Nearly a year ago I talked about definitions for good and evil and how often one or the other is subjective due to circumstance. An action that is good for one may be bad for another and vice versa. At the time I promised more on the subject. However, there was so much more I wanted to say about other things that it got pushed aside. Today I am back for more on the topic.
Many stories, in both print and digital format have clearly defined boundaries. The presence or lack thereof of a character's moral fiber is easy to see. You often know from the very beginning who is the "good" guy and who is the bad. I am of course talking about classic tales of good and evil, things like Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, Godzilla and other such fairy tales.
Life however isn't really much like those stories. Sure many of the components are there, romance, conflict and even the choices to do good or bad things. But, do those choices make us good or bad people? No, not really. And yes absolutely depending on your point of view. Seeing things as polarized, as black or white means ignoring all the colors in between. There is so much more but we often choose not to see it. So, of course, with any question where I answer on both sides of the fence more explanation is required.
Things happen during our daily lives. They don't happen to us. They just happen and we happen to be there when they do. During our lifetime we have a collection of things that we decide to do based on what the things are that happen. Some of those choices are good for us. Others are bad. Some of the choices that are good for us are good for others and some of them are bad for others. We are not the accumulation of all of these things. The accumulation of all these things is called experience. We are not our experiences. They are simply things that are in our past that we can use to assist us in choosing what to do in the future.
A person that has made many good choices in the past is often viewed as a good person especially if those choices have positively affected others. Conversely a person who has made many bad choices is often viewed as a bad person. These labels are not fair because they simply represent what we decided to do at given points in our lives. Other people do not live inside our heads. They do not know what went into making those decisions. So they are not qualified to judge. Also, and more importantly, at any given moment we are free to make new choices and take new actions that do not match those of what we have done in the past.
Think for a moment about a person who has been arrested for robbing a bank. Most people from that point on think of that person as a criminal. They see that person as someone that cannot be trusted. They did it once they will just do it again, right? Many times people that do these things are desperate. They know what they are doing is wrong but don't see any other option. And after spending time in jail for their failure many of them would never attempt anything so foolish again.
Showing posts with label evil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label evil. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Specifics on generalizing
You might think, from some of my previous work, that I think generalizing is evil or somehow wrong. And while there are times and places where it does in fact hurt us, that just isn't so.
Generalizations are like handguns, swords, fire and the poison we use to kill insects. All of these things can be very powerful tools that can accomplish a number of different tasks. Each is better at specific tasks than the others.
Fire can keep us warm, cook our food and keep predators away. Swords and guns can be used to defend ourselves and those we care about, to keep others from harming us. The poison can keep insects from running rampant throughout our lives.
Each of these things has powerfully positive ways that they can make our lives better. Conversely, each of them can also be turned to dark evil purposes as well. They can all be used to murder, cripple, maim and cause suffering.
A tool is just a tool, neither inherently good or evil. All tools are double edged swords so to speak. All is determined by the wielder. It is the knowledge and intent of the user of each of these tools that determines whether good or ill results.
Arguably, generalizations are the most powerful of these tools that I have listed because it deals with words and understanding of words. And since words are our way of interacting with one another, sharing our experiences and motivating ourselves and others, tools that are themselves concepts and not physical things, have the most potential for impacting lives, for better or for worse.
So, what is good about generalizing? Well as mentioned previously, it is part of the process that allows us to take in all the things that happen to us moment to moment and not get completely overloaded all the time by the sheer amount of raw data.
But, really, I think, the greatest way in which we benefit from generalization is how we use it in the learning process. Initially all learning is done by rote memorization of a thing happening over and over and over. It is how we learn our ABC's, basic counting and things of that nature.
At some point though, being the naturally curious animals that we are, we start doing something called extrapolating. Extrapolation is quite literally lumping all the stuff we know about a particular thing together into one category and saying if that is true then what about this?
We generalize all the data we have in a certain area into the word "that" and then use that to test something new and unfamiliar. If we find "this" to be true, then we add it to "that" making a new slightly larger set of data and seek out a new "this"
Specific example. Bob likes being able to breathe. Suzie likes being able to breathe. So do, Steven, Mary,Jacob, Harry, and so on. You query 99 people. They all say they like to breathe, men and women alike. Before asking the one hundredth person the question you generalize all the data previously collected by theorizing that if all 99 of these people like being able to breath, the next person you ask will also enjoy breathing. You ask and lo and behold the hundredth person also enjoy breathing.
From this experiment you make some other generalizations and extrapolations. You decide that, based on the data you have collected so far, all men like breathing and all women like breathing. Men and women are people, therefore all people like breathing. Wait what about children, they are people too right?
You generalize the data. Children are just younger men and women. So children should enjoy breathing as well. You ask some. The ones that are old enough to properly understand the question all answer affirmatively that they do indeed enjoy being able to breathe.
Men, women, children, yup those are all the ones that qualify as people. You generalize that people like breathing and can extrapolate and learn more based on that data. Through generalization and trial and error our pool of knowledge gradually goes from this tiny little pond to a vast ocean of data.
And to communicate the concepts to people we just generalize. If they don't understand or if they disagree, then we can get into the specifics of how or why what we say is true. We save time, and energy be generalizing. Like all of the other tools at our disposal, generalization is a powerful tool for good if used properly. It just takes conscious observation and effort to be sure we are using it correctly.
Generalizations are like handguns, swords, fire and the poison we use to kill insects. All of these things can be very powerful tools that can accomplish a number of different tasks. Each is better at specific tasks than the others.
Fire can keep us warm, cook our food and keep predators away. Swords and guns can be used to defend ourselves and those we care about, to keep others from harming us. The poison can keep insects from running rampant throughout our lives.
Each of these things has powerfully positive ways that they can make our lives better. Conversely, each of them can also be turned to dark evil purposes as well. They can all be used to murder, cripple, maim and cause suffering.
A tool is just a tool, neither inherently good or evil. All tools are double edged swords so to speak. All is determined by the wielder. It is the knowledge and intent of the user of each of these tools that determines whether good or ill results.
Arguably, generalizations are the most powerful of these tools that I have listed because it deals with words and understanding of words. And since words are our way of interacting with one another, sharing our experiences and motivating ourselves and others, tools that are themselves concepts and not physical things, have the most potential for impacting lives, for better or for worse.
So, what is good about generalizing? Well as mentioned previously, it is part of the process that allows us to take in all the things that happen to us moment to moment and not get completely overloaded all the time by the sheer amount of raw data.
But, really, I think, the greatest way in which we benefit from generalization is how we use it in the learning process. Initially all learning is done by rote memorization of a thing happening over and over and over. It is how we learn our ABC's, basic counting and things of that nature.
At some point though, being the naturally curious animals that we are, we start doing something called extrapolating. Extrapolation is quite literally lumping all the stuff we know about a particular thing together into one category and saying if that is true then what about this?
We generalize all the data we have in a certain area into the word "that" and then use that to test something new and unfamiliar. If we find "this" to be true, then we add it to "that" making a new slightly larger set of data and seek out a new "this"
Specific example. Bob likes being able to breathe. Suzie likes being able to breathe. So do, Steven, Mary,Jacob, Harry, and so on. You query 99 people. They all say they like to breathe, men and women alike. Before asking the one hundredth person the question you generalize all the data previously collected by theorizing that if all 99 of these people like being able to breath, the next person you ask will also enjoy breathing. You ask and lo and behold the hundredth person also enjoy breathing.
From this experiment you make some other generalizations and extrapolations. You decide that, based on the data you have collected so far, all men like breathing and all women like breathing. Men and women are people, therefore all people like breathing. Wait what about children, they are people too right?
You generalize the data. Children are just younger men and women. So children should enjoy breathing as well. You ask some. The ones that are old enough to properly understand the question all answer affirmatively that they do indeed enjoy being able to breathe.
Men, women, children, yup those are all the ones that qualify as people. You generalize that people like breathing and can extrapolate and learn more based on that data. Through generalization and trial and error our pool of knowledge gradually goes from this tiny little pond to a vast ocean of data.
And to communicate the concepts to people we just generalize. If they don't understand or if they disagree, then we can get into the specifics of how or why what we say is true. We save time, and energy be generalizing. Like all of the other tools at our disposal, generalization is a powerful tool for good if used properly. It just takes conscious observation and effort to be sure we are using it correctly.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Everything is true from a certain point of view
"...you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Obi Wan to Luke in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
We go through our lives deciding what is true and what isn't and then live and make choices based on what we have decided. What we think about a thing does not change whether or not it is true. But, information given to us in a specific way or order can convince us otherwise.
From the point of view that this pepperoni pizza has all of the four basic food groups in it, we could say that it is a well balanced meal and is therefore good for us. Or if you compare it with eating something like raw sewage, it is actually good for you.
We all know that terrorists are bad evil people attempting to destroy many of the things that are good about this world. But they do not see things this way. They feel that they are doing the best thing they can to make the world the way they think would be good.
So the next time you go to condemn a person for acting vastly differently than you think they should, spend some time getting into their shoes. Find out why they think their way of being is the right way. Perhaps, once you understand you can see the flaw in their thinking and set things straight. Or perhaps you will see the flaw in yours. If they are doing what they are doing for a perfectly logical reason, hatred or anger towards them is just likely to cement their belief that you are in the wrong.
In a previous post, I shared proof that the world is full of retards. I also have one that proves that women are evil which I will share with you now. It is of course not what I truly believe, just an example that if you look hard enough you can find a way to prove anything you want to be true.
We start off with a partial biblical quote "...money is the root of all evil". Or in math terms. $=√evil.
Now success with women involves an investment of money over a period of time, which can be expressed mathematically as W=$*T.
It has also been said and proven repeatedly that time is money. So, T=$
And if T=$ then $*T=$².
This gives us W=$²
Now let's go back and look at the start of our proof $=√evil. Now what happens when you do something to one side of an equation in math? That's right you have to do the same thing to the other.
So, if we start off by squaring one side of the equation we have to square the other right? Let's go ahead and do that.
$²=√evil² or $²=evil
We already said W=$². So when we replace $² with W we get W=evil.
And there you have it, women are evil. Should we kill them all and prevent future human life on this planet from existing? Of course not. We should look at circumstances and people on an individual basis and not automatically judge based on a person falling within a specific stereotype. The stereotype exists because it is true for a certain percentage of a given population, not because it is always true.
Obi Wan to Luke in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
We go through our lives deciding what is true and what isn't and then live and make choices based on what we have decided. What we think about a thing does not change whether or not it is true. But, information given to us in a specific way or order can convince us otherwise.
From the point of view that this pepperoni pizza has all of the four basic food groups in it, we could say that it is a well balanced meal and is therefore good for us. Or if you compare it with eating something like raw sewage, it is actually good for you.
We all know that terrorists are bad evil people attempting to destroy many of the things that are good about this world. But they do not see things this way. They feel that they are doing the best thing they can to make the world the way they think would be good.
So the next time you go to condemn a person for acting vastly differently than you think they should, spend some time getting into their shoes. Find out why they think their way of being is the right way. Perhaps, once you understand you can see the flaw in their thinking and set things straight. Or perhaps you will see the flaw in yours. If they are doing what they are doing for a perfectly logical reason, hatred or anger towards them is just likely to cement their belief that you are in the wrong.
In a previous post, I shared proof that the world is full of retards. I also have one that proves that women are evil which I will share with you now. It is of course not what I truly believe, just an example that if you look hard enough you can find a way to prove anything you want to be true.
We start off with a partial biblical quote "...money is the root of all evil". Or in math terms. $=√evil.
Now success with women involves an investment of money over a period of time, which can be expressed mathematically as W=$*T.
It has also been said and proven repeatedly that time is money. So, T=$
And if T=$ then $*T=$².
This gives us W=$²
Now let's go back and look at the start of our proof $=√evil. Now what happens when you do something to one side of an equation in math? That's right you have to do the same thing to the other.
So, if we start off by squaring one side of the equation we have to square the other right? Let's go ahead and do that.
$²=√evil² or $²=evil
We already said W=$². So when we replace $² with W we get W=evil.
And there you have it, women are evil. Should we kill them all and prevent future human life on this planet from existing? Of course not. We should look at circumstances and people on an individual basis and not automatically judge based on a person falling within a specific stereotype. The stereotype exists because it is true for a certain percentage of a given population, not because it is always true.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
The latter of two evils
It is said that there are two kinds of evil in this world. First there are people who do evil things. And second are the people who see evil being done but do nothing to stop it. I say that the former is bad enough, but the latter is by far the greater of the two evils. The first is a thing done by but a few people here and there. The second is done by society as a whole.
Many people like to tell themselves that they don't do evil things so they are not to blame for why the world is the way it is. But how often does it happen that you see injustices done to other people and you choose to do nothing about it? Whether its a mugging in some back alley, bullying on the playground or some form of extortion by local gangs, how often do you see things that you know are not right, but you look the other way?
Every time these crimes occur and we look the other way, we are sanctioning the behavior of the animals that perform them. We are telling the people committing them and everyone else around us that we agree with what is happening and think it is alright.
You may want to tell yourself that you are just looking out for yourself. You say it's okay. I didn't do anything wrong and I am not bad. That person who did the evil thing is. They are in the wrong.You keep your head down and hope nobody notices you. But they do notice. The person committing the evil act is empowered by your cowardice and lack of willingness to make things right. They are encouraged to continue acting in the same manner. And every other person that sees what is going on and does not do their utmost to stop what is going on perpetuates the cycle as well.
It is your moral obligation, your duty in fact, to stand up and protest when you see others performing evil acts. We, in America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, more than anywhere else, should be ashamed of allowing ourselves to be oppressed by anyone, especially after the lengths that our forefathers went to in order to ensure our freedom from such tyranny.
Find others that see what is going on and are also not okay with it. Band together and confront the evildoer(s). Take whatever measures are necessary to correct things.
Whenever possible work within the limits of the law. But if the law is on the side of wrong, you must do what is right, both for yourself and for those you care about.You may get beaten up. You may in fact get killed. But is life really worth living under the thumb of oppression, being controlled by the whims of evil men? If you cannot hold your head up high and be proud that you are willing to fight for what you believe in, aren't you already dead in your heart and mind?
Many people like to tell themselves that they don't do evil things so they are not to blame for why the world is the way it is. But how often does it happen that you see injustices done to other people and you choose to do nothing about it? Whether its a mugging in some back alley, bullying on the playground or some form of extortion by local gangs, how often do you see things that you know are not right, but you look the other way?
Every time these crimes occur and we look the other way, we are sanctioning the behavior of the animals that perform them. We are telling the people committing them and everyone else around us that we agree with what is happening and think it is alright.
You may want to tell yourself that you are just looking out for yourself. You say it's okay. I didn't do anything wrong and I am not bad. That person who did the evil thing is. They are in the wrong.You keep your head down and hope nobody notices you. But they do notice. The person committing the evil act is empowered by your cowardice and lack of willingness to make things right. They are encouraged to continue acting in the same manner. And every other person that sees what is going on and does not do their utmost to stop what is going on perpetuates the cycle as well.
It is your moral obligation, your duty in fact, to stand up and protest when you see others performing evil acts. We, in America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, more than anywhere else, should be ashamed of allowing ourselves to be oppressed by anyone, especially after the lengths that our forefathers went to in order to ensure our freedom from such tyranny.
Find others that see what is going on and are also not okay with it. Band together and confront the evildoer(s). Take whatever measures are necessary to correct things.
Whenever possible work within the limits of the law. But if the law is on the side of wrong, you must do what is right, both for yourself and for those you care about.You may get beaten up. You may in fact get killed. But is life really worth living under the thumb of oppression, being controlled by the whims of evil men? If you cannot hold your head up high and be proud that you are willing to fight for what you believe in, aren't you already dead in your heart and mind?
Thursday, October 3, 2013
For Evil 's sake
How many times in a book or a movie have you seen the main villain
get into a monologue describing how truly vile and dark their current
plan is? Don't they often start cackling with glee over the sheer
evilness of their plan? They revel in the pain and suffering that they
are causing. They are evil just for the sake of being evil.
Those who make a living entertaining us and engaging our minds in flights of fantasy like to make things clear. They want it cut and dried so as to polarize the reactions that we give them. We are subconsciously left with the impression that there are only two possibilities.
You as the viewer are vile and despicable because you agree with the cackling maniacal fiend. Or you are a decent human being that wants to see the bad guy fail and the hero prevail. In books and movies, it is just that simple.
When most of us think about evil the images from those stories are what come to mind. But in real life, things are seldom that way. That is not to say that there are not people in this world who commit some of the same horrendous acts as the villains in the stories. But their motivations are often a lot more complex.
The things they do may hurt a great many people but that is usually not the reason why they are doing those terrible things. Many of them are lashing out at authority figures in the hopes of forcing grand change to the whole system. Others are trying to get even or to right past wrongs that have been done to them.
We have a tendency to think of people that do things that hurt us as bad or evil people. And while their actions are certainly not good they are not really evil in the movie villain sort of way either. I tend to look at things as either good, evil, or selfish.
If a person is doing something to improve the situation of another person or group of people and is doing what they can to avoid hurting others than I see it as a good act. If someone is doing something solely for the intention of hurting a person or a group of people and no other reason, it is an evil act. If a thing is being done for any other reason, I see it as selfish. Being, selfish is kind of a neutral, sorta grey area with both light and dark tendencies.
When being selfish a person is thinking of the benefit doing a thing will bring them. There is often no thought for how it affects others. Most of the things that other people do to hurt us are not done specifically because they hurt us. And even the very few that are, often are done in an attempt to balance the scales. You or another person hurt me in this way, so I am going to do that thing to you, to make it fair.
Many political campaigns, war supporters and even religious debates attempt to vilify the other side. They attempt to make it a clear cut situation of good versus evil. It really only takes a little common sense and an open mind to see that things are very seldom that simple. All of these things are driven by selfish desires for the world to be seen a specific way and to bludgeon you into agreeing so as not to be forced to see yourself as the villain in the story.
The world is not full of evil. It's full of selfish. And selfish can be good and it can be evil but more often than not is simply self serving with no knowledge or care of whether it is one or the other.
Those who make a living entertaining us and engaging our minds in flights of fantasy like to make things clear. They want it cut and dried so as to polarize the reactions that we give them. We are subconsciously left with the impression that there are only two possibilities.
You as the viewer are vile and despicable because you agree with the cackling maniacal fiend. Or you are a decent human being that wants to see the bad guy fail and the hero prevail. In books and movies, it is just that simple.
When most of us think about evil the images from those stories are what come to mind. But in real life, things are seldom that way. That is not to say that there are not people in this world who commit some of the same horrendous acts as the villains in the stories. But their motivations are often a lot more complex.
The things they do may hurt a great many people but that is usually not the reason why they are doing those terrible things. Many of them are lashing out at authority figures in the hopes of forcing grand change to the whole system. Others are trying to get even or to right past wrongs that have been done to them.
We have a tendency to think of people that do things that hurt us as bad or evil people. And while their actions are certainly not good they are not really evil in the movie villain sort of way either. I tend to look at things as either good, evil, or selfish.
If a person is doing something to improve the situation of another person or group of people and is doing what they can to avoid hurting others than I see it as a good act. If someone is doing something solely for the intention of hurting a person or a group of people and no other reason, it is an evil act. If a thing is being done for any other reason, I see it as selfish. Being, selfish is kind of a neutral, sorta grey area with both light and dark tendencies.
When being selfish a person is thinking of the benefit doing a thing will bring them. There is often no thought for how it affects others. Most of the things that other people do to hurt us are not done specifically because they hurt us. And even the very few that are, often are done in an attempt to balance the scales. You or another person hurt me in this way, so I am going to do that thing to you, to make it fair.
Many political campaigns, war supporters and even religious debates attempt to vilify the other side. They attempt to make it a clear cut situation of good versus evil. It really only takes a little common sense and an open mind to see that things are very seldom that simple. All of these things are driven by selfish desires for the world to be seen a specific way and to bludgeon you into agreeing so as not to be forced to see yourself as the villain in the story.
The world is not full of evil. It's full of selfish. And selfish can be good and it can be evil but more often than not is simply self serving with no knowledge or care of whether it is one or the other.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Is money evil? Or are you?
After yesterday's words you might think that I feel as many do, that
"money is the root of all evil". But that is not at all true. Let us say
that I have a good understanding of and a healthy respect for money,
even though it often seems like the source a great many bad things. It
is not the money itself which is evil.
Money is a tool that can be used to accomplish a great many things. Like other tools the danger comes from how it is used and the intent of the user. For example, fire is a tool which can be used to take raw ingredients and turn them into tasty food. It can also be used to boil water thus killing harmful bacteria and making otherwise dangerous water safe to drink. Fire can be used in both constructive and destructive ways. It can even be used to both heal and to kill. But fire is not evil. And neither is money.
Even a tool whose purpose is only violence such as a sword is not evil, for it can be wielded by one with the purest heart and good intentions who only wishes to protect others. Conversely it can be wielded for terrible dark purposes. But it is not the tool that is bad it is the person wielding it.
The purpose of money is so that we might have a standard system for valuing things. At first glance it may be rather difficult to find an acceptable comparable value between say a pickup truck and a pig, between an acre of land and a pair of rubber gloves, or between a hot meal and the cost of adding another bedroom to your home. By comparing everything to a single standard and placing a value on it based upon that standard it becomes a simple matter to see how any one item stacks up against any other.
As the saying goes, money may not be able to buy happiness. But, if you are willing to be honest, you kind of have to admit that money has created more happiness than poverty has. After all, it is through money that you are able to buy and do many of the things that are essential to living a happy successful life.
But, just as an obsession with fire is an unhealthy and dangerous thing, so is an obsession with money. There is nothing wrong with wanting great amounts of money so that you can properly take care of those that you love and to enjoy nice things. It is when one dreams of having money just for the power that it can bring and to use that power to rule over others that one gets brought over to the dark side.
Why do you desire money? What drives you to obtain it? And when you have it what do you do with it or what do you intend to do with it?
Money is a tool that can be used to accomplish a great many things. Like other tools the danger comes from how it is used and the intent of the user. For example, fire is a tool which can be used to take raw ingredients and turn them into tasty food. It can also be used to boil water thus killing harmful bacteria and making otherwise dangerous water safe to drink. Fire can be used in both constructive and destructive ways. It can even be used to both heal and to kill. But fire is not evil. And neither is money.
Even a tool whose purpose is only violence such as a sword is not evil, for it can be wielded by one with the purest heart and good intentions who only wishes to protect others. Conversely it can be wielded for terrible dark purposes. But it is not the tool that is bad it is the person wielding it.
The purpose of money is so that we might have a standard system for valuing things. At first glance it may be rather difficult to find an acceptable comparable value between say a pickup truck and a pig, between an acre of land and a pair of rubber gloves, or between a hot meal and the cost of adding another bedroom to your home. By comparing everything to a single standard and placing a value on it based upon that standard it becomes a simple matter to see how any one item stacks up against any other.
As the saying goes, money may not be able to buy happiness. But, if you are willing to be honest, you kind of have to admit that money has created more happiness than poverty has. After all, it is through money that you are able to buy and do many of the things that are essential to living a happy successful life.
But, just as an obsession with fire is an unhealthy and dangerous thing, so is an obsession with money. There is nothing wrong with wanting great amounts of money so that you can properly take care of those that you love and to enjoy nice things. It is when one dreams of having money just for the power that it can bring and to use that power to rule over others that one gets brought over to the dark side.
Why do you desire money? What drives you to obtain it? And when you have it what do you do with it or what do you intend to do with it?
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Good vs Evil
The battle of good against evil is thousands of years old. But what exactly is evil?
A couple of years ago, I was reading this book by David Farland. Off the top of my head I do not remember which, but it was one of the books in his Runelords series. And the question of good vs evil came up. One of the characters had a definition for evil. I am describing what I remember of what he said.
He said imagine a circle that includes all of your possessions and ideals and thoughts. Now imagine that circle being inside a larger circle which is all of the possessions and ideals and thoughts of your family. And now imagine one more circle outside of that one which includes all of the possessions, ideals and thoughts of your community.
As you go through your life each of those circles should continue to grow. Things that contribute to that growth are good. Things that take away from or injure the occupants of those circles are evil.
To be honest, I really like the imagery involved in that. It's very simple, cut and dried. A rival tribe comes into your community rapes, loots, plunders and murders your people. They are evil right? Against blatantly obvious examples, it allows you to feel justified in believing this system.It sounds good on the surface. But it's really too simplistic.
What about when it is your community that takes from you, decreasing your circle but increasing it's own? Taxes for example. Taxes serve the community, allowing it to serve you. Or community taking from your family. Let's say your son is drafted into the military and dies serving his country. He was forced to go. Your family circle was decimated by the loss and suppose your community(country) lost the fight he was in. Your community circle didn't gain either. And finally what about bank robbers. They make the community circle smaller by stealing from the community. And to a lesser extent it also affects the other two circles as well. So it's definitely an evil act right? But, how about if the bank robbers randomly dropped sacks of cash at people's front doors in your neighborhood? And what if your front door was one of those doors? They would be increasing your family and personal circles. So then it would be a good act right? And what about the robbers themselves? They are increasing their own personal and family circles aren't they? Wouldn't this just reinforce the action being good?
While it seems that the same action can have both positive and bad consequences on different people or groups of people this does not seem like a sound definition for good and evil. It does start to point us in the right direction though.
Religion would have us believe that it is any act or thought that is counter to what a god or group of gods says you should do. At first I would say this is a load of garbage due to what most people think of when they say the word god. I do not believe a supernatural power should be defining good and evil. I feel that each person should be making that decision for themselves. Now wait a minute. That actually resonates with some of my previous posts. If you view yourself as a god, the author of your life, the ruler of what does and does not happen to you, then the definition of evil becomes any act or thought that you perform that is counter to what you think you should. It begins to come down to what you think is right and wrong for you to do. Anything outside of your moral code is evil.
Does that make anyone who disagrees with your way of thinking evil? No, not exactly. You get to define what is right and wrong for you. You do not get to define that for others, except your children. Good is what is right for you to do. Evil is what is wrong for you to do. It boils down to good and evil simply being value judgements. Each person has their own value judgement system. So each person has their own code for what is good and evil.
More on this later. I promise just not sure when. I have a lot more to say but am not sure what direction I want to go in. See you tomorrow.
A couple of years ago, I was reading this book by David Farland. Off the top of my head I do not remember which, but it was one of the books in his Runelords series. And the question of good vs evil came up. One of the characters had a definition for evil. I am describing what I remember of what he said.
He said imagine a circle that includes all of your possessions and ideals and thoughts. Now imagine that circle being inside a larger circle which is all of the possessions and ideals and thoughts of your family. And now imagine one more circle outside of that one which includes all of the possessions, ideals and thoughts of your community.
As you go through your life each of those circles should continue to grow. Things that contribute to that growth are good. Things that take away from or injure the occupants of those circles are evil.
To be honest, I really like the imagery involved in that. It's very simple, cut and dried. A rival tribe comes into your community rapes, loots, plunders and murders your people. They are evil right? Against blatantly obvious examples, it allows you to feel justified in believing this system.It sounds good on the surface. But it's really too simplistic.
What about when it is your community that takes from you, decreasing your circle but increasing it's own? Taxes for example. Taxes serve the community, allowing it to serve you. Or community taking from your family. Let's say your son is drafted into the military and dies serving his country. He was forced to go. Your family circle was decimated by the loss and suppose your community(country) lost the fight he was in. Your community circle didn't gain either. And finally what about bank robbers. They make the community circle smaller by stealing from the community. And to a lesser extent it also affects the other two circles as well. So it's definitely an evil act right? But, how about if the bank robbers randomly dropped sacks of cash at people's front doors in your neighborhood? And what if your front door was one of those doors? They would be increasing your family and personal circles. So then it would be a good act right? And what about the robbers themselves? They are increasing their own personal and family circles aren't they? Wouldn't this just reinforce the action being good?
While it seems that the same action can have both positive and bad consequences on different people or groups of people this does not seem like a sound definition for good and evil. It does start to point us in the right direction though.
Religion would have us believe that it is any act or thought that is counter to what a god or group of gods says you should do. At first I would say this is a load of garbage due to what most people think of when they say the word god. I do not believe a supernatural power should be defining good and evil. I feel that each person should be making that decision for themselves. Now wait a minute. That actually resonates with some of my previous posts. If you view yourself as a god, the author of your life, the ruler of what does and does not happen to you, then the definition of evil becomes any act or thought that you perform that is counter to what you think you should. It begins to come down to what you think is right and wrong for you to do. Anything outside of your moral code is evil.
Does that make anyone who disagrees with your way of thinking evil? No, not exactly. You get to define what is right and wrong for you. You do not get to define that for others, except your children. Good is what is right for you to do. Evil is what is wrong for you to do. It boils down to good and evil simply being value judgements. Each person has their own value judgement system. So each person has their own code for what is good and evil.
More on this later. I promise just not sure when. I have a lot more to say but am not sure what direction I want to go in. See you tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)