is, is not, does, does not, yes, no and mabey

have you ever felt this way?

  • yes
  • no
  • I dont know
0 voters

Have you ever knoticed the traps of absolutism, the concepts of good and evil, right and wrong, yes and no. each time you follow these lines of thinking you become lost to the possabilaties beyond them.

You beleive you are doing good when in fact you are doing as much harm in doing so. the greatest harms I have caused in my own lifetime were when I was doing what I thought to be good and just. Just as some of my greatest acchievements were made when I genuinly did not care.

weather this is only me or not I do not know but is seems a good reason to detach myself from morality and allow natural judgement a gripping point. which seems to be grounds for my family to concider me an enemy, oddly it is not my actions that speak to them so I have no frame of referance for such concepts.

I generally think of morality as being something like table manners.

We all have some innate sense of decorum, we wouldn’t be disgusted by certain activities if this were not so. Indeed, there has been a fair amount of philosophy discussing which acts are considered to be unclean and then studying how cultures have ritualized and contained them.

So, to satisfy this innate sense of decorum, we create rituals and rules for eating. While specific nature of these rules may vary, they all modify the atavistic eating style that we see infants and animals practicing.

However, once someone has learned the proper rules for eating, and one fully understands them, they can start cheating. If I am eating with my friends, whether I use the salad fork on my entree doesn’t really matter as long as I don’t talk while I am eating, ect. After a ritual has become internalized, people can seperate the essence of the ritual from the actual practice of it.

Morality works more-or-less the same way. We all have an innate morality which we can cultivate through rules and regulations. Once our morality has been cultivated to a certain extent, these absolutes are no longer necessary and we can begin to act in a manner that we feel is best.

The trick is recognizing this. A lot of people think they have reached this stage, but are actually simply justifying negative actions using it as an excuse. So, it is a tight rope to walk.

perhaps you are right, I have simply found it is so much simpler not to question morality and simply trust my natural instincts, they seem to be most accurate with regards to what is true, unfortunatly I habitually question morality making choices very diffacult. Hense the desire for some level of detachment from such things.

Chaos is inherent in the self. The problem is identification,realization and reasoning.

The complex variability of everyday phenomena that we feel is independant of our hold is a secondary aspect to the primary that is inevitably the self and this conflict is dangerous.

We are in Impoverishment of clarity that include information and communication.

I said yes. The reason I trust my own judgment is that I have gotten positive feedback for it. If one’s instincts illicit negative feedback, I wouldn’t trust it.

Take for instance… David Brent:

bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/c … avid.shtml

He is basically a person who’s self-perception is wrong, and others see him for what he really is… an ass. This is maybe a common problem with this type of person: first you have to be an ass; and then second, you have to somehow insulate yourself to this fact. This was I believe Xunzian’s point also. That people who haven’t yet cultivated proper morality start to relax it inappropriately.

Brent is constantly speaking out against racism, sexism, intolerance, favoritism etc. while always indicating that his true feelings are the opposite. It’s hilarious.

The question of good and bad is difficult many a time it feels like i am doing the right thing only to find it wrong later, but this is learning and aslong as we can ultimatly accept that, then we can move on. Some are blinkered to this and then carry on regardless creating a negetive environment for themselves and others. Good and bad are subjective, different for each situation and person, and most times are decided when there is an element of obscurity about the facts. Its is easy to look back and think if only i did something else. Morality i see as the grease that allows us as a society to move and interact more easily like a little unwritten rule book for the masses which over years and personal experience are open to change and development.

Morality, concepts like common courticy just make sense, if you don’t like it don’t do it to others, but what about justice, time and again I am asked to take a stand on an issue and critacized for not doing so, and when I do take a stand I make stupid mistakes that make me feel like an idiot because I can normally deal with them.

More often then not I end up beleiving in something absoultly only to find myself horribly mistaken, a signifacant diffrence between us and the greek philosophers of the past is our emphasis on answers compared to their emphasis on questions, even now I deal in absolutes by simply saying things are when they simply could be.

Each example I have seen in my life has disproved absolutes, though there are constants I have seen no absolutes. Why then do I seek to hold onto them in my mind? It is very troubling.

This confusion comes from not understanding the root of good/evil plus the act of trying to control what is not in your ability to control.

To do something bad or evil is about your intent not your content, and the effect of your actions are not in your control. If you’re intentions are true in that you are thinking of someone else above your self and earnestly try to help then the act is good no matter the outcome, it is only bad when what you do is selfishly motivated.

The rest is in the hands of the natural laws and other people’s choices of how they deal with the effect of your action, none of this is in your control nor are you responsible morally speaking.

My appologies but I find more often than not the greatest harms caused by good intentions, a person who acts in their own best intrest will more often plan fot the outcome and therefore cause less harm.

My basic nature is self serving, but it is benign in that I would rather help than harm as it benafits me conciderably more in the long run. In the end though it all works down to my own best intrests.

In one respect I am probably more neutrally inclined in that I will not place others needs above my own nore will I place my own needs above theirs. I can honestly say I have not met very many who would sacrifice their own needs for others, seeing it as being pointless even to them.