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The Gaffer's Philosophy;
Part 29: On Ethics and Spirituality:
Our Behavior and Consciousness:
November 25, 2002:
In this piece, I want to get into a discussion of our behavior
and how it affects our consciousness. The reality is, we know,
and we have always known, what is wrong, what is right, and the
difference between them. A sociopath can conceal this knowledge
from himself very well, but even he knows it. The argument that
everyone else is doing it so I have a right to do it to, is just
dishonesty personified. Transferring responsibility for our behavior
outside ourselves is a classic dishonesty of our current culture.
Wherever we find it, it is a cheap two-bit copout. Everyone can
behave well and there is no excuse for not doing it.
What do I mean by good behavior? I simply mean doing those things we all know we ought to do. We keep our commitments, implicit and explicit. We take care of our family obligations and our community obligations. In the vernacular, we take out our own garbage. Then we will begin to grow. If we are so dishonest that we will not take out our own garbage, we are doomed to failure. Virtue comes out of and is developed by habit. Nothing more. The more we do what is right, the more we will want to do what is right. With established habit we become able to do right easily. Discipline is not abstaining, it is the habit of moderation. Moderation is the virtue.
Behaving well is one early and essential step in human growth. Anyone can do that. It only requires discipline. It is dishonest to pretend that we cannot behave well because of our baggage (emotional problems). The person with that childish excuse, will never change. He will stay the way he is until he dies. We all have baggage. The best of us meet it head on and work through it. The worst of us use it as an excuse for laziness. I have no sympathy or help for that mindset. My answer is, break my heart. The sooner you die, the better off the world will be. Get off of your butt. Get some discipline. Do what you are supposed to do. Anyone can do that.
Once we begin behaving well, we will become more sensitive. We will become more clear on what we ought to be doing. We will find better methods to work through the emotional handicaps we have developed through life. The more of these handicaps we remove, the better our minds will work. This is a long slow deliberate process of raising our consciousness. The truth is, your mind will work better if you make it work. If you don't, it will degenerate. This is what has happened to most older Americans. They have let their minds degenerate though disuse and misuse. If we BS ourselves, our minds will get into that habit and slide around the truth like wet noodles on a plate.
Here is an interesting thing to notice. When I behave well, I feel better and my life works better. That is true about me. I believe it is true about everyone. There is no need to create elaborate myths or theories about that. It is simply about behavior. Sooner or later, what goes around really does come around. It is not necessary to postulate a divine being to explain it. It could be simply because good behavior reduces inner conflicts and thus increases efficiency. That is good for us and for our community. What is good for our community will ultimately be good for us. It goes around and comes around.
There is overwhelming evidence to support the fact that a community will prosper when the people in that community behave well. Furthermore, when the community prospers, the individual members have an opportunity to prosper. Conversely, when people do not behave well, the community degenerates rapidly. Individual opportunity will likewise decline apace. You need only read a little history and look around you to confirm that.
Hence, we need a way to convince the individual members within a community that it is in their best interests to behave well. This is where our true dominant leader must exercise his powers. Without this leader, force is the only tool we have to affect human behavior. Again, we only need look at recent history to know how ineffective force by itself will be. There are not enough police, courts, or jails to make force alone work. We must always remember that a person who comes to power through force or chicanery is not a true dominant, thus not a true leader.
Let us consider the idea of a true dominant as a person who is a natural leader. He is the person who will take over in a crisis. He is the person who will be a group leader in any un-managed setting. In a managed setting, the dominant will still be present, but may not be the appointed manager. He will be operating covertly or with tacit permission. This true dominant is good in the sense of our definition of good and evil. At his best, he does act to enhance the human condition and spirit. He does bring out the best from the humans in his care.
As I have pointed out in previous essays, I do not expect to sell these ideas to the rabble. I do hope to convince some of the thoughtful people. If there are enough thoughtful people, we can cause the rabble to behave better. Then, they will eventually become thoughtful too. That is how mankind has always progressed. We have a handful of people who lead the way for the rest of us. If the leadership is sound, and obviously superior, the rest of us will come along. We are not going to change the rabble or their belief systems very fast. We can let them believe whatever they wish. What we must do is get them to behave better. Then they will change what they believe very slowly.
It is a long time since we have had sustained sound superior leadership. It has not happened in my lifetime. We have, instead, self appointed demagogues who offer us quick fixes. The recent midterm election campaigning (2002) gives us the best example of these people in action. The swinish behavior of all parties and all persons involved was disgraceful, disgusting, and embarrassing. It made me sick and made me not care which of those vile people won.
In this entire country there is not one decent politician. It really does not matter who won. In politics we once talked about mudslinging, but this is not mud they are hurtling at each other. This is human excrement coming out of their mouths. There are many rationalizations about this swinish behavior. Some just lie and say, this is not a negative statement it is simply a statement of fact. Others will say, I have to do it because my opponent is doing it.
The ultimate position is, we do it because it works. Flinging human excrement works. It gets votes. I would submit that bank robbing also works for some people. Child abuse works for some people. Murder works for some people. Is that the justification? It works? Victory at any cost? The end justifies the means? Where is the line? Their behavior is beyond contempt. It diminishes the human spirit and it is evil.
There are no good political people in America anywhere at this time. We have no true dominant leaders anywhere. We have only scum. The change I hope for will take time and it will be guided by true leaders. It seems to me that we ought to be getting fed up with short the term solutions provided by these political hacks to the serious failures in our culture. These short term dishonesties always bring more problems that they solve.
As I have indicated, some of us must become true good dominants,
if we wish to turn our nation around. We must become influential
enough to take charge. We can get to that point by rasing our
consciousness until our path becomes clear. Next time, I will
outline more of the methods available to us for growth and consciousness
raising.
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