What or who is your moral compass?

[SaltPork]

I was going to post this in Philosophy, but I thought it might get a bti more interesting on the general board.

So I was just sitting here contemplating my morality. I had watched a show on Discovery last night called "The Secrets of Freemasonry". I am a mason, but that's not what this is about. Morality is a huge part of what it is to be a mason. How you live your life, treat others, etc. plays a large part in being granted membership. I started thinking to myself, what things formed my views of what is moral and what isn't? Parents? Siblings? Friends? Certainly all of those provided a base, but there is so much more.

As I get older, I found that I think about things a bit more deeply. I think about how my actions will affect others and I think a lot less about myself. I guess most of what my moral compass is about is how I'm going to be affecting others lives with my actions. I have to think about it as I raise my kids, knowing that they are watching me and copying me. I've learned that morality is about doing the right thing, no matter how difficult it might seem at the time. I guess as you get older your moral compass shifts depending on your life's path.

Maybe this is too heady for the GD board, but give it a shot. What's your moral compass?

[Halx]

I don't believe in morals. I just believe in help, hurt, and to a lesser degree, compassion. I believe all actions can be graded on a sliding scale between "Hurt" and "Help" and if you do enough of either, you will be remembered for it. Compassion is a diluted interpretation of hurt and help, because it depends on those you interact with whether what you do is hurtful or helpful. In any case, I make it my mission to help those I can. What drives me forward is my own desire to be a positive influence on the world on a grand scale.

[Willravel]

I just do what I think is right. It's all I really can do.

[Menoman]

I'd say my parents were the ones who instilled the ability to decide what is right and wrong.

I think I am my own moral compass, if you want to call it that.

Nearly everyday I think, what if someone said this to me, or did this to me, or this happened to me... How would I feel? If that's what you want to call morals, that's what I would say mine are based on.

[SaltPork]

Morals is the label that society has put on doing the right thing. It's all so subjective though, to Halx's point.

[Elphaba]

When the government attempts to legislate their version of morality, I have a very immoral thought that includes dismemberment... Ya know...vote the bastard out of office? Ayup, that's what I mean.

[pan6467]

I do what I believe is best in the situation I am in. Also, I go by the credo that the love, caring, understanding and compassion I show for another will comeback to me when I am in need.

I believe as a whole we need to focus more on how to help one another and how to better EVERYONE's life than to allow the very few to hoarde wealth, control through fear, destroy the air and water, and develop better ways to kill people.

If we put the money we spent and are spending in Iraq, into things like teaching Ethiopians how to cultivate their lands, showed the world what humanitarianism truly is..... this world would be a Nirvana, an Eden.

I know it's all hippieish.... but I am a Lennonite Priest afterall.

[Menoman]

I have a T-shirt with that exact pic of lennon on the front

[Xazy]

I believe the Torah is a great guide, and I strive to live up to its teachings.

[Charlatan]

I think about this quite a bit but more in relation to my kids.

I wonder about what effect I am having on shaping my kid's sense of what is right and wrong. What other events and experiences are effecting them as well.

The extension of this is, naturally, what were the influences on me that make the way I am to impart this upon my kids.

I am not sure I have a single person or text to which I can point. Sure I can say my Mom or whatever, but when it comes down to it our "moral code" (for lack of a better term) is the sum of experiences.

The more experience the more nuanced we get in our "code".

[analog]

Do what is right, try to help others if/when you can.

Anyone can tell right from wrong- it's following what you know to be right, and staying away from what you know to be wrong, that's the hassle.

[Giant Hamburger]

WWCD?

[Carno]

^ He'd fuckin kick some ass, that's what he would do.

[hagatha]

That is a really good question. I've walked away from Catholicism, but for me Jesus is still probably the best moral compass I can come up with. His teachings, just in the context of a prophet, speak to the ideas of compassion, forgiveness and understanding. I try, really try, to incorporate these ideals into my daily living.
But I draw the line at martyrdom.

[Sorcha]

I try to treat others like I want to be treated. I know I fail sometimes, but I try.

It's also hard to keep a balance between doing right for others and doing right for yourself. If you sacrifice your own wants too much, it throws everything off, just like if you're too self centered and sacrifice everyone else's wants.

[politicophile]

The most important consideration when making a moral decision is the foreseeable outcome of one's action. My moral compass, as it were, is my predictive capacity for the likely consequences of my actions. Armed with the conflicting goals of not doing harm to others and preventing harm to myself, I attempt to plot the future course that best satisfies both goals. I prefer for the total amount of harm done to be as small as possible, with the caveat that harm done to me and those I care about vastly outweighs similar harms to strangers or enemies.

[Grasshopper Green]

I find that the golden rule is a good rule to live by. I've began teaching my son this as well. As far as actual "morals", as long as whatever you are doing doesn't hurt anyone and is happening with/between consensual adults, it's ok by me.

[politicophile]

Originally Posted by Medusa

I find that the golden rule is a good rule to live by. I've began teaching my son this as well. As far as actual "morals", as long as whatever you are doing doesn't hurt anyone and is happening with/between consensual adults, it's ok by me.

This is mildly tangential, but I thought I'd ask anyway:

1. Do you find the golden rule helpful in situations where someone has done something that you have never done before? (For example, provided you are not yourself a murderer, is it helpful to think of treating a murderer the way you would like to be treated if you were in their shoes?) I find that in most cases of evil, I have no idea how I would like to be treated were I the evildoer. Do you think this drawback is surmountable?

2. Do you think there are circumstances in which it is permissible for you to harm others? In which you are obligated to harm others? Or is it truly the case that you should always refrain from harming others?

[Mistress Kali]

Originally Posted by hagatha

That is a really good question. I've walked away from Catholicism, but for me Jesus is still probably the best moral compass I can come up with. His teachings, just in the context of a prophet, speak to the ideas of compassion, forgiveness and understanding. I try, really try, to incorporate these ideals into my daily living.
But I draw the line at martyrdom.

My thoughts exactly, Hagatha.

[thingstodo]

I like the platinum rule: do unto others as they want to be done unto. They may not like it how I like it.

And basically, respect all life, not just people.

[Ourcrazymodern?]

One's moral compass lies within oneself. Attributing its direction to outside forces is, I believe, a mistake, but understandable since our understandings come out of our environments, as do our misunderstandings. Individual packaging and the lodestone swinging...

[Grasshopper Green]

Originally Posted by politicophile

This is mildly tangential, but I thought I'd ask anyway:

1. Do you find the golden rule helpful in situations where someone has done something that you have never done before? (For example, provided you are not yourself a murderer, is it helpful to think of treating a murderer the way you would like to be treated if you were in their shoes?) I find that in most cases of evil, I have no idea how I would like to be treated were I the evildoer. Do you think this drawback is surmountable?

2. Do you think there are circumstances in which it is permissible for you to harm others? In which you are obligated to harm others? Or is it truly the case that you should always refrain from harming others?

I didn't mean to ignore your post politicophile...sorry.

I've never *really* encountered a situation you've described in number one. I know someone who is a murderer, he got in a barfight and accidentally killed someone, did his time, and has been out of prison for years. I treat him the same as I treat anyone else and hope to be treated in return...respectfully until that respect has been violated.

As for harming others...yes, I would harm others if my safety or the safety of my child/family was in question. Purposefully, without provocation...no.

Basically, I'm human. I make mistakes. I do my best to treat others as I would like to be treated, and hope that others do the same for me.

[Telluride]

My "moral compass" is a combination of individual rights and an objective view of reality.

I believe that people should be able to live their lives however they want as long as they don't infringe on the right of their neighbors to do the same. Sometimes, however, my objective view of reality makes some government involvement in our affairs necessary. I don't want to start a political debate, but I will give an example: the environment. The amount of personal and economic freedom we enjoy will be irrelevant if we poison our planet to the point that we can't breathe the air, drink the water, or go outside on a regular basis without getting cancer. That's why I support some government regulation when it comes to things affecting the environment.

[raeanna74]

I used to align myself solidly with the Baptist doctrines and the stricter lifestyle of some Baptists. I even went to the point of wearing headcoverings, no pants, no jewelry, etc. BUT...

My eyes were opened to the hypocricy of MOST of those who were like me. I cannot seem to turn my back completely on the basic doctrine of heaven and hell and how to get there. Beyond that I no faith in the strict practice of any religion. For now I guess the golden rule could be the basic compass in my life. "Do unto other's as you would have do them unto you." But that does not exclude me harming another person in defense of myself or loved ones. It just means that I will treat other's with the respect and concern that I would want, until they earn my disrespect.

[SirLance]

Do unto others, then run...

We all know the difference between right and wrong. My moral compass is to recognize and accept the consequences of my actions. First, do no harm...

But, if you must do harm, accept that it may come back to you.

Then, there's always Groucho: "Never criticize a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. After that, who cares? You're a mile away. And you've got his shoes!"

[sadistikdreams]

Bender.

[Ourcrazymodern?]

...do you really have sadistic dreams?

Feeling the reality of your thinking produces your individual nonsense, and the outside "world" remains influential.

[Dilbert1234567]

Barring Conan... i just try and think how I would feel if the rolls were reversed.

[mx5me]

My first instinct was to say "the golden rule", but that doesn't quite cover it. I try to make decisions that I won't regret or dislike myself for later, when the conflicting desires of the moment are gone. Beyond that, I try to put gut feelings aside for logic and look for the broader implications of my actions or thoughts.

[Ourcrazymodern?]

If my role got reversed
Or my moral compass spun around
I'd land in the same place.

A moral compass is like a gyroscope.

[soniclifemonkey]

I have been a church goer all my life (a methodist). I don't beleive in everything they do but it has been the best moral compass I could find. So I live by the Golden Rule amoung other things.

I the past year I read the book The Power of Now by Ekart Tolle. It has really opened my eyes and now I understand why I go to church, what peace is and what Jesus, Budda and other prophets were in touch with that others were not.

Thing is, this is not a relegious book. In fact I am reading his second book and he so far has almost said that organized religion is not even necessary.

To sum it up I look to the church for ways to see inside myself. Look into my soul and find peace. I feel my inner energy and from that flows abundance. From that abundance comes the things that I can use to live by the golden rule. I can find some true joy this way. It can rub off.

[Ourcrazymodern?]

The one who has the gold makes the rules.

Seeing inside yourself should be a given.

Saltpork, c'mon! Your moral compass comes from what you figured out, I think you already said? ...the outside influences what's inside... Any peace remaining is for the lucky, the brave, and the good.

[SaltPork]

Originally Posted by Ourcrazymodern?

The one who has the gold makes the rules.

Seeing inside yourself should be a given.

Saltpork, c'mon! Your moral compass comes from what you figured out, I think you already said? ...the outside influences what's inside... Any peace remaining is for the lucky, the brave, and the good.

Well said OCM, even if I'm simply agreeing with myself in a roundabout way.