Quote:
Originally Posted by fern46
You didn't ask me... But I think there's no morally superior road. I think if we feel compelled to take action against something we must recognize that an equal and opposite reaction is coming our way. Is that worth it? That depends wholly upon your internal value structure. So like you said, you may be signing up for pain. Pain sometimes leads to what we feel is the greater good and it adds value to our experience. It is a choice.
Someone choosing not to engage in something that is painful doesn't make them bad or inferior. It just means they choose not to expand along that particular pathway.
So in your war example, me judging the actions of others as not right for me is one thing. Me standing in their way and applying force against them is another. If I apply the force, I must do it with the knowing it will generate a counter force. If I let them proceed without restraint on my part I can know they will eventually be met with a counter force even if I do not sign up to supply it. Maybe I'm ok with that. Maybe not. If someone were to attack my family I'd probably jump right in despite the consequences. It would be pain that I sign up for willingly.
I think the goal is to have clarity about where you want to go, how you want to get there and what to do if you decide it isn't for you and you wish to go someplace else.
Be a hero if you want to be a hero. That can be an awesome and worthwhile adventure. Just be prepared to dance with the villain. I got in deep with that once on a moral high road. It knocked me flat on my face and left me rethinking my feeling I had a right to judge the actions of what I thought was my opponent... I'd probably be willing to mix it up with them again, but I'd take a wildly different approach.
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I once had a very wise counselor at Talbott in Atlanta, which is to say, any counselor ever at Talbott in Atlanta, say to me:
The goal of any kind of recovery is peace.
And that is correct for me. I agree with that, 100%. I do not have peace when I am psychotic all the time, like now. And my hands are basically completely full at the moment just trying to stay out of the hospital--again.
That said, after sitting with your very intriguing post above over night, I have realized that in my particular world construct, there actually is some black and white in this world of ours--of the starkest variety. Yes, maybe 98.673% of life is grey. Probably. But, when the other portion rears its head, the dark portion, I personally believe that some of that is pure, utter, complete evil. 1000% Examples: genocide; harming children systematically and programatically for financial profit; abusing the authority of extremely powerful public offices and mass-violating laws to intentionally harm perceived opponents, extrajudicially and without oversight; denial of free speech of human beings, which is the first requirement and a necessary step on the path to totalitarianism, a condition that not infrequently may lead to other atrocities, such as genocide. Etc, etc.
Obviously, these are just my own personal beliefs and noone else needs to share them or find merit in them whatsoever. But they certainly are my guiding principles, no question. I do believe there is evil in this world. Completely black, pure evil. And I do, myself, believe that there arises occasions when there is no other acceptable option but to confront that evil with all available means. Genocide is never okay.
To me, as an American who has worked in China a lot, denial of free speech is actually evil. Because of what it virtually always leads to. Not going to get political here, and just in case you think I am being one-sided, I will just blurt that I am a lifelong Republican, believe it or not. And yet, just look at the confusion our president has created about COVID with his non-factual comments. The Maryland Health Department received more than 300 calls yesterday inquiring if it was wise to ingest disinfectant. Nuf said. Offering non-factual information as fact is dangerous. Denial of free speech is extremely dangerous. Because of the path if paves for mass-deception, fraud, and the creation of an alternate universe with alternate, preferable, personally favorable "facts," essentially, precisely as Orwell so sagely predicted.
I do not feel or believe that I am morally superior in any way to anyone. Hardly. I believe that I am a human with a soul. If you are not deeply disturbed by what the Chinese government is doing to the Uyghurs and if you do not believe it should immediately stop and that the planet should do everything in its power to achieve that end, well, I would suggest to you that you have some very important humanity-rooted issues to work on, likely. Matters regarding the soul and the overall structure and meaning and purpose of the universe. Not remotely speaking to you, fern, obviously, with this, when I use the word "you." Just sort of speaking to the galaxy, in general.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, Edmund Burke.
Okay--sorry for the massive, probably very inappropriate rant. I clearly feel quite strongly about all this. Apologies. And thank you for provoking me to search my own belief structure.