The fire isnt blazing anymore. But it is quietly sufficient, you would have to get really close for the warmth. And there is much needed rest in being self contained. I have a suspicion that I'm a closet anarchist. A spiritual anarchist. A strange term even to me. Every thing I have been writing of late eventually leads there, and I find myself at a loss to communicate without preaching. So I figure let me label myself as such, before I am forced into it. :)
Here's a sample of what I'm writing now:
What is right? and what is wrong? There's none, except what expereince teaches us.
Others' experience as well. If we are wise enough to want to avoid those same pitfalls, along with some introspection. Our intellect that can zip through a thousand different permutations and combinations of actions and long term consequences. What is right is what is beneficial to one's self. What is beneficial to us in the long run is also beneficial to the collective. and what is wrong? whatever is harmful to the collective, is harmful to our own psyche in the long run as well. Taking it a few threads deeper, there is something that works on our psyche, alters it towards content or misery, towards victim or master of destiny. How else does one say to the child " the fire will burn you, bad company can lead you to misery, smoking and drinking will eventually make you less than a man, and lust will kill all the joy of inncence in you, some things, habits will dull your awareness, lead you to misery. And all misery leads to some disease of the physical and mental body. And it is a long climb out of that dark well" ?
Are not all ethics and morals laid out thusly? Only fear is more powerful than reason. Hell works better than heaven. Perhaps a long time ago, when human intellect and emotional intelligence was still evolving, there was a need to coerce everyone for the common good. Only it took strange turns, because authority and power are corrupting, and hunger for them acts slyly, with the will to subjugate everyone else.
Our human system is not so flimsy as to need external ethics imposed on us. And rules and moral laws are degrading. They attack the back bone of the human spirit. Within us we all seek a natural balance, one that existed within us a very very long time ago before sophisticated cunning started. It is born of a choice, a free will, one that unleashes reactions within and without when we swing too far from that balance. We swing, we learn, we go back to that state of principles already built within us. It is a natural state of dignity, of nurturing - ourselves, those in our care and each other. A state that is geared towards our further evolution.
Ignorance after all, is not a mere lack of information. It is the lack of awareness of the process of one's self.
Here's a sample of what I'm writing now:
What is right? and what is wrong? There's none, except what expereince teaches us.
Others' experience as well. If we are wise enough to want to avoid those same pitfalls, along with some introspection. Our intellect that can zip through a thousand different permutations and combinations of actions and long term consequences. What is right is what is beneficial to one's self. What is beneficial to us in the long run is also beneficial to the collective. and what is wrong? whatever is harmful to the collective, is harmful to our own psyche in the long run as well. Taking it a few threads deeper, there is something that works on our psyche, alters it towards content or misery, towards victim or master of destiny. How else does one say to the child " the fire will burn you, bad company can lead you to misery, smoking and drinking will eventually make you less than a man, and lust will kill all the joy of inncence in you, some things, habits will dull your awareness, lead you to misery. And all misery leads to some disease of the physical and mental body. And it is a long climb out of that dark well" ?
Are not all ethics and morals laid out thusly? Only fear is more powerful than reason. Hell works better than heaven. Perhaps a long time ago, when human intellect and emotional intelligence was still evolving, there was a need to coerce everyone for the common good. Only it took strange turns, because authority and power are corrupting, and hunger for them acts slyly, with the will to subjugate everyone else.
Our human system is not so flimsy as to need external ethics imposed on us. And rules and moral laws are degrading. They attack the back bone of the human spirit. Within us we all seek a natural balance, one that existed within us a very very long time ago before sophisticated cunning started. It is born of a choice, a free will, one that unleashes reactions within and without when we swing too far from that balance. We swing, we learn, we go back to that state of principles already built within us. It is a natural state of dignity, of nurturing - ourselves, those in our care and each other. A state that is geared towards our further evolution.
Ignorance after all, is not a mere lack of information. It is the lack of awareness of the process of one's self.
21 comments:
Anarchist or not, you definitely are a teacher, a guide.
Good one, Ms Anarchist.
So what to do with the ignorant and willfully violent and greedy. So sad that it's for them that rules and laws are necessary.
I think the 10 Commandments were written less as commands than "if you do this it will not go well with you."
I need to read this a few more times to get the gist of what you are saying. It's a big topic, isn't it, and my head doesn't know how to wrap around it.
Vegetables are indeed good for health.
You are absolutely right Mystic Rose, i agree with you totally and completely.
Hi Ruth,
yes, it IS a big topic. And my thoughts are not comprehensive at all. When I referred to moral laws, I was talking about the idea of sinning and guilt and punishment as laid down by the church or priests, by an external authority which does not really have an authority over our spirits. I think we are governed by some properties of our own nature, just as the laws of physics that govern the Universe.
I think when they talked of sins, greed, lust, envy, hate... etc as sins..., there is a reason why it is so. Where did those seeds of bad come from? Did they always exist within us? Some hurt us, our families, and some, on a collective level, hurt the whole collective. Like greed. But I wonder where the need for these teachings arose? There are some cultures where these are totally absent. And teaching them these would be awakening them to things that are not really inherent.
And regarding those who are wilfully violent, destructive, the psyche there has already been perverted, is there any comeback after that? I think they fall into a category that is totally their own. But they have the ability and power to corrupt, to appeal to those seeds of violence, hatred, abuse, within us and feed them. Something goes haywire I believe, and responds to their stimuli. How should Hitler have been dealt with? He could only gain influence becos there was something prevalent at that time in people that he could touch and draw on.
I believe it really does come down to each of us, to be strong in our individual awareness. It also comes down to parents, and thereby women, mothers making sure they raise the children in a way that their compassion, kindness, fair mindedness, bravery are strongly developed. That they know that hatred, and greed, and anger are highly destructive. To always correct and draw the attention and thoughts and words and actions to a higher level. Somewhere i read that the work of a mother(parent) is even more than that of a king, And I know that it is a constant draw on energy and attention, and patience, to keep a watch on the way their personality is evolving. To guide it, but without too much force, to let them grow and experience but within the proper boundaries. It is subtle, and needs balance. Most children are naturally good, but there is always the influence of the outer world , the bad of which needs to be corrected , and the good encouraged. Only my thoughts, ofcourse.
Kabir,
thanks for the boost :)
As always, when I post something like htis Im cringing inside. Its not easy wearing one's heart(beliefs) on one's sleeve.
rauf,
Yes, yes. More power to us :)
went downstairs, picked up a carrot.
what ?
carrot
wash it before you eat
monkey doesn't wash
after having a carrot, still my brain is not working.
Monkey is born without ideas, lives without ideas and dies without ideas.
i don't preach but i protest Mystic Rose. i am disappointed with myself and the entire human race disappoints me and it has disappointed mother nature.
i look at myself from ten miles above the earth. just ten miles Mystic.
i am invisible in a tiny ball in our galaxy, our galaxy itself is invisible in a larger map. All my ideas, my beliefs my being right or wrong seem so ridiculous. It makes no difference.
There are people who believe that they are so right. Does it really matter ? There are bible thumping crowd who don't agree with each other, they all believe that they are so right. And there are Darwin thumping Atheists who believe that they are so right. There is no difference between them and the Talibaan.
Your right is my wrong.
and No moral laws are imposed on the monkey.
My friend Inge was telling me yesterday about a big fuss at work - someone had decided something without her that affected her job, and that person wasn't in authority over her - and happened to be her friend to boot. Well it led to a big upset. Inge was right to be angry, and Elizabeth had her rights too. But then, what? Go on being angry over who was right and who was wrong? I reminded her that mallards swimming on the river fight and flap their wings splashing the water in a huff over a female or whatever, then swim away. They've already forgotten about it. It's ok to protest an offense, but it doesn't need to become a doctrine, or fuel for war.
Rauf,
I dont know if it matters, as far as living is concerned, we can only live and let live, right?
ruth,
Indeed!
You express yourself so well. I enjoyed your post. Thanks and keep writing.
Do we ?
i mean do we let live ?
please tell me how did you arrive at the definition of right and wrong ?
if killing my brother is beneficial to me would you call it a right action ?
rani,
thank you :)
rauf,
hate and violence are beneficial to you?
Mystic please read carefully, take your time
Mystic I agree with you.. esp what you say about ignorance.
Rauf how can killing be beneficial to you in the long run ?
1. You have to worry about revenge from your brother's family in the long run
2. You have to worry about the law
3. You have to tackle guilt
4. And obviously the grief of your parents. ( if you love your parents)
In that case how can it be beneficial to you in the long run?
Pooheedee, you too are not reading, are the words partially visible to you ?
i said 'if' i think you both missed it.
This is the definition of right according to Mystic Rose
What is right is what is beneficial to one's self. What is beneficial to us in the long run is also beneficial to the collective
i asked Mystic how she arrived at this definition.
according to this definition, robbing a bank is a right action.
Let me ask you again.
IF......IF.....IF, killing my brother is beneficial to me would you call it a right action ?
Thinking is a completely different department.
What a startling basket of reactions you have collected to this posting. I think you've done a wonderful job of presenting the issue, but I have a question to ask regarding your point that "Within us we all seek a natural balance..." That's a keystone in your construct that I hope you'll discuss at more length in a later posting- whether or not it is true for all people at all times, and, if not, whether it is the source of much conflict.
One of my early chi kung teachers told me that all people seek the natural balance over the course of their successive reincarnations, but not in any one given lifetime. He explained that external ethics are in fact an imperfect attempt to address that shortcoming.
She is an old Chinese woman not given to questions, and I take what she has given me and consider it respectfully. However, I would very much appreciate your help in looking at this idea in more detail.
Mystic Rose,
It is not only fear, but also passion that wins over reason. But than, what is reasonable and rational is anyones' guess. If you look from window of your thought and a person sitting at another end of spectrum looks through the window of her thought, will one be viewing the back and the other front portion of it? Will reason/rationality have two faces?
Again, this depends on the perspective you are reading all this from. If the idea is to find flaws in an argument, and this isnt an argument I have put forth, you WILL find a thousand flaws and a thousand conuter arguments. If you read it solely from the point of your awareness, then you will understand.
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