The nature of the beast
I often can't tell wether i am a good person or an evil person who can act good. I suppose my impact on the world is minimal, so it would be hard to say that i do evil. Most people think i'm a really nice guy. Some even think i'm the nicest they've ever met. Most think i'm unique though. Society and i have never gone hand in hand, we walk different pathes and see the world very differently. So am i evil? i don't know. Sometimes i wonder about how much i respect other people, how much i value them. Why do i value them when i do, and why to i respect them? I suppose for most people it doesn't really matter what the anwsers are, and they are fine going through life without ever considering it, and they will also be good people.
Imagine for a moment what it looks like to me... i doubt very much that i can explain it just how it is, cause it makes sense in a way that people don't see always... If i look at every action i take, and i break it down into its potention reasons for the action being taken, then i'll end up with many possible motivations behind it. Now if i assume that there is no way to knwo which motivation moved me at the time, or for near future incidents, then i have to assume that any negative motivations are possible. Now if i were to decide to live in such a way that i would do everything posssible to never follow a negative motivation and thus do the least evil, then i would have to not allow myself to follow any action that might be inacted through a negative motivation. And given human nature and the chaotic nature of the universe, you can always find some negative motivation for even the best resulting action. Basically, even when doing good, it can be done for the wrong reasons, which one could say makes it wrong. Its like businesses that will pay to temporarily protect some useless part of the environment, so they can cut down a vital one to further their own good. It is a very common practice in buisness to donate, support and otherwise put a good public face when they are activly doing wrongs somewhere else. Sometimes they aren't even doing wrong elsewhere, but just trying to better their image to better the publics view of them, to make better profits and build support.
How can anyone possibly tell if something is being done for good or ill? I've often thought that the best president would be the one who would get no recognition for anything they did, who would never profit or be allowed to have their family profit from his actions. Any government which allows the leader to further their own power for after they leave their post will rarely (all people dream of the great leaders who sneak through the capitalist nets) find their leaders putting the good of teh country first.
That aside, i can't tell wether or not i'm good or evil, but it seems the safest route is to assume all i do is for evil motivations, except for the rare things that i've learned better about myself... and the safest route to not being evil, assuming all i do has evil motivations, is to do nothing at all. I don't like that though. I don't think i'm truely evil, and even the word "evil" is tough to define. Mostly i'm using it here as a way of saying that i'm furthering my own needs over the greater needs of others. That i take advantage, in whatever small ways, of other people to further my own good or desires. I have a lot of desires... perhapes that also makes me evil. To keep wanting more, to want to take it. I'm a morally flexible person i think. Morals are flexible. It is very easy to see that because you can simply look at different cultures around the world today. In this modern world the laws change from place to place, and what is considered wrong in one place is considered common and cute in others. Drinking ages, consentual sex ages, military service, social edicit, everything changes from place to place, even within countries of uniform law. Morals aren't inherent to the human mind, and so they aren't really all that important. I'm strong of convictions though. I beleive in right and wrong, i just don't know where they lie, and i don't adhere to my own beleifs either. I'm a bit of a hypocrite about it. People who've known me long enough would scoff at that and say "a bit?", aye... quite a bit. And i don't admit it much.
Tis time for the short sleep for me.
Imagine for a moment what it looks like to me... i doubt very much that i can explain it just how it is, cause it makes sense in a way that people don't see always... If i look at every action i take, and i break it down into its potention reasons for the action being taken, then i'll end up with many possible motivations behind it. Now if i assume that there is no way to knwo which motivation moved me at the time, or for near future incidents, then i have to assume that any negative motivations are possible. Now if i were to decide to live in such a way that i would do everything posssible to never follow a negative motivation and thus do the least evil, then i would have to not allow myself to follow any action that might be inacted through a negative motivation. And given human nature and the chaotic nature of the universe, you can always find some negative motivation for even the best resulting action. Basically, even when doing good, it can be done for the wrong reasons, which one could say makes it wrong. Its like businesses that will pay to temporarily protect some useless part of the environment, so they can cut down a vital one to further their own good. It is a very common practice in buisness to donate, support and otherwise put a good public face when they are activly doing wrongs somewhere else. Sometimes they aren't even doing wrong elsewhere, but just trying to better their image to better the publics view of them, to make better profits and build support.
How can anyone possibly tell if something is being done for good or ill? I've often thought that the best president would be the one who would get no recognition for anything they did, who would never profit or be allowed to have their family profit from his actions. Any government which allows the leader to further their own power for after they leave their post will rarely (all people dream of the great leaders who sneak through the capitalist nets) find their leaders putting the good of teh country first.
That aside, i can't tell wether or not i'm good or evil, but it seems the safest route is to assume all i do is for evil motivations, except for the rare things that i've learned better about myself... and the safest route to not being evil, assuming all i do has evil motivations, is to do nothing at all. I don't like that though. I don't think i'm truely evil, and even the word "evil" is tough to define. Mostly i'm using it here as a way of saying that i'm furthering my own needs over the greater needs of others. That i take advantage, in whatever small ways, of other people to further my own good or desires. I have a lot of desires... perhapes that also makes me evil. To keep wanting more, to want to take it. I'm a morally flexible person i think. Morals are flexible. It is very easy to see that because you can simply look at different cultures around the world today. In this modern world the laws change from place to place, and what is considered wrong in one place is considered common and cute in others. Drinking ages, consentual sex ages, military service, social edicit, everything changes from place to place, even within countries of uniform law. Morals aren't inherent to the human mind, and so they aren't really all that important. I'm strong of convictions though. I beleive in right and wrong, i just don't know where they lie, and i don't adhere to my own beleifs either. I'm a bit of a hypocrite about it. People who've known me long enough would scoff at that and say "a bit?", aye... quite a bit. And i don't admit it much.
Tis time for the short sleep for me.
posted by The Lost at 1:32 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home