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November/December 2010 Living Now
Most Good, Least Harm

by Zoe Weil

When we do the most good and the least harm through our daily choices, our acts of citizenship, our communities, our work, our volunteerism, and our interactions, we create inner and outer peace.

I call this way of living MOGO, short for most good, and it has become the guiding principle of my life.

I am a humane educator. Humane education examines the challenges facing our planet — from human oppression, to environmental degradation, to animal cruelty, to escalating materialism — and invites people to live intentional, examined and meaningful lives that solve the problems we face. Humane education includes four elements:

1. Providing accurate information about the issues of our time so that people have the information they need to confront challenges.
2. Fostering the 3 Cs: curiosity, creativity and critical thinking, so that people have the skills to meet challenges.
3. Instilling the 3 Rs: reverence, respect and responsibility, so that people have the motivation to face challenges.
4. Offering positive choices and tools for problem solving, so that people are empowered to make healthy decisions for themselves and the world, and solve challenges.

These are the elements I use to have the knowledge, tools and desire to make MOGO choices. But as you start your MOGO journey you will first need an element for yourself, the fifth element, to actively and consciously cultivate what I call the 3 Is: inquiry, introspection and integrity.

Inquiry

In order to align your life choices with your values, you will need to inquire about the effects of your actions (and inactions) on yourself and others. Although we are always stumbling upon knowledge that shifts our choices and life direction, bringing conscious inquiry to life means that we continually ask questions that lead us to the information we need to make thoughtful decisions. Asking questions is liberating because we develop greater understanding and discover more choices with our new knowledge.

Introspection

As you ask questions and gather information, if you are to make meaningful changes, you will need to introspect — to look inward and see where the confluence of new knowledge and your life choices lies. It is likely you will periodically feel some conflict between your habits, desires and the truth of what you have learned, but this is why a commitment to introspection is so important. When we dive below our surface desires and habits, we are able to discover our deepest visions, dreams and commitments, which can also be quite liberating.

Integrity

As you open your heart and mind to inquiry, as you acquire the information you need to make informed and conscious decisions, and as you introspect, you are then called upon to act in accordance with your new knowledge and your deepest values. This is integrity, and it brings with it inner peace.

Together, these 3 Is help you to bring your dreams and hopes for a healthier and more joyful life — and a better world — to fruition. They make MOGO living possible by informing your everyday decisions, as well as your career, relationships, political involvement, volunteer work, recreation and all of the ways in which you participate in creating positive change.

Here’s how MOGO works in practice. When I teach, my students learn how to analyze products, structures and systems, and they come to realize that there is much that is harmful in our world. In age appropriate ways, I teach them about persistent and escalating problems and abuses behind many products, foods, clothing and recreational options in their lives.

But then, as they learn to effectively use their critical and creative thinking capacities toward imagining solutions, they begin to envision healthy and humane products, and better and more sustainable structures and systems. They discover that they have the ability to make a positive difference. Then they often make personal choices to divest themselves of those things that cause suffering and harm, as well as become change agents in an effort to bring about a better world.

In one of the activities we do, students analyze and discuss different behaviors and products, and answer the question, “Which does the most good and the least harm?” Students might compare riding a bicycle to using public transportation, driving a highly fuel efficient car to driving a large SUV, or they might contrast a fast food hamburger to a hamburger made from grass-fed cows to an organic veggie burger.

They might examine the effects of a cotton T-shirt produced in an overseas sweatshop, to a cotton T-shirt produced closer to home, to an organic cotton T-shirt, to a secondhand T-shirt from a local thrift shop. They might consider spending $3 a day on sodas or junk food from vending machines, versus $3 a day on healthy snacks. Or they may also consider bringing food from home and donating a percentage of their spending money to help others.

By also examining systems that perpetuate problems, these students discover that systems can change, and that their voice and involvement can make a difference. For example, they might learn about corporate charters that give corporations the rights of citizens without the concomitant responsibilities, and then learn about efforts to modify corporate charters so that companies can still pursue profits without harming the environment, people or animals.

Thus, not only do they become aware of the impact of their own personal choices on food, products, entertainment and transportation, but they also learn about the power they have as citizens and members of the work and volunteer force. As people learn to think in these ways, they generally come to discover that the MOGO principle can have far-reaching and very profound effects if put into practice by large numbers of people. Although there are rarely perfect answers to complex problems, there can be a perfectly simple principle for making choices — the MOGO principle.

How can you address challenges wherever and whenever they appear? What’s the MOGO answer?

First, we can use the 3 Is while recognizing that we may not always have perfect solutions in place right now. We can learn about the effects of our choices (bring our inquiry), figure out MOGO choices taking everything we’ve learned into consideration (introspect), and make MOGO choices to the extent we can (live with integrity).

If ideal solutions and choices aren’t available, then we can employ what I call the 3 Vs — our voice, our vote and our monetary veto — to transform systems, structures, businesses and governments so that they too do the most good and the least harm.

Zoe Weil, author of Most Good, Least Harm, is the cofounder and president of the Institute for Humane Education. Visit www.zoeweil.com. Excerpted with permission by Beyond Words/Atria Books at www.beyondword.com.