Thanks for adding the James link. Lewis has long been a fav author. Abolition of Man(3rd sec.) left a lasting impression(scars?).
Re: “people have fought wars over how people should live, and still do. ”
I offer in response: “they have turned to God without turning from themselves; would be alive to God before they are dead to their own nature. Now religion in the hands of self, or corrupt nature, serves only to discover vices of a worse kind than in nature left to itself. Hence are all the disorderly passions of religious men, which burn in a worse flame than passions only employed about worldly matters; pride, self-exaltation, hatred and persecution, under a cloak of religious zeal, will sanctify actions which nature, left to itself, would be ashamed to own.”— William Law via A.Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, 1945
Re:”even in the rationalist bubble, someone is always [saying] that there is no such thing as morality”
We all like to put what we read and observe in clear containers with familiar labels but IMO subjective human experience with all it’s ambiguities should be considered(1). Considering all human activity I find that when don’t get along we break things—even to the point of our our own determent. Cooperating provides better material results and greater, longer lasting satisfaction. Beyond the initial crisis or common interest cooperation requires ‘moral struggle’ which is summed up as the Golden Rule+(treat others like you want to be treated and try not to be a jerk about it)(I added the last part to remind myself : ) I’ll close with a quote from CSL’s 1952 pub: ”Strictly speaking, there are no such things as good and bad impulses. Think once again of a piano. It has not got two kinds of notes on it, the “right” notes and the “wrong” ones. Every single note is right at one time and wrong at another. [my bold]The Moral Law is not any one instinct or any set of instincts: it is something which makes a kind of tune (the tune we call goodness or right conduct) by directing the instincts.”
Thanks for the exchange, Richard. Please do reply if you have something to add!
Thanks for adding the James link.
Lewis has long been a fav author. Abolition of Man(3rd sec.) left a lasting impression(scars?).
Re: “people have fought wars over how people should live, and still do. ”
I offer in response: “they have turned to God without turning from themselves; would be alive to God before they are dead to their own nature. Now religion in the hands of self, or corrupt nature, serves only to discover vices of a worse kind than in nature left to itself. Hence are all the disorderly passions of religious men, which burn in a worse flame than passions only employed about worldly matters; pride, self-exaltation, hatred and persecution, under a cloak of religious zeal, will sanctify actions which nature, left to itself, would be ashamed to own.”—
William Law via A.Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, 1945
Re:”even in the rationalist bubble, someone is always [saying] that there is no such thing as morality”
We all like to put what we read and observe in clear containers with familiar labels but IMO subjective human experience with all it’s ambiguities should be considered(1). Considering all human activity I find that when don’t get along we break things—even to the point of our our own determent. Cooperating provides better material results and greater, longer lasting satisfaction. Beyond the initial crisis or common interest cooperation requires ‘moral struggle’ which is summed up as the Golden Rule+(treat others like you want to be treated and try not to be a jerk about it)(I added the last part to remind myself : )
I’ll close with a quote from CSL’s 1952 pub:
”Strictly speaking, there are no such things as good and bad impulses. Think once again of a piano. It has not got two kinds of notes on it, the “right” notes and the “wrong” ones. Every single note is right at one time and wrong at another. [my bold] The Moral Law is not any one instinct or any set of instincts: it is something which makes a kind of tune (the tune we call goodness or right conduct) by directing the instincts.”
Thanks for the exchange, Richard. Please do reply if you have something to add!
Mark
(1)Re-posted: Scott Alexander’s What is Mysticism? A working definition for skeptics
Also, Superb Owl’s Religion as an Ego-modulator, William James, Aldous Huxley, and the functions of religion. Lastly, I. McGilchrist 08, 22.