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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: booters who wrote (491)	8/20/2000 1:02:02 PM
From: Solon	Respond to of 28931

These collections of HARMONIES become the building blocks of our selfworth, wholeness. If we loose a building block we are pained. I inteRACT with Jennifer, Jennifer dies, no HARMONY. It sounds like the beginning of a whole orchestra! Of course, my comments were strictly on a theoretical level. In practical terms, we value specific people because we have an emotional investment in their happiness (which is at the same time an investment in our happiness). The question, of course, is what is self interest? And our dialogue has questioned whether or not the self is necessarily limited by physical boundaries--or by boundaries of consciousness. This is strictly philosophical conjecture as to the nature of reality, God, etc. Life must still be lived beneath our feet (although TP's comments on AI, have a lot of implications for the future of homo sapiens). Mind boggling! In practical terms, most of us do not attribute the same value to all others. That would be tantamount to having no values at all, and the world would look like an insane asylum. Come to think of it... :) In real terms, people are continually bartering their baseball cards of value as they strive to further their goals for achieving happiness in accordance with their particular notions. One sometimes sees certain harmonies present in cults where the group have turned over their valuing process to a self styled leader. This harmony stems from the fact that people have abdicated the responsibility of thinking and living. This is not the idea of harmony, I would want to promote; But, rather, when thinking people can rationally comprehend how their self interest must truly take account of and care for the other in a personal sense. I would argue, that evaluating all things in accordance with ones principles and beliefs, is not incompatible with an ethic that affirms an intrinsic positive value for all the world. We commonly give lip service to this idea as regards children, recognizing the implied premise that they do not yet have rationality to guide them, and therefore cannot choose the best in their own natures: "He's only a child, poor thing...I blame the parents; They ought to have..." Here is a quote from Ayn Rand, who was a passionate advocate of living life to its fullest value: "Mankind's youth begin life in various degrees of longing, wistfullness, passion and agonised confusion. Not a view, but a foggy, groping, undefined sense made of raw pain and incommunicable happiness. It is a sense of enormous expectation, that great achievements are within one's capacity, and that great things lie ahead. It is not in the nature of man, nor of any living entity, to start out life by giving up, or by spitting in one's face and damning existence. Some give up at the first touch of pressure; some sell out; some run down by perceptible degrees and lose their fire, never knowing when and how they lost it. "Then all of these vanish in the vast swamp of their elders who tell them persistently that maturity consists of abandoning one's mind; security of abandoning one's values; practicality of losing self-esteem. "Yet a few hold on and move on, knowing that the fire is not to be betrayed learning how to give it shape, purpose and reality. Whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, man seeks a noble vision of man's nature and of life's potential. Only a few in each generation will grasp and achieve the full reality of man's proper stature -- and that the rest will betray it. Those who do, move the world and give life its meaning." (Ayn Rand)

To: booters who wrote (491)	8/20/2000 2:05:01 PM
From: Solon	Respond to of 28931

These collections of HARMONIES become the building blocks of our selfworth, wholeness. If we loose a building block we are pained. I inteRACT with Jennifer, Jennifer dies, no HARMONY Thinking about what you've said; It certainly makes sense. Our popular literature and films are full of moving examples of people reaching a sense of harmony with various aspects of Nature. When we look at our own moments of peace and harmony, we recognize that there was an absolute acceptance of the woods, the wind, flowers, whatever, as representing their own Nature. Everything fits. When we meet other people, we immediately sense their will, and we also sense where they have drawn their boundaries. The harmony does not simply occur, but it develops(if it does), through the sharing of self, and the sense of identity that develops as mutual self interest becomes clear. I would argue that mutual self interest is always present; But it requires to be recognized by both parties. The history of humans has involved an us vs them mentality of mutually exclusive interests and goals, with no attempt made to bridge that gap, but rather to exploit the other side in some way, or at the least to make sure the gates will hold. Slowly Man is evolving to a new consciousness that recognizes the value in people cooperating from a world perspective, and not merely within exclusive groups. This is vitally important, and not simply a theoretical concern. Although cooperative power is more and more determined by the democracy of numbers, destructive power does not require numbers, only Force. As technology gives the potential for incredible destruction to small groups of people, it behooves us to develop an ethic of mutual respect, regard, and cooperation. The human race has extremely compelling motives for overcoming their differences, and developing an ethic of inclusion amongst its various peoples. Unfortunately, the rigidity and exclusivity of some religions, puts everyone at risk by maintaining old barriers--both without and within the mind. This brings us back to the ideas that justified this thread.