Beautifully written Cynthia. My husband and I were just yesterday talking about that experiment with the obedience of inflicting pain on others just because someone in ‘authority’ told them to.
So many of us look at people we once knew , and even family, and are baffled at their compliance and lack of critical thought. The banality of evil: seemingly decent people self righteously cheerleading serious violations of other people’s fundamental human rights. And to add to that, they’re all flying Ukrainian flags . None of them seem to actually care that WE did this to the Ukraine. And that blind compliance is destroying people and our countries. What happened to these people? For those who see, witnessing this is a terrible thing.
I'm so glad, Cynthia, that you're looking at good and evil, and considering the possibility that human nature is entirely good. It has become the unthinkable. I've been thinking to do an episode on Satan Is Not Real. It's not a belief in God that's the absolute dogma of any religion, but the belief in evil, sin, inferiority. Believing in evil hides a lazy imagination that isn't picturing a solution. I think it's time we stopped scaring ourselves.
The concept of sin only exists in "Religions of the Book" i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. "As it harm none do as thou will" is the occult guideline. The concept of taboo found in primitive religion is not the same as sin. There are no absolutes, all is subjective in the Modernist Paradigm.
Thank you for such an interesting analysis. I have recently experienced a non voluntary career change and my brain is lonely. I've found your articles are a wonderful way to stretch the nogin.
Parabéns pela analise Cynthia! Depois de ler e observando as pessoas ao redor, cheguei a triste conclusão de que é exatamente o que está acontecendo no mundo atualmente. pena que pouquissímas pessoas tem consciẽncia disso!
>'an imp of the perverse, an external possession, that causes you to do something almost against your will, '<
Arjuna said: O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world. As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, the living entity is similarly covered by different degrees of this lust. Thus the wise living entity’s pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire. [It is said in the ManuSmṛti that lust cannot be satisfied by any amount of sense enjoyment, just as fire is never extinguished by a constant supply of fuel.] The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust. Through them lust covers the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him. Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bhāratas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.
[BhagavadGita As It Is / A.C.Bhaktivedanta Prabhupad]
I would argue that we're a blank slate when we're born and that we simply adopt the belief system of whoever raises us, usually our parents, and later our society via the education process. The word 'conscience' itself is just another in a long list of abstract nouns that lack a concrete definition. To say we are all born with one is simply expressing a belief, unless you can show where that conscience originates. Is it an innate biological function, or just a refection of the society in which we live? If the former, what's the mechanism and why are there so many differences from one culture to another in what's regarded as conscious behaviour?
Check out William Wilson by Poe, and The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. These tell the tale of the consequences of continued violation of our conscience.
Beautifully written Cynthia. My husband and I were just yesterday talking about that experiment with the obedience of inflicting pain on others just because someone in ‘authority’ told them to.
So many of us look at people we once knew , and even family, and are baffled at their compliance and lack of critical thought. The banality of evil: seemingly decent people self righteously cheerleading serious violations of other people’s fundamental human rights. And to add to that, they’re all flying Ukrainian flags . None of them seem to actually care that WE did this to the Ukraine. And that blind compliance is destroying people and our countries. What happened to these people? For those who see, witnessing this is a terrible thing.
I'm so glad, Cynthia, that you're looking at good and evil, and considering the possibility that human nature is entirely good. It has become the unthinkable. I've been thinking to do an episode on Satan Is Not Real. It's not a belief in God that's the absolute dogma of any religion, but the belief in evil, sin, inferiority. Believing in evil hides a lazy imagination that isn't picturing a solution. I think it's time we stopped scaring ourselves.
Well and simply said.
The concept of sin only exists in "Religions of the Book" i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. "As it harm none do as thou will" is the occult guideline. The concept of taboo found in primitive religion is not the same as sin. There are no absolutes, all is subjective in the Modernist Paradigm.
Amazing reading! You are such a blessing to my husband and me. We love reading and listening to you and also Matt.
Extremely good post!
love where your heart takes you...
Thank you for such an interesting analysis. I have recently experienced a non voluntary career change and my brain is lonely. I've found your articles are a wonderful way to stretch the nogin.
Brilliant, Cynthia. Thank you! Poe sure got it right about human nature and the innate power of conscience.
Have you heard this 1934 interview by H.G. Wells of Stalin? Wells shows his contempt for the poor and working classes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VntYTYWDBSQ
No I haven't, thanks for sharing. But I have read a multitude of him sharing such thoughts. He certainly had no qualms about it!
Parabéns pela analise Cynthia! Depois de ler e observando as pessoas ao redor, cheguei a triste conclusão de que é exatamente o que está acontecendo no mundo atualmente. pena que pouquissímas pessoas tem consciẽncia disso!
Play be the rules and be murdered! The road to the stars is the road to glory!
>'an imp of the perverse, an external possession, that causes you to do something almost against your will, '<
Arjuna said: O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world. As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, the living entity is similarly covered by different degrees of this lust. Thus the wise living entity’s pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire. [It is said in the ManuSmṛti that lust cannot be satisfied by any amount of sense enjoyment, just as fire is never extinguished by a constant supply of fuel.] The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust. Through them lust covers the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him. Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bhāratas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.
[BhagavadGita As It Is / A.C.Bhaktivedanta Prabhupad]
Wonderful essay.
Lovecrafts Cthulhu is another possible usual subject. Bidens Red Sermon had some impossible correlations... (entp) forgive the working essay link.... https://godtype.substack.com/p/bidens-red-speech-decoded-welcoming
"We are all born with a conscience."
I would argue that we're a blank slate when we're born and that we simply adopt the belief system of whoever raises us, usually our parents, and later our society via the education process. The word 'conscience' itself is just another in a long list of abstract nouns that lack a concrete definition. To say we are all born with one is simply expressing a belief, unless you can show where that conscience originates. Is it an innate biological function, or just a refection of the society in which we live? If the former, what's the mechanism and why are there so many differences from one culture to another in what's regarded as conscious behaviour?
Check out William Wilson by Poe, and The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. These tell the tale of the consequences of continued violation of our conscience.
Not a Hegel expert but his ironic upending of phrenology as early as 1807 i think shows him on this path too.
https://soundcloud.com/jueri-svjagintsev/orson-welles-hoax-on-the-radio?si=0325073a07c34386a37af5feb18222bb&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Orson Welles comments.