How Do You Make Decisions?

How do we make moral decisions?  Do we rely on our gut or do we opt for what gives us the most pleasure or do we use reason, or, or, or? Or, do we choose evil…

Cannot view? Visit http://www.ted.com/talks/damon_horowitz.html

Ethics, justice, morality, philosophy are divorced from faith and religion in this talk–Mr Horowitz doesn’t go there, which is understandable since his audience is known for being a techie bunch that bulges with agnostics and atheists. I forgive him. He only had a few minutes, after all.

In the clip, he invites the audience to reflect on how they made their last big decision.  I joined in on the time of reflection and found that I didn’t line up with any of his philosophical decision-making options. I’m not saying I’ve never used any of them, I think I’ve used all of them at one time or another–even recently.  But, with the one that came to mind, I took a different approach: I prayed for God to show His will for my decision and I, who was freaking out about doing the responsible thing, asked Him to take responsibility for making the decision. In letting go, the answer came and when it came, the struggle ended and peace and joy flooded my soul. I followed through, and, when the going got rough, I found peace and assurance in knowing I was right where I belonged and was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I expect great good came from my obedience. For sure, blessings bathed me…

As life would have it, I’m in the “trying to make a wise decision” boat again, I’m actively seeking God for the next step.

Horowitz talks about how hard it is to make ethical decisions, what a struggle it is.  I suppose without God’s will, God’s wisdom leading, we’ll always struggle and, undoubtedly, we’ll always come up short.