A Briefcase of Moral Elevation

With the first full workweek of the new year, it seemed like a good time to revisit Arthur Brooks’s New York Times commentary about “moral elevation.”

Brooks relates an anecdote about receiving a briefcase as a gift from the Mormon Brigham Young University.  Although reluctant to use the briefcase, at first, he found that when he did, he was inspired to be kinder… more Mormonesque, if you will.

But it wasn’t magic. Psychologists study a phenomenon called “moral elevation,” an emotional state that leads us to act virtuously when exposed to the virtue of others. In experiments, participants who are brought face to face with others’ gratitude or giving behavior are more likely to display those virtues themselves. …

We can be the passive beneficiaries of moral elevation. But we can actively pursue it as well by rejecting bad influences and seeking good ones. We can even create the circumstances for moral elevation ourselves. In this era of political recrimination and reproach, this is vital for personal and national improvement.

It’s a bit like the notion of “pay it forward” — that is, doing good deeds with the expectation that the recipient will then do something good for somebody else, and on throughout society.  What Brooks is talking about, though, is more a way of looking at things, and frankly, it wouldn’t make for a bad New Year’s resolution for anybody.

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