SUBMISSION
Fifteen years ago, I was introduced to a young man who had escaped from Paris. Paris? Yes, Paris. He was the oldest son of a father who was an orthodox Muslim. They were quite well off. He was not too sure of his father's business. He was 20, had excellent grades and was a top athlete. After he graduated, his father informed him it was now time for him to go back to his town of origin and study to become an Imam. However, he was raised as a Parisian, speaking perfect French as well as Arabic. He studied the Koran but as he grew up he contrasted his world of Christian sophistication with his duties and attitudes of a Muslim cleric. No comparison, Unknown to his father, he took increments of "spending" money from the ATM card his father gave him and instead of living expenses he had saved the money until when he was to return to his Arabic roots, he traded in his plane ticket for one to London. I won't detail how he changed his identity and wound up in NYC, and eventually the heartland. Here is his view of Islam:
(I have edied it for brevity). "Islam is based on virtue; the very word means 'submission.'' It is truly not a religion, nor is it merely a set of beliefs but it is an entire way of life. The Koran doesn't simply govern everyone's conduct it is extended to all aspects of society. It regulates law, war, peace, education, economics, sexual conduct, trade and family. Sharia governs everything. It mitigates what it considers the rot of all other beliefs."
Between the Koran and Sharia, if one is to believe, there is no possible way that any Muslim true believer can ever be at peace with any other philosophy or way of life. All of those seeking peace will inevitably be frustrated because they are dealing with shadows. A charade being put on by Muslims for the benefit, eventually of themselves. All those Western peacemakers know that, yet they continue to participate in a game where the rules all favor their opponents. Everyone, Obama, Trump, Bush, Clinton, knows this, yet they continue to go through the motions -- and my question is, why on earth do they continue to do it.?
(I have edied it for brevity). "Islam is based on virtue; the very word means 'submission.'' It is truly not a religion, nor is it merely a set of beliefs but it is an entire way of life. The Koran doesn't simply govern everyone's conduct it is extended to all aspects of society. It regulates law, war, peace, education, economics, sexual conduct, trade and family. Sharia governs everything. It mitigates what it considers the rot of all other beliefs."
Between the Koran and Sharia, if one is to believe, there is no possible way that any Muslim true believer can ever be at peace with any other philosophy or way of life. All of those seeking peace will inevitably be frustrated because they are dealing with shadows. A charade being put on by Muslims for the benefit, eventually of themselves. All those Western peacemakers know that, yet they continue to participate in a game where the rules all favor their opponents. Everyone, Obama, Trump, Bush, Clinton, knows this, yet they continue to go through the motions -- and my question is, why on earth do they continue to do it.?
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But all good and evil are not subjective. For humans, there exists objective good and evil. Animals are not either good or evil unless they are trained to be one or the other and for them it it is obedience = reward.Only a high degree of volition allows for making decisions. As to good & evil being subjective and situational I'll bet you or I could name 50 or a hundred actions that are objectively evil. Some of them so horrible that we feel dirty just thinking of them. But, frankly, I don't care whether Muslims are raised in such a way that they don't understand the difference. Their religion, what they are taught, if it is a danger to me and mine, I'm not going to try to teach them right from wrong when while they are attacking me. They are adherents to an evil philosophy, which our leaders are afraid to articulate. As to instinct, it is strictly a self protective mechanism. It allows for no volition, it exists only to protect the mechanism. As to "glory and curse" I was waxing poetic. Good writers do that now and then, (except Hemingway).
Abstraction isn't a higher level of development than concepts, concepts require abstraction -- abstraction means selective focus, which is required in identifying essentials to form concepts. But there is a hierarchy of concepts that are abstractions from abstractions, and the ability to do that is more advanced than first level concepts based on direct perception. That is part of being rational, too. Many people treat concepts as if they were percepts and are very poor at dealing with higher level concepts. But every human has the capacity.
Thinking objectively versus following emotions is related, but is about the choice of how to use and apply concepts.
Every human has the capacity to think like a rational human being, so it's not a matter of a state of evolutionary biological development, but is a matter of philosophical evolution, which is what you are describing.
Without objectively checking their premises, most people willingly accept definitions of the good (what God, their parents and teachers and culture tell them) and evil (whatever does not agree with their conditioning). So some cultures consider honor killings honorable and murder of designated foes as noble. Peace-makers are written off as traitors and cowards. Those who are not for me are against me. Those who refuse to be expropriated are condemned as greedy. Etc.
In most people's lives good and evil are subjective and situational. They clamor for what pleases them and will sacrifice others sanctimoniously when their authorities assure them it's right to do so. Yes, they understand that there is a difference between the polar opposites of good and evil, but without an objectively defined set of values, there is no way to know which is which, and anything goes.
By the way, every living thing has an instinctive sense of what is good for it and what is bad, and will evolve features to aid its survival, or perish. Mankind has the potential to know those conditions conceptually and has created a technological world to support its survival, mixed in with the remnants of murderous aberrations.
Are those the two extreme products of the mind you would call their glory and their curse? Those sound rather mystical. I would like to see us evolve to a point where Galt’s Oath (a more explicit restatement of the golden rule) is the premise of human relationships. The highest good embraced by highly evolved minds, freely chosen and not simply submitted to.
You have been busy with this post. Here is my
2 cents worth." Why on earth do they continue to do. It?" Your title is the one word answer Submission.
The presidents that you named (besides the first Bush, he is the part of the deep state )were all controlled by the deep state except maybe Trump.
The DS wants to have chaos they don't care about death , destruction or families. Their motto is "out of chaos comes control". They make huge amounts of money from war and conflict. They also take away our liberty and freedom in the name of security. The connections between the "bad guys" and the intelligence groups are mind blowing. Both sides sacrifice individuals for their own purpose. Like Freedomforall said they are first and foremost traitors and looters. The real enemy has infiltrated and has destroyed the checks and balances of our constitutional republic.
Warm regards,
DOB
Relying on the truth of the philosophy, based on the evidence of sense input.
That a philosophy has some contradictions does not mean that one cannot understand what it is, including the nature of the contradictions.
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