The zombie apocalypse provides a metaphor for moral plague. When a great deal of the population stumbles around like spiritual zombies, can other individuals still live a principled way of life?

Let's use the zombie apocalypse as a metaphor thusly: There's a moral plague in our society and, as time passes, more and more people fall prey to it.

Here's a way the metaphor might play out: When infected by this moral illness, people are no longer human, but feed off humans, including those they once loved and protected. We fight the zombies, chop off their heads, so they cannot hurt us—these once human but now spiritually derailed monsters.

As time passes, they rot, becoming less and less recognizable as human, and more and more terrifying. Despite our valiant efforts, more and more people are lost, even our loved ones. To protect ourselves from loved ones, we must decapitate them.

In this time of moral lethargy, when many people stumble around like spiritual zombies, what do we do? 

 And, if there's any truth to the metaphor that even our loved ones might become deadly enemies, can individuals embrace a moral way of life—exemplifying human decency instead of becoming yet another brain-dead marauding zombie?

I'd love to hear what you think the solutions are. Here are a few of my ideas.

I don't embrace the bleak worldview my metaphor spelled out. Instead, the metaphor shows prevalent dysfunctional perceptions. For example, the metaphor dehumanizes people, to illustrate how society often dehumanizes anyone who is spiritually ill, which serves as a jumping off point for this essay. By and large, my following solutions deconstruct the metaphor, by substituting a loving, positive viewpoint. 

Human decency comes when we stop blaming a plague and start taking responsibility for how we treat each other. 

Human decency comes when we give up excuses like "It's just business," or "I don't have time for spirituality, I have to survive." These are the same excuses that humans have always had. It is one of the essential spiritual dilemmas that our species faces: stepping up to the plate in the face of risk. 

Spiritually stepping up to the plate in the face of risk is scarier than zombie movies.

But it is not as scary as going down the spiritual toilet. I've seen so many people become spiritual "zombies." It was terrifying in a way no horror show every could be, because I think it could happen to any of us. My Gods, please give me the power to always choose stepping up to the plate instead of making excuses.

Human decency comes when we realize that nobody is lost. Ever. When one of us becomes a monster, we are all monsters, because we, as a species, exist as one entity. So everyone must be treated with the cure.

Once an individual has found their own moral grounding, they will lose it unless they realize that no one is lost. They will lose it if they discount anyone, because as humans we are one moral being—we are collectively a single body, and that body is collectively our moral ground. 

Human decency comes when we do not see anyone as a monsters, but recognize the monstrousness in all of us. Note I am differentiating between monsters and monstrousness. I read an essay I'll never forget. I apologize for not being able to give its name or author, but my papers are packed away, in preparation for my move. The essay discusses communities taking responsibility for the crimes of individuals, and at the point in history that stopped happening is when the horror genre emerged. The idea of criminal and monster emerged. This criminal or monster was considered the other, rather than a community member who had been failed by the community. Prior to this point in history, the community as a whole felt they had caused any evil done by one of its members. 

So, yes, human decency comes when we do not see others as monsters, but recognize the monstrousness in all of us, and collectively heal ourselves—the energy of each of our beings, and each of our beings as part of the larger human whole.

I believe that the solutions I suggest can happen without condoning atrocious crimes, burying our heads in the sand about wrongdoings, or allowing evil to go unchecked.

And I understand that sometimes a given individual has to give up on someone; for example, I'm not going to let anybody take me down with them. But when the community as a whole takes responsibility, it's not up to one individual to care for everyone.

My suggestions are a partial remedy. Please post your additional remedies below!