Society doesn't sacrifice Progression for ethics

"How easy it would have been not to make the knife if they'd seen the consequences. A world of teeming plenty, of prosperity and peace-- and still they wanted more."

From Philip Pullman's Subtle Knife-- 'Lantern Slides'

It seems like much of the popular literature these days deals with ethical issues, mostly temptation and how, as humans, we find it hard to do the right thing. A character is always faced with a difficult choice and, whatever path the author creates for that character to follow says something about the author's view on humanity.

Throughout the Harry Potter series, for instance,  Dumbledore is frequently amazed at Harry's ability to choose what is right versus what is easy. Dumbledore, who once gave in to power and greed resulting in disastrous consequences for him and his family, sees in Harry an inherent goodness and selflessness that, in the end of the book, allows Harry to save the wizarding and muggle worlds from Lord Voldemort. How unfortunate that Christians were so fast to condemn the Harry Potter books when they were really a sort of parallel of the ultimate sacrifice Christ made for mankind. In Harry's victory, J.K. Rowling shows that she believes in the goodness of mankind, that as humans, we have the ability to choose what is right.

I believe in this ability as well, but I also believe that it's very rare for people to act on that ability. Most people are unable to fight Energy with Reason, even if there is a conscious effort to do so. I would argue that in some cases, it's even harder to ignore Energy when you know it's something you shouldn't do-- the allure of "what could be" is too great.

The problem with giving in to Energy is the guilt that follows in consciousness that you're doing something wrong. 

In Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, the character Edward lives with this kind of guilt. Edward isn't exactly a human, but embodies a lot of human characteristics-- as he pleads of Bella [after getting dangerously close to her in book 1]: "Would you understand what I meant if I say I'm only human?" [1] At the beginning of his relationship with Bella, Edward truly believes there is a chance he may kill her if he can't control the Energy that thirsts for her blood. The knowledge that he should stay away from her is clouded by the fact that he's obsessively in love with her. He makes an attempt at Reason by trying to stay away; he tells Bella that he is "thinking about right and wrong," [2] and severs their relationship before she can gather herself to object. His attempt fails miserably, nearly resulting in both of their deaths. Edward tables his fears about Bella's safety and returns to be with her, which is romantic but also extremely problematic. As Edward recognizes, it's selfish of him to want Bella, to want to be with her as a human or a vampire, because he believes both may be dangerous to her morality. He tortures himself with this knowledge, but refuses to leave Bella again. While both parties get the "happily ever after," it's still unsettling that it's a result of giving in to Energy rather than using Reason (although one can hardly make an argument that "love" is a bad Energy). It seems that Stephenie Meyer is in the William Blake camp of accepting human fault, almost celebrating it. 

The above painting was inspired by Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series and the quote underneath the painting at the beginning of this post. The knife in question is a knife created by men of overreaching intelligence; it is able to cut through any material, including the barriers that separate parallel worlds. The consequences for creating "windows" between the worlds are catastrophic, creating beings called "specters" not unlike the soul-sucking dementors from Harry Potter. The protagonists, Lyra and Will, are forced to choose between their love for each other and the well-being of humanity. Though it hurts both of them, they ultimately choose  what's best for humanity. Throughout the series, Lyra is likened to Eve-- the only difference is that Lyra doesn't give in to temptation. Philip Pullman believes that humans give in to Energy, but also that goodness comes from humanity in the absence of God.

The problems in this series arise from people giving in to Energy, like power, greed and an excess of knowledge. The creators of the knife wanted power. In that quest for power, they created an object that had unforeseeable consequences. In the end, Will destroys the knife so that it can no longer hurt or corrupt anyone; my point is that temptation is always there and, like the quote suggests, people will always want more. The creators of the knife lived in a world that was beautiful and idyllic-- but they made the knife anyway, unsatisfied with what they had.

That seems to be the definition of (at least American) society. We want more of everything, regardless of the consequences "more" might bring. Society doesn't sacrifice Progression for ethics.

We need to think about the implications of our actions; we can't just hurl ourselves into a world where we create problems that we can't fix.  Part of the problem is that we don't necessarily ignore potential consequences, but rather, the thought never crosses our minds. As humans, we should be better than that. We should be responsible for everything we do, instead of relying on some higher power to pick us up and dust us off like children who never knew any better.

[1] Twilight, p.263

[2] New Moon, p.50