“Can you elaborate?â€
“Punishment and retaliation are natural reactions of a free will
environment that permit the consideration of striking the first blow because
it is the price man is willing to risk or pay for the satisfaction of certain
desires. But when they are removed so the knowledge that they no longer
exist becomes a condition of the environment, then the price he must
consider to strike the first blow of hurt – all others are justified – is
completely out of his reach because to do so he must choose an alternative
that is less satisfying which is impossible to do when an alternative offering
greater satisfaction is available. Could you derive satisfaction from
hurting someone knowing full well that should you follow through with this
unprovoked act, the person you are hurting would be compelled to turn the
other cheek?
As long
as man can pay a price for hurting others, his conscience will never be able
to control his desires if he wants something badly enough. But when all
blame is removed from the environment, and he knows that he will not be
blamed by anyone anywhere, he will be compelled to change his ways.
Remember, everyone is constantly moving in the direction of greater
satisfaction and when striking a first blow becomes the worst possible
choice, our problem is solved because it will give us less satisfaction, not
more.
The answer to this impasse which removes the implications is now very
obvious because the advance knowledge that man will not be blamed for
anything he desires to do (this is the solution worked backwards),
mathematically prevents those very acts for which blame and punishment
were previously necessary.
Instead of being able to absolve one’s
conscience by justifying an act of crime or some other form of hurt because
of the knowledge that he will be blamed and punished (which permitted
efforts to shift his responsibility while encouraging what had to be criticized
and condemned), one is prevented from deriving any satisfaction from the
contemplation of this hurt by the realization that he will never be blamed,
criticized, punished or judged for doing what he knows everyone must
condone, while being denied a satisfactory reason with which to excuse his
contemplated conduct.
To paraphrase this in slightly different words:
Instead of being able to absolve one’s conscience by being given the
opportunity to justify an act of crime or some other form of hurt which
permitted the shifting of one’s responsibility while at the same time
encouraging the crime, the knowledge that will is not free and what this
means actually prevents an individual from deriving any satisfaction from
the contemplation of this hurt to another by the realization that he will not
be blamed, criticized, judged, or punished for this act.