The Ethics Advantage #72: Wakefulness, watchfulness, and the ways of wisdom

What is the source of anxiety? And what can we do about it? Confidence is not about controlling the outcome. It's about engaging the process.

Why do Jews still sit on the ground and mourn the destruction of their Temple after nearly 2000 years? Perhaps the rest of the world should be mourning with us.

Good news... I'm official!

Grappling with the Gray marks it's hundredth episode: Should the 10 Commandments really be the 10 suggestions?

In this issue:

• The Ethical Lexicon #72
• Anti-Semitism is not just about the Jews
• Mazal tov!
• Grappling with the Gray Episode 100

Enjoy!

🥷Your eyes snap open in the dark of the night.  The clock tells you it’s 4:00 am.  You roll over and try to go back to sleep.  But you can’t.

You’re haunted by a persistent feeling of uneasiness.  Maybe it’s because of that pending interview or earnings report.  Maybe it’s because of the big deal you’re hoping to close or a long-awaited IPO when the market opens.  Perhaps you can’t identify any reason at all… which merely adds to your disquietude.

You force yourself to relax, which works as well as telling yourself to not think about the problem.  One part of your mind urges you to get up, take advantage of the pre-dawn quiet, and get some work done.  But you know that if you don’t fall back asleep, you’ll be dead on your feet before your first coffee break, by which time the coffee will be no help at all.  Your mind races, and your heart hurries to keep pace.

We’ve all experienced this—hopefully, not too often.  There seems no solution for those nagging fears that haunt us in the early hours of the morning.  But we might find some consolation knowing that the phenomenon is common enough to have its own name, which is the current entry in the Ethical Lexicon:

Uhtceare (uht·ce·a·re/ oot-kih-a-ray) noun

A feeling of anxiety experienced upon waking up suddenly before dawn.

Please click to read this week's edition of The Ethical Lexicon, published in Fast Company Magazine:

🥷I originally published this article in 2020, after reflecting on the Pittsburgh synagogue shootings. I republished it last year after the horrors of October 7. It appears in my recent book, The Spiral of Time.

Tragically, it remains increasingly relevant as Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas not only continue their genocidal campaign against the Jews but find supporters among international peace groups and on college campuses.

This week, Jews around the world observe Tisha B’Av, our national day of mourning, commemorating the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem and our long bitter exile scattered among the nations of the earth.

Why is anti-Semitism the oldest, most enduring form of racism and ethnic hatred in the history of mankind?

There have been countless attempts to provide an answer. But here, at least, I hope to provide some food for thought.

🥷MAZAL TOV!I am now an official speaker with Vistage Worldwide, Inc.

Many thanks to Mary Beth Molloy, • Sue Tinnish, PhD, Linda Goldstein, Brad Vacca, and Steven Smith, all of whom played an instrumental role helping me navigate the Vistage system and attain this milestone.

I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of spirit among Vistage members, their encouragement, enthusiasm, and support. It is the same kind of camaraderie I have come to know among members of the National Speakers Association and the BIZCATALYST 360° communities.

In a world that has become increasingly self-serving and self-focused, the selflessness I have found provides hope for a brighter future, one in which our society returns to the universal values of ethics, civility, respect, collaboration, and commitment to higher purpose.

I look forward to what we can build together.

🥷Thank you for your support in reaching episode 100 of Grappling with the Gray!

Celebrate with me as three of my stalwart recurring guests -- Kimberly Davis, 🟦 Melissa Hughes, Ph.D., and Peter Winick -- join the panel for this milestone.

Here is our topic:

This past June, a bill signed into law made Louisiana the only state requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every classroom in public schools and colleges. Not surprisingly, civil liberties groups planned lawsuits to block the law, arguing it would unconstitutionally breach protections against government-imposed religion, unfairly and illegally eroding the constitutional barrier between religion and government.

This is a dramatic reversal from 2003, when former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore was ousted from the bench after disobeying a federal judge’s order to remove a 5,000 pound granite monument of Ten Commandments display from the state court building.

Baton Rouge Attorney General Liz Murrill commented that, “The 10 Commandments are pretty simple, but they also are important to our country’s foundations.”Research seems to back her up. Behaviorist Dan Ariely has reported that when students were asked to recount the 10 Commandments, they demonstrated less inclination to cheat, even though many of them couldn’t name more than two of the Commandments.

A similar question arises almost every December over whether Christmas should be a national holiday. Objectors claim that it is a religious observance unjustly imposed on non-Christians, while defenders argue it is part of our national heritage and part of the cultural fabric of our country.

The late Senator Joe Lieberman remarked that the Constitution promises freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. Is it possible for us to acknowledge a cultural heritage built on religion while preserving the boundaries between church and state?

Please click to watch or listen:

#ethics #leadership #culture #values #perspective