a thread for (MWA)'s personal philosophy

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 5:44 pm

GO GO GO!

Posted: Sat Dec 03, 2005 6:23 pm

Drat!

I was hoping this day would not come.

. . .

Well, let me see. I should preface to say that my moral code is one that people can only apply to themselves, and that applied to society, it would not make very much sense, or at least, there is no way that a society would endorse it. I have problems living by it, even though I consider it to be moral, but I guess that is typical. It is a code for those who wish to exist tangential to their worlds, for people who have no need to control anything other than themselves. That is not what society is about.

For you see, we get very swept up in our moral thought with talk about what is best for people, the most people, living things, quality of life, etc., and all of these aspects are values that I do not disagree with, but they seem to be secondary to what is actually important. Life is, or at least can be, a beautiful thing, possibly the most beautiful thing, and so we impose rules to keep that thing as beautiful as it can be. But at the same time, there are other beautiful things, and in my mind, these should also be considered in our moral thought. It's not life that's important, and not beauty either, it's something beyond that, it's something in the balance of the universe. Perhaps balance is the best way to put it.

Destroying a piece of artwork does no harm to anyone, unless you consider the artist who created it and the people deprived of experiencing it. But what have we done to each of these people? Why is it unethical to destroy an artist's work? What difference does it make to the people who will never see what they missed, what does it do to hurt the artist? It seems that what is wrong with the destruction is that the work is a product of so much more than itself, a life, all the experience that went into that life up to that point, all the experiences that made up those lives, all the conditions that played into the production of those lives, and further back,and so it seems that when you destroy or abuse a piece of art (or a person, or anything, really), you are not only commiting a disservice to the art but to THE ENTIRE COSMOS.

And it's not just limited to the things we see, the things that play a role in what we call beautiful. For instance, if The United States decided one day to blow up the planet Mercury, I doubt there would be many people who wouldn't have some objection if there wasn't a good reason for it. The planet Mercury plays nearly no role in our lives, we don't see it, it's completely dead, but doesn't it seem a bit too assertive to say that we can decide the order of the planets, that we can decide what stays where?

It's all about reverence really. It's all about a respect for everything that's come before you, for you are, after all, just one little life in a history that supercedes life, and though you can change things, though you can produce a more controlled beauty than what beauties have come before you, though you may produce and procreate and live, you still owe a responsibility to everything else around you, and you have no right to really control things that shouldn't be within your control unless you are adding something that maintains order.

And you're not going to be able to prevent yourself from doing wrong on a nearly constant basis. But you have to forgive things, you have to act like a piece of an ecosystem, you have to flow, let yourself be weak and flexible, let your will work in relation to other things, not opposed to them. Opposition doesn't really make sense, and whatever is around, you have to work with it. Perhaps you will change it, more likely you won't, but it is not worth fighting over. There is nothing really worth fighting for.

Needless to say, this philosophy is perfect for idealistic, guilt-laden social phobics.

I probably should edit this and make it clearer, but I think I need to eat something, so oh well.

Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 1206 Location: Århus, Denmark

I had every intention of making some witty response to your post, but its just too beautiful Distraughty the Eagle

Joined: 24 Aug 2005 Posts: 5678 Location: Toronto

too long, (MWA), you need to put that into witty aphorism format.

Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 1:17 pm

I think that's a wonderful philosophy for anyone, MWA. Humility is vital on so many levels.

Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 1:19 pm

Yeah, 726 word posts are REAL humble!

Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 3:17 pm