Reasons and excuses, we all got'em. It begins when we are children and never ends. The struggle throughout our lives is determining which is which. It is also what lawyers have made their living doing, since there were lawyers. The determination of that is what we call morality and ethics. If you have any doubt about that just listen to the news or listen to a trial, of any kind. Yes, I killed this person; but. The but can save your butt! How many reasons and excuses are codified? It's a number I don't believe anyone knows, they are as numerous and varied as flowers in a field.
Well it all starts with one rule really, the golden rule. It is from there we begin to make reasons and excuses why we didn't follow that rule. We have to figure out a way to prove the other person didn't deserve that courtesy. Isn't that what it is really, a courtesy? Another word for that is civility. To be civilized. Civilized people live in societies. They share common interests and goals, along with tradition and culture. In order to deviate from that, we need a reason. When there is no sound reason, we make an excuse. An excuse is an exception to the rule. Also the reason we started to write down those reasons and excuses. We codified them as a reference should we need to defend our choices.
Religion was the first attempt at that. It doesn't matter if you are worshipping one god, many gods, trees or whatever, the importance lies where? In pleasing the god(s). This you do to benefit yourself. It's a selfish act really, as your concern is your immortality. In most religions that is true anyway. The Vikings were concerned with Valhalla, Buddhists believe your reward is here on earth, there is no punishment or reward after death. Christians, Jews and Muslims all believe in life after death, accompanied by reward for good behavior. All religion shares one commonality, things will be better for you if you follow the rule(s). It's just a matter of where, when and how. For instance a Buddhist will say, " The wise man makes his own heaven while the foolish man creates his own hell here and hereafter. " So you could say, if you are unhappy here today, that's your own fault. There is no reason or excuse that overrides that. You are in control of your destiny. Buddhists don't believe in the existence of a God. They are all about character building and mental training. There is no fear of reprisal from a vengeful God. The consequence for them is immediate, right here and now. Perhaps they have a greater sense of urgency, I couldn't say.
After religion man began to form governments. They come in many styles, many forms. Governments were formed for a single purpose, to provide guidance to the people. These are the rules! Violate the rules and there will be consequences. And that brought us to where we are today. The struggle has become between ourselves and government. No different really than the struggle we have between our God(s) and ourselves. We become more concerned with the reward than what we are actually doing. Well, there is one striking difference between the two, we can negotiate with government. I haven't heard of any God (s) that were open to that. God has a way of making demands. Sure man has offered sacrifices to the God(s) in the hope of gaining favor. I question the effectiveness of that approach. I mean, after all, what is the God to gain? God can just take whatever God wants! That's how it works in my understanding anyway.
In my rambling way this is what I have reached as an explanation for what I see happening today. We have become so concerned with providing reasons and excuses that we have forgotten the rule. God or Gods are being dismissed as not capable of altering events. Many still profess a strong belief in their God but secretly place little faith in their ability to effect an outcome. For that reason they have begun to modify the rules, just a bit. You shouldn't do this, well unless you have a good reason or excuse for doing so. So now we are left with government. You can negotiate with government. If nothing else start a rebellion! Sure government can strike you down with their armies but it's unlikely to happen. Even though that is exactly what has happened on numerous occasions. First, we'll negotiate. In short, over the millennia man has developed a way to negotiate. Can't negotiate with God so we will negotiate with government! As long as government provides us with what we want we will follow the rule. But, we can change the rule! Certainly a lot more convenient than dealing with God. We'll worry about that later.
Well it all starts with one rule really, the golden rule. It is from there we begin to make reasons and excuses why we didn't follow that rule. We have to figure out a way to prove the other person didn't deserve that courtesy. Isn't that what it is really, a courtesy? Another word for that is civility. To be civilized. Civilized people live in societies. They share common interests and goals, along with tradition and culture. In order to deviate from that, we need a reason. When there is no sound reason, we make an excuse. An excuse is an exception to the rule. Also the reason we started to write down those reasons and excuses. We codified them as a reference should we need to defend our choices.
Religion was the first attempt at that. It doesn't matter if you are worshipping one god, many gods, trees or whatever, the importance lies where? In pleasing the god(s). This you do to benefit yourself. It's a selfish act really, as your concern is your immortality. In most religions that is true anyway. The Vikings were concerned with Valhalla, Buddhists believe your reward is here on earth, there is no punishment or reward after death. Christians, Jews and Muslims all believe in life after death, accompanied by reward for good behavior. All religion shares one commonality, things will be better for you if you follow the rule(s). It's just a matter of where, when and how. For instance a Buddhist will say, " The wise man makes his own heaven while the foolish man creates his own hell here and hereafter. " So you could say, if you are unhappy here today, that's your own fault. There is no reason or excuse that overrides that. You are in control of your destiny. Buddhists don't believe in the existence of a God. They are all about character building and mental training. There is no fear of reprisal from a vengeful God. The consequence for them is immediate, right here and now. Perhaps they have a greater sense of urgency, I couldn't say.
After religion man began to form governments. They come in many styles, many forms. Governments were formed for a single purpose, to provide guidance to the people. These are the rules! Violate the rules and there will be consequences. And that brought us to where we are today. The struggle has become between ourselves and government. No different really than the struggle we have between our God(s) and ourselves. We become more concerned with the reward than what we are actually doing. Well, there is one striking difference between the two, we can negotiate with government. I haven't heard of any God (s) that were open to that. God has a way of making demands. Sure man has offered sacrifices to the God(s) in the hope of gaining favor. I question the effectiveness of that approach. I mean, after all, what is the God to gain? God can just take whatever God wants! That's how it works in my understanding anyway.
In my rambling way this is what I have reached as an explanation for what I see happening today. We have become so concerned with providing reasons and excuses that we have forgotten the rule. God or Gods are being dismissed as not capable of altering events. Many still profess a strong belief in their God but secretly place little faith in their ability to effect an outcome. For that reason they have begun to modify the rules, just a bit. You shouldn't do this, well unless you have a good reason or excuse for doing so. So now we are left with government. You can negotiate with government. If nothing else start a rebellion! Sure government can strike you down with their armies but it's unlikely to happen. Even though that is exactly what has happened on numerous occasions. First, we'll negotiate. In short, over the millennia man has developed a way to negotiate. Can't negotiate with God so we will negotiate with government! As long as government provides us with what we want we will follow the rule. But, we can change the rule! Certainly a lot more convenient than dealing with God. We'll worry about that later.
No comments:
Post a Comment