As an irreligious person I view the terms "sacred" and "sacrosanct" with a jaundiced eye. Those terms are almost always used in a religious or even religionistic context.
If I select a less-loaded definition, "set apart, beyond reproach" ... interesting question. I consider it my privilege, and to some extent, my duty to question everything, to ask with as little bias as possible - Who am I? What is nature? and the other Really Big Ones. So, embracing the paradox - I hold as holy the idea that nothing is off limits.
In your eyes this probably locks me in as a moral relativist. Could be; I don't lose much sleep over it. My search for anything deserving of the title "moral law" (was it Greg who discoursed with me regarding that some weeks ago?) has turned up no likely or durable candidates.
When i was much younger I marveled about the multiplicity of moral and aesthetic dimension. I identified at least three axes of goodness - right/wrong, beautiful/ugly, good/bad. (There are probably others and fractional others...) I failed miserably in attempts to systematize these or encounter schemata that integrated these into a greater and internally consistent philosophy.
Perhaps my take-home lesson was "The world is not simple", even though as humans we have an endless appetite for simplicity, a need for answers both universally correct and of a handy size.
I am rambling, reminiscing, abandoning the invulnerability of Shutting Up. |
