Thursday, April 24, 2008

False Amorality redux

False Amorality made the point that accusations of amorality don't help either side of any moral conflict. One example of this is the assumption (sometimes proven right, sometimes not) by some Christians that people who don't believe in the supernatural or at the very least objective morality must not have high standards of behavior or a basis for humane, altruistic actions. The following quote simply expresses a perspective that combines compassion with pessimism about ultimate meaning.
...If there's no great glorious end to all this, if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do. 'Cause that's all there is. What we do, now, today...All I wanna do is help. I wanna help because I don't think people should suffer as they do. Because, if there's no bigger meaning, then the smallest act of kindness is the greatest thing in the world.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

two categories of hypocrisy

The common definition of hypocrisy is someone not doing what they say.

One well-publicized category of it is that of Christians, or any other person who doesn't keep quiet about morality, not living their lives as perfectly as they say they should.

But there's also a second category. In this category, people don't claim at all to live in accordance with their religious "beliefs" or even to "take them seriously" (literal Hell, anyone?). Yet they attend services, sing songs, feign prayers, and always expect the other guy to volunteer. They silently dismiss any mutterings they hear about taking up crosses.

In the first category, well-meaning people make mistakes like everyone else as they struggle to put their difficult beliefs into practice. In the second category, people openly do as they like while telling bald lies to themselves and others about their feelings, commitments, and loyalties. Which is worse?

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

spontaneous not random acts of kindness

Go ahead, perform acts of kindness, but not randomly. Acts of kindness should be motivated. Help an unknown person not out of obligation to the "randomness edict" but out of compassion and sympathy for flawed humanity. Let your "light" shine before men always, but do this in full conscious awareness. Aim to do the most good to the most drastic need. Unthinking, unfeeling, randomized behavior is beneath the dignity of our responsibility to represent God on Earth.

The virtuous person spontaneously gives to everyone around him or her from a bottomless divine supply, but do not compare these gifts to a die roll.