Some people believe in absolute morality, where some deity decided what is and isn't moral and that will never change. Others believe in relative morality, where what is moral for one person is not moral for others.
Since some murderers and war criminals do not believe that they did anything wrong, I have a hard time believing in absolute morality. That leaves me with relative morality, and the question I've been trying to answer, "How do I know if I am doing something wrong?" I don't believe in any particular deity, nor do I have strong faith in any particular book or group of people, so I must do what most people do and listen to my conscience. When I feel guilty, I try to change things so that I no longer feel guilty (example: If I insult someone without meaning to, I want to make sure to apologize to the person and make him understand that I regret what I said).
Let me take a step back. How can I decide is what someone else is doing is right or wrong? Simply put, If a person feels guilty, then that person is doing something wrong. That almost covers it, but that simple rule lets people kill each other as long as they feel no remorse. So there is an addition to the above rule, which is, If a person causes damage, then that person is doing something wrong. And combined it makes the simple rule of morality:
A person is doing something wrong when that person feels guilty or causes damage to another.
Now I'm sure that there are some holes in the above theory, but in general I think it works. It removes the idea of "victimless crimes" and hopefully will let people live and let live. If I want to have sex with two other men while smoking pot and cutting off my left leg, I should be legally allowed to (assuming that the other men consent).
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Conscience - The Heaven and Hell of our mind.
What does all this have to do with Heaven and Hell? I tend to take the bible metaphorically and consider it a rather good work of fiction. It teaches a lot of good lessons, but I consider it to be part of our mythology more so then the word of God.
Hell: A place where people that did wrong during life are punished. What if we look at our Conscience as our own personal hell? When we do bad things, our mind goes into hell.
Heaven: A condition or place of great happiness, delight, or pleasure. What if we look at self satisfaction we feel when we help others as our own personal heaven? We help others and in general do good, and our mind goes to heaven.
Consider it, you are a normal person living a normal life and doing normal things. After a bad day you get mad at one of your friends and chew him out for no good reason. You feel like shit until you resolve it a few days later. Next month, you volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and help a family in need. Now you feel great.
Look at your actions over the next few days as your own heaven and hell and consider if this metaphor works in your life.
Hell: A place where people that did wrong during life are punished. What if we look at our Conscience as our own personal hell? When we do bad things, our mind goes into hell.
Heaven: A condition or place of great happiness, delight, or pleasure. What if we look at self satisfaction we feel when we help others as our own personal heaven? We help others and in general do good, and our mind goes to heaven.
Consider it, you are a normal person living a normal life and doing normal things. After a bad day you get mad at one of your friends and chew him out for no good reason. You feel like shit until you resolve it a few days later. Next month, you volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and help a family in need. Now you feel great.
Look at your actions over the next few days as your own heaven and hell and consider if this metaphor works in your life.
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