Awesome Post Luna!
You never cease to amaze me.
lunamoth said:
I think we progress in the tension that exists between these two states of being. In this existence we can't live in a transcendent state, although we may experience glimmers of it through meditation and mystical practices, or sometimes through brief spontaneous transcendence. But we can't practically conduct our lives when we live in complete detachment from this world. Maybe a few people can afford to do this, but it can't be done by everyone.
Interesting idea about existing in the tension between. Is either extreme then, transcendent or basic (animal), out of normal operating range for modern humanity?
I think this is part of what Ayn Rand rails against. Why should society support the mystics/religionists, not to mention the meek and weak, among us. Let me say again here that I do not agree with her objectivism philosophy precisely because it lacks compassion. It puts no value on something I think is an important part of being human.
Oh, I absolutely agree. I do find a great deal of wisdom pertaining to matters of business. In other words, there is wisdom within, it just isn't 100% gospel type wisdom.
So why don't we just live in a natural, and I would think brutal, manner. Why do we suspect that if we abandon our morality, or fail to pass it on to the next generation, it would result in a Lord of the Flies society.
For the sake of discussion, is the "Lord of the Flies" society amoral if it is tune with the Tao? As presented in the book, because these were creatures raised into another moral model, the "paradigm shift" into a strange moral model would have been hugely taxing mentally. Culture shock in the
nth degree.
But if those boys had been raised into that morality...their moral model would have been far less severe. They would have the trappings they were stripped of in the plane wreck; parents, family, a system with their betterment at heart, and more social support. Consider the LOTF process in reverse; bring a "savage" into the modern world, forcibly and decidedly.
Why is it that after every episode of eugenics attempted throughout history we are left in shock, disgust and horror? Why is ethnic cleansing the most abhorrent aspect of war?
Valid questions I have no answers for.
morally: Justice=good, revenge=bad.
That is what we are taught.
Survival of the fittest is no way to run a civilization.
True, but is it not wise to consider fitness? Our western civilizations are constructed to provide excessive abundance, and that abundance is to our detriment. Our people are overweight and lazy, or fitness nuts, both of which extremes can kill. And if nature is any respectable indicator, as scientists frequently tell us, then we are falling apart as a species and rotting on the vine, physically, mentally, and spiritually.
What distinguishes us as human is that we do try to rise above our animal nature.
we can't abandon morality and merge into the unity of nature. At least not full time, or not in this life.
A lot I guess is perception of morality. What morality is abandoned? Is another morality in place? If you mean abandon Western conception of morality, you would definitely have the LOTF scenerio. But tribal cultures had elaborate moral codes, few of which were written. The shift from one cultural extreme to the other would be pretty harsh, but not unheard of. More of a Tarzan scenario I guess.
An old book comes to mind, I haven't read in many years. Island of the Blue Dolphin. I don't recall the authors name.
