So, I’ve been chatting with my buddies lately, and it’s turned into a bunch of debates about right and wrong. I think I have a pretty solid moral compass, I’m not bragging haha, but most people I know can’t really explain why something’s right or wrong without getting all circular or contradicting themselves.
So, how do you figure out what to do? No judgment, just curious. I’ll share my thoughts below.
Thanks!
Edit: Oh, all you lil’ philosophers have brought me a cornicopia of thoughts and ideas. I’m going to take my time responding, I’m like Treebeard, never wanna be hasty.
The Parable of the Teacup
"Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”
“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”
The Parable of the Strawberry
"A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.
Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!"
Don’t be a dick.
Number one rule I have.
Beat me to it.
Don’t be a dick, don’t make anyone’s life worse out of indifference or even temporary malice, don’t make your own life harder because of the aforementioned, and the greatest accomplishment would be to make someone else’s life measurably, permanently better and have no need of credit or compensation for the act.
Do no harm but take no shit.
Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.
Not if youre being a cunt.
Try to be as unlike the cuurent US administration as possible?
Try to make life better for yourself and for everyone else. Try to have compassion for everyone. You don’t have to agree with them or support what they do, but treat them as having worth.
My ethos boils down to…
- The Golden Rule: Your rights end where other’s rights begin, and vice versa.
- Natural Rights: Any action or inaction, thought, or word, spoken or written, that does not cross the line of the Golden Rule is a natural right.
- Ethics: All ethics are founded upon, and entirely dependent upon, points 1 & 2.
- Morality Is Unethical: Morality, allowing for arbitrary precepts, is inherently unethical.
- Effort: Strive to live ethically.
- Inaction is Action: Inaction is, itself, an action. If your inaction results (even indirectly) in someone’s natural rights being infringed, your inaction is unethical.
- Consideration: Actions often have cascading, indirect consequences, and you bear full responsibility for them. Therefore, failure to consider the indirect consequences of your (in)actions is also unethical.
- Graciousness: Treat others the way they wish to be treated. Recognize the dividends that gracious behavior has on preserving the natural rights of both yourself and others.
- Defend the Social Contract: Ethical behavior is a contract between individuals. Aggressors and instigators who violate that contract are not subject to its protections. As such, adherents are obliged to defend both themselves and others from such infringements to preserve the greater social stability.
- Imperfection: Acknowledge that no body, no thing, and no system is perfect. Not you, not others, not nature, not these precepts. Mistakes are inevitable, it is the effort and intention that matters. Accept and treasure imperfection, and be faithful to the spirit rather than the letter.
Pee when you have the chance.
When going out into the cold during the winter, especially if you are going on a bit of multi hour journey … poop first, even if you don’t feel like it.
How do you poop when you don’t feel like it?
Or just
shitpiss on the floor 🎵I’m caught in a loop.
Hahaha, I know right!
- don’t be an asshole
- everything is allowed as long as nobody is getting hurt
- act when you see something wrong
- when you are able to help do so
- in all other cases mind your own business
A good starting place is considering what society would look like if everyone did whatever thing.
Everyone steals - doesn’t work
Everyone murders - dosen’t work
ect.
Another approach is the Terry Pratchett argument that everything boils down to just not treating people like things.
- etc.
Pushing 4 decades, and the older I get the more I try to live by a philosophy of: be the person you wish you had when you were in their shoes.
Biggest thing is school right now: I did the college thing a bit a long time ago, struggled academically and financially, joined the military instead, separated, and now I’m back for round 2 using the GI Bill. I try to generate as many resources for my classmates as possible, run study groups, host group chats, send out reminders… The VA gives me a stipend for supplies each semester, which I’ll use in it’s entirety and give those supplies to the class. At clinicals (on-the-job education - nursing school) I’ve noticed a few students don’t eat cuz weren’t able to pack a lunch and hospital cafeteria food is WAY expensive for the average broke-ass college student, so I’ll cover the odd meal and tell em to just pay it forward once they get their RN. Shit like that. Kinda feels like I have 50 sons and daughters lol. But I remember my first attempt at college and how overwhelming everything felt… idk if having a ‘me’ would have made any difference in the outcome of round 1 - can’t make the horse drink and all - but if I can hook these kids up with an easier ride, then fuck yeah I’ll do what I can!
I try to apply that kind of approach to pretty much any context - be it school, work, or just random encounters with people.
Feels good to be helpful.
This is the best advice I’ve heard in a long while
Everyone here is saying “don’t be a dick”. That is not sufficient. That just makes you middling, not good. To be good, you must also stop people who ARE being dicks.
I have a set of values:
- Be social
- Seek autonomy
- Give solidarity
- Live in community
- Be healthy
- Have a clean home
- Work is to support other values, it’s not a value itself
And so on…
The choice i make is the one that aligns best with my values. If i have time to think that is. Otherwise my subconscious picks it’s own weights.
There’s a hierarchy to the values but they change in substance and position over time. That’s by design. Humans grow and change.
Circularity and contradiction? That’s fine. As long as it’s aligned with my values I know I’m unlikely to regret it.
Don’t be a dick. Try to stay out of the kinds of trouble that cause extra paperwork.
if there is meaning to your choices, except that which you assign to it, you cannot know it. do as you please, do what feels right or don’t. accepting everything may not lead to happiness, but, other than the necessary mental faculties, it is the only requirement for contentment.
