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Old 01-24-2004, 01:53 PM   #58 (permalink)
wilbjammin
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Er... ok.

Quote:
Are you speaking in terms of reality as most people see it or how you truly think IT IS? What I mean is, Do you think that the world could be in a better shape IF more people, if not all, followed their hearts and made choices revolving around Love? I am speaking of the universal, unconditional Love. Or are you saying that people choose and value power over love, and that's just how it is and it couldn't be any different?
I'm saying that people value different things. If I were to apply my values to other people, then maybe I could come up with a universal claim such as yours, but I refuse to do that. Some people value the self more than the whole of the community. Some people value their nation more than the world. Some people just care that their family is taken care of, and the rest is too much to pay attention to. Of every choice we make, its relationship to suffering and power need to be taken in account of because people don't want to feel pain or helplessness. Some people like to be martyrs, in which case pain and helplessness are necessary or even embraced for an ideal of love. I am not that kind of man.

Also, I think often times that what some people do out of "love" is actually very detrimental towards that well-being of that individual and/or their self. Examples:

Enabling someone to do destructive activities such as drug abuse or skirting responsibilities towards others or their self. Attempting to make decisions for others because they don't see the "right decision" well enough on their own, so they need to be told what to do. Letting yourself get walked on emotionally by another because that is just "who they are", and they don't know any better. Etc etc.


As for your Joan of Arcadia example, I just have one thing to say: God doesn't talk to me and tell me to destroy things in a seemingly random fashion, or otherwise converse with me in ways that cause me to do things that I don't understand that eventually make their meaning known later. I don't understand how to apply this television example to my real life.

I am reminded of the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Would you trust God to tell you to end the life of another for the greater good? I most certainly would not. For me, there is no teleological suspension of the ethical. I would not kill my son, and I would not destory someone's piece of art... they are nearly on an equal plane, since they are productions of creation.
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