When trying to square away the injustice, horror and sheer nonsense of the world, there are a couple different schools of thought that one might turn to.
1. Judeo-Christian: The basic idea is that the universe is good. God is good. People are good. Sure, there may be evil in the world, but that evil is overcome by the good. This is a fight that must be fought but in the end the good will prevail because... well, because it is good. Maybe our lives will be full of suffering but we will be rewarded in heaven or the afterlife. Obviously there are many diverse beliefs encompassed in the Judeo Christian tradition, but they all share a relatively consistent view on morality: don't kill, don't steal, don't lie. Sure, some faiths may be more lenient about some of the "lesser commandments" such as cursing, coveting and not observing the Sabbath but these things are still frowned upon. Why are these rules important? Because the notion that suffering on earth will lead to a reward in heaven keeps the people from rising up. Of course, it also makes it easier for governments to mobilize armies to fight wars for them in the name of their God, their country and their moral beliefs about what is right and wrong.
2. Buddhism: Throw away all judgements you have made because there is no such thing as good and bad or right and wrong. There just is. The best thing we can do is to find acceptance. This is one of the key parts of meditation. Throw away the judgments we have made and just be there in the moment, a part of the universe. We have the habit of classifying everything into 3 categories: good, bad and indifferent. If you really think about it, can you name 5 things that you are not indifferent about but you don't judge as either good or bad? It took me a while to come up with 5. If we judge, we remove our connection withe the universe. The problem is that without judgement we leave ourselves unprotected because we have no control. Are we to just allow ourselves to drift at sea, being washed away into oblivion?
3. Capitalism: The optimists view on Capitalist philosophy is that life should be good. We deserve to live in comfort and ease and if we work hard we can have everything we want. The cynics view is that you need to get yours before someone else does. Either way, the basic goal is the same: accumulate a bunch of stuff that is supposed to make your life easier. The obvious question this begs is "what do we give up in order to attain this stuff?" Perhaps we lose out humanity. Perhaps we lose our own true purpose, whatever that may be. Perhaps we lose nothing. Personally, I see the bigger problem as one of unsustainability. Unless someone is looking out for the health of the system, we are all doomed.
4. Nihilism: For me, it seems a lot easier to make sense of the universe if you throw out any notion of the way things are "supposed to be". Maybe life has no meaning. Maybe it doesn't matter if we treat each other well or treat the environment well. Maybe our whole sense of morality is just a bunch of arbitrary rules that various institutions prescribed upon us in order to ensure their own survival. But there is clearly a danger when we ascribe meaning to absolutely nothing. Even Nietzsche stated this as the "danger of dangers". It doesn't take a whole lot imagination to see how this path could quickly lead to total destruction.
So there we have it: 4 different philosophies, 4 different ways to destroy ourselves.
First of all, I disagree with your assertion that in Judeo-Christian tradition states that the universe is good. The entire J-C tradition is a study of the battle between good and evil and often evil wins out. Interestingly enough, if you read the Old Testament, you will note that God the Father is portrayed as a very angry, temperamental God, a far cry from the dude hanging out with angels and harp in fluffy white clouds. The walls of 3434 have more than a few reproductions of paintings from the middle ages depicting the evil and macabre. I think the "universe is good" is something dreamed up by the Democrats actually.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, you don't need to kill yourself by philosophizing. If we keep breeding like we are, we will starve ourselves and the planet to death much faster, because competing philosopies never really get us anywhere. Karl Marks said religion is the opiate of the masses. However in the US today, the far right has turned religion into a rallying cry for every conservative tea-party wannabe jackass who wants to whine from their soapbox that gay people getting married is a threat to the institution of marraige. I think straight people cheating on their spouses has pretty much driven a stake into the heart of that Institution long before the first gay pride parade. Oh sorry, this is your blog not mine; I'll shut up now.