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George's Musings.

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Morality

Disclaimer: These discussions on morality do not necessarily reflect my own performance. They reflect my aspirations and those that I believe are generally desirable. I don't believe there is anything here that most people don't already believe, although they may not feel as intensely about some things as I do.

Cheating

Nice guys may sometimes finish last in a competition, but they remain people whom we should aspire to be. Those who cheat and those who are amused by cheating hurt us all and rob the cheaters of any true pride in winning.

Some news commentators recently expressed amusement at the Minnesota vote-counting cheating that appears most likely. Vote-counting cheating is despicable. Anyone doing such should be considered an abomination in our representative republic. There is nothing amusing about it. Such cheaters should be hunted down and severely punished. There is hardly anything so antithetical to American principles.

Lying

Lying is verbal cheating. When people tell an untruth knowingly, they too can severely hurt us all with those who may proceed on the basis of such lies.

Some politicians have expressed amusement with the ability of some to lie and so mislead. Some people laughingly say: "So I lied." This is not amusing. Lying about anything of consequence is totally reprehensible.

Moral Position

Some say that morals are merely customs. But there are basic moral principles that even unschooled children understand. They represent what is just to all parties. Disobeying these principles can hurt us all.

These basic moral principles arise from the golden rule -- to do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Obeying this rule results in a society that all find most pleasant, including the non-religious among us.

In my judgment, whatever else people may believe is immaterial as long as they believe in the golden rule. There may be religious teachings that everyone does not believe or wish to adhere to, but as long as the teachings or adherence are not forced upon or harm the rest of us, there is no reason that they should be of concern to the rest of us.

Boy Scouts

Some who feign sophistication among us make light of boy scouts. But the "Boy Scout Law" represents an excellent set of principles -- as excerpted from page 47-54, Boy Scout Handbook, 11th Edition, (#33105), copyright 1998 by BSA, ISBN 0-8395-3105-2:

A Scout is Trustworthy.

A Scout tells the truth. He is honest, and he keeps his promises. People can depend on him.

A Scout is Loyal.

A Scout is true to his family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and nation.

A Scout is Helpful.

A Scout cares about other people. He willingly volunteers to help others without expecting payment or reward.

A Scout is Friendly.

A Scout is a friend to all. He is a brother to other Scouts. He offers his friendship to people of all races and nations, and respects them even if their beliefs and customs are different from his own.

A Scout is Courteous.

A Scout is polite to everyone regardless of age or position. He knows that using good manners makes it easier for people to get along.

A Scout is Kind.

A Scout knows there is strength in being gentle. He treats others as he wants to be treated. Without good reason, he does not harm or kill any living thing.

A Scout is Obedient.

A Scout follows the rules of his family, school, and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobeying them.

A Scout is Cheerful.

A Scout looks for the bright side of life. He cheerfully does tasks that come his way. He tries to make others happy.

A Scout is Thrifty.

A Scout works to pay his own way and to help others. He saves for the future. He protects and conserves natural resources. He carefully uses time and property.

A Scout is Brave.

A Scout can face danger although he is afraid. He has the courage to stand for what he thinks is right even if others laugh at him or threaten him.

A Scout is Clean.

A Scout keeps his body and mind fit and clean. He chooses the company of those who live by high standards. He helps keep his home and community clean.

A Scout is Reverent.

A Scout is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties. He respects the beliefs of others.

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The world would be a great place if everyone were to abide by these principles -- perhaps substituting the word "mensch" (one having admirable characteristics such as integrity and compassion), for "scout," "he or she" for "he" and to be reverent to principles of justice if a non-believer.

Heroism

You might consider clicking the following link on the heroism of the risk of going beyond simply being a bystander who does no harm: The Banality of HEROISM Circumstances can force almost anyone to be a bystander to evil, but they can also bring out our own inner hero. Zeno Franco and Philip Zimbardo show how we’re all capable of everyday heroism.

Belief, faith, trust

The recent book Counterknowledge: How We Surrendered to Conspiracy Theories, Quack Medicine, Bogus Science and Fake History by Damian Thompson makes the point, again and again, how so-called cures, not accepted by the professional medical community, were invalid. In instance after instance, statistics showed that  placebos were on the order of 30 percent as effective.

Based on the same evidence, belief alone cures. Many who believed that disease and infirmity is punishment for sin could be cured if they believed their sins were forgiven them.

When you come right down to it, there is very little that we really know from our own direct experience. We have to believe someone else – like those who derived the statistics on the alleged cures above.

How do you know that gravity directs the course of planets? How do you know that salt is a compound of the totally different elements sodium and chlorine? How do you know they are elements? Most of us only “know” because we believe what others tell us, we trust them, we have faith in them.

They say that there are mountains of geological and biological evidences that species have appeared and died out in a sequence that started in the sea through “lower” animals “up” to a recent species, man. How do we “know” this? Because we believe those who say this is so.

Given this is true, who is to say whether that sequence “evolved” through chance, by divine or other intervention? The need of God in many other instances in the natural world has not proven necessary nor has it been proven that God does not exist.  Who is to know? It seems to get down to whom you believe or whom or what you choose to believe.

There appears to be no certain knowledge, except perhaps what we personally experience. Yet we know our own senses can deceive us via such as optical illusions. Magicians can deceive us. “Crazy” people and others claim to directly experience things that most of us BELIEVE are impossible.

Most of us believe what we believe is the preponderance of evidence of our own senses or declared so by other people whom we believe.

Science uses “inductive” reasoning to hypothesize general “truths” from the preponderance of, hopefully all of, the available evidence and then uses “deductive” reasoning that experience has shown works in the preponderance of known cases to deduce other results. It correlates information such that if one thing consistently occurs before another, the one that has occurred before is the “cause” of the one that appears after.

Other scientists, knowing they can make their reputations by finding cases in which the hypotheses do not work, try hard to find such. We reason that the consensus of scientific opinion is our best guide to what is true. Yet, in general, we have to trust others who tell us what the evidence shows, ideally because we believe their claim that the same results are corroborated by everyone doing the same experiment. There are many things we believe in that are not subject to experiment. We have to believe others who tell us the consensus really exists. Finally scientific consensus is sometimes wrong or inaccurate.

Bottom line: we don’t KNOW the truth. Perhaps we could not handle or understand the truth. The best we can do is base our BELIEF on our own experience and our trust in the reports of others on the fruits of various approaches.