully evaluate your affections because they will dictate the course of your life.