Don't know if anyone caught the racism in louisianna earlier on the beeb but I saw most of it. The thing that really struck me was the priest who was trying to bring the community together, when asked how the situation could be resolved he said;
"The law restricts a mans behaviour. In an environment without laws a man reacts with his heart and his true self shines through. To make the world a better place we must seek not to censor and restrict through rules but to touch and change mens hearts."
I have added a bit to it but its essentially the same. It really struck a chord with me. I wondered if anyone had a similar bit of philosophy that really rings true for them.
A little philosophy
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Sam Slater
- Posts: 11624
- Joined: Fri Jul 14, 2017 2:40 am
Re: A little philosophy
It is pretty much 'right on'.
Most of us live within the law. Not because we have to, but because we want to.
We cannot live without laws though. Man will always try to seek an advantage over another if he/she thinks they may not be caught. A lack of justice would lead to more deceit, theft, murder, and general selfishness. Not because they want to live that way, but because without justice, a kind person will always be left to the dogs.
Kill, or be killed would pretty much come into affect.
We only want to live a moral life -in general- as long as we know the majority live that way also, and that a bad act will be punished.
Humans are incapable of surviving without a group. 10,000 years ago there were no laws, but any person not contributing to the group in a positive way would be outcast, and either starve, get eaten, or injured which would lead to a swift death. We evolved in a way where groups in which the individuals contributed to their group in an altruistic manner survived where others didn't.
Being nice to someone makes us feel good, like sex. It feels good because our genes need us to live a life of altruism and sex to give our genes the best chance to survive onto the next generation. Of course we are all selfish sometimes, but our selfishness is usually hidden until a time we can gain an advantage without our group noticing.
We do not outcast people anymore, but imprison them, or fine them. They're all punishments, and as altruism, and sex, punishment of the bad is something that we evolved for the benefit of our species.
Well, that's my understanding anyway.....
Most of us live within the law. Not because we have to, but because we want to.
We cannot live without laws though. Man will always try to seek an advantage over another if he/she thinks they may not be caught. A lack of justice would lead to more deceit, theft, murder, and general selfishness. Not because they want to live that way, but because without justice, a kind person will always be left to the dogs.
Kill, or be killed would pretty much come into affect.
We only want to live a moral life -in general- as long as we know the majority live that way also, and that a bad act will be punished.
Humans are incapable of surviving without a group. 10,000 years ago there were no laws, but any person not contributing to the group in a positive way would be outcast, and either starve, get eaten, or injured which would lead to a swift death. We evolved in a way where groups in which the individuals contributed to their group in an altruistic manner survived where others didn't.
Being nice to someone makes us feel good, like sex. It feels good because our genes need us to live a life of altruism and sex to give our genes the best chance to survive onto the next generation. Of course we are all selfish sometimes, but our selfishness is usually hidden until a time we can gain an advantage without our group noticing.
We do not outcast people anymore, but imprison them, or fine them. They're all punishments, and as altruism, and sex, punishment of the bad is something that we evolved for the benefit of our species.
Well, that's my understanding anyway.....
[i]I used to spend a lot of time criticizing Islam on here in the noughties - but things are much better now.[/i]