374 becoming more human by becoming more godliketranscendence? Th e imperative of self- sacrifi ce, and thus of altruism,
keeps its authority and importance. It describes, however, only part of
what is required from us if we are to honor the duty, and cultivate the
virtue, of respect.
A second virtue of connection is forbearance: the restraint that we
impose on the expression of our views and on the vindication of our
interests, so that others may have the space in which to express and to
develop theirs. To practice the virtue of forbearance, we must master
our ambivalence to others as well as our self- centeredness. Forbearance
requires the marriage of self- denial with imagination: insight into the
inner world of other people. A generosity bereft of such insight is in fact
a form of cruelty and subjugation, incompatible with our respect for
one another as context- resistant originals.
Engagement with those who hold a view of our humanity denying
our power of transcendence puts forbearance to the test. Forbearance
then becomes the moral equivalent to the po liti cal principle of apos-
tasy. Th us, the reasons that give force to the virtue of forbearance con-
tain a large part of the moral truth of po liti cal liberalism: a limited,
one- sided truth but a truth nonetheless.
Th e power of this truth rests on two connected but distinct founda-
tions. Its fi rst basis is the requirement of respect for the conditions of
in de pen dent agency. In the absence of forbearance, even altruism be-
comes a struggle for power. Its second basis is the contestability of all
commitments, including the commitments that defi ne the religion of
the future. Every individual human life, like every society and culture,
is an experiment in humanity. Our situation is such that we must settle
on a direction, individually and collectively, without having grounds
that are commensurate with the fatefulness of the choice. Forbearance
safeguards our margin to experiment with ways of being human at the
same time that it expresses reverence for the condition of embodied
spirit.
A third virtue of connection is fairness. We should not understand it
as giving each person his due. Although each of us has obligations and
commitments to others, none of us can determine the limits of what we
owe one another; our obligations are proportionate to our hopes as well
as to our promises and transgressions. Nor does there exist a grand
book of accounts in which the moral credits and debts of each human