Ends, means and paths

This is not so much an essay at the moment as it is a jumble of ill-formed thoughts seeking expression. I am writing this in the hope of disentangling the threads a little, and will probably completely re-write this after my first attempt.

One moral stance says that ends do not justify means i.e. a beneficial outcome does not justify the harm done en route. Another moral stance is that the morality of an action can be measured by the expectation of the outcome, and also by the intended outcome of the action. So in that sense the end (or anticipated end) is justifying the means (if 'means' is taken as 'action'). Sometimes the only way of achieving an end is by a circuitous route. Like climbing a mountain, the most direct route on the map (straight line from where you are standing to the summit) may not be a route at all. It may be completely unclimbable. In other fields of activity, it may be that a direct assault on the goal may not allow you to achieve the goal. So we have the expression 'work smarter, not harder'. In some activities smarter is the only solution, as harder does not get you further.

From a vipaka ('kamma-result') point of view each volitional choice along a path is significant and carries 'fruit'. So in heading towards a goal each intermediate end-point (mile-stone on the path) must justify the action leading to it. As in the Tibetan 'Game of Rebirth' the world is like a huge game of snakes and ladders, and it is important to avoid treading on the karmic snakes even if they appear to lie directly on the path to a karmic ladder.

Another aspect to all of this is appreciating that in many activities in life, the journey is as important at the goal. Perhaps when sitting in a traffic jam on the M25 it is hard to see that the journey has any value, but when seeing a film or reading a book the whole experience is not equivalent to just seeing the last frame or reading the last page. Nor is it equivalent to getting the Readers' Digest version.

The case for this is even clearer in love making. Simply achieving immediate climax is not the object of the exercise. The path leading there is part of the experience and of the pleasure.

This came out even more jumbled than I had anticipated, so watch this space for the edited, rearranged and more lucid version some day soon.