Spiritual Forums

Spiritual Forums (https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/index.php)
-   Spirituality (https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=149)
-   -   Right/Wrong... subjective? (https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=71469)

each1teach1 11-07-2014 04:36 PM

Right/Wrong... subjective?
 
A common argument is that our morality, or what we call the understanding of "right and wrong" or "good and bad" is governed by the individual's standards instead of a universal truth or common understanding (look up Hundredth Monkey Effect)that we all tap into/realize, which is a product of humanity's spiritual evolution.

The latter is my argument. Right/Wrong is Universal truth.
I think everyone can testify that Love is right and Hate is wrong.
Even people who suffer tremendous emotional and physical pain, I think they are still aware of what is what is universally right and wrong for humanity but they ignore the good inside of them due to fear/confusion. I believe those who make right and wrong out to be subjective ideas are just rationalizing their selfish desires. In my perception, nobody believes that evil is right, but for some people it's just all they're familiar with so they glorify it.

Love is acceptance, understanding, union, peace, community, caring, support etc
Hate is intolerance, unsympathetic ignorance, tension, us against them mentality etc

So do you think this is a common general understanding of Love/Hate? or do you think my understanding is subjective and not universal?

What about positive/negative? I believe we all have a general understanding of what positive/negative energy is..

What is your stance?

LadyMay 11-07-2014 04:42 PM

I think you have an objective understanding of right and wrong but I don't see that to be particularly useful..

In reality, there is no right and wrong. There are only our beliefs which separate us.

It is not a way to rationalize anything. Of course hate is very hurtful, but saying it is 'wrong' is just our feelings translated into words.
Feelings are transitory and they come and go but what is beyond that has no need to define.

Positive/negative is the same. I see these things as illusions.. divisions of something that transcends both.

each1teach1 11-07-2014 04:54 PM

A good example for this topic..

A president of a powerful country thinks War is right to save innocent people in his country from terrorist invasions. He sends soldiers off to war.

Some might say his idea of right is subjective because what is Right in his mind is saving his people from evil and that may not necessarily be a common idea of what is Right to the average human.

My argument is that his idea of Righteousness is just a primitive understanding of what is Right based on fear.

To me it's about awareness, and I don't see it as subjective standards

each1teach1 11-07-2014 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScarlettHayden
I think you have an objective understanding of right and wrong but I don't see that to be particularly useful..

In reality, there is no right and wrong. There are only our beliefs which separate us.

It is not a way to rationalize anything. Of course hate is very hurtful, but saying it is 'wrong' is just our feelings translated into words.
Feelings are transitory and they come and go but what is beyond that has no need to define.

Positive/negative is the same. I see these things as illusions.. divisions of something that transcends both.


The Beliefs that separate us usually involve feelings, am I right? Feeling is a large part of faith.

Yes feelings come and go.... They are important to us though, they give a lot of information to us.

What is the difference between feeling hurt and thinking it is wrong? The hurtful feeling translates to wrong subconsciously.

Seawolf 11-07-2014 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by each1teach1

What is your stance?

Our ideas of right and wrong, good and evil are concepts necessary for our survival.

For example, it's a good idea to consider walking over to your neighbor's house and killing the entire family and taking their possessions as 'wrong.' Without defining that as wrong we wouldn't last very long.

Yes I agree there are universal moral standards within human populations and that it's good. It's good to not have to worry about getting killed all the time. :smile:

each1teach1 11-07-2014 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seawolf
Our ideas of right and wrong, good and evil are concepts necessary for our survival.

For example, it's a good idea to consider walking over to your neighbor's house and killing the entire family and taking their possessions as 'wrong.' Without defining that as wrong we wouldn't last very long.

Yes I agree there are universal moral standards within human populations and that it's good. It's good to not have to worry about getting killed all the time. :smile:



Defining these actions as wrong, has nothing to do with people choosing not to commit them.

It has to do with empathy.....feeling the pain of others. Guilt. Not everybody is selfish. Our hearts all speak the same language, some just choose to ignore it.
If your reality applied to most people today, it would be the medieval times still. What you're saying is that Man's Law and prison is what prevents us from behaving like wild animals?

Back in the days there wasn't much empathy, but humans slowly increase our awareness just like physical evolution

Seawolf 11-07-2014 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by each1teach1
Defining these actions as wrong, has nothing to do with people choosing not to commit them.

It has to do with empathy.....feeling the pain of others. Guilt. Not everybody is selfish. Our hearts all speak the same language, some just choose to ignore it.
If your reality applied to most people today, it would be the medieval times still. What you're saying is that Man's Law and prison is what prevents us from behaving like wild animals?

Back in the days there wasn't much empathy, but we slowly progress into a better world.

Yes I agree that empathy affects our choices, but other emotions like anger affect us as well. If we didn't have laws within our cultures based on the idea that murder is wrong, there would be chaos. Of course, not everyone would kill, but it would be enough of a problem that our societies couldn't function.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'Man's Law'. Are there other animals that have laws? They don't have advanced brains and complex societies like we do, so of course they are our laws. We don't enforce our laws on the other animals because they're our laws.

Rawnrr 11-07-2014 06:18 PM

The human condition is more complex than that.
At the most primal emotional levels of our being "Right/good makes us feel good, wrong/evil is what hurts us or makes us feel bad"
Then we got the survival aspect, if it helps us survive it is good, it it hinders our survival, it is bad.
Then we start to move to intellectual levels, where good and evil is weighed against personal survival, family survival, tribal survival, and so forth.
Then we also have the impersonal dictates given to us by authority figures, whether it is government, or church, or jobs and things like that.

..and it is safe to say that all these different perspectives are not always in line with each other, and often are in conflict......as such our moralities can be very different and confusing

Seawolf 11-07-2014 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rawnrr
The human condition is more complex than that.
At the most primal emotional levels of our being "Right/good makes us feel good, wrong/evil is what hurts us or makes us feel bad"
Then we got the survival aspect, if it helps us survive it is good, it it hinders our survival, it is bad.
Then we start to move to intellectual levels, where good and evil is weighed against personal survival, family survival, tribal survival, and so forth.
Then we also have the impersonal dictates given to us by authority figures, whether it is government, or church, or jobs and things like that.

..and it is safe to say that all these different perspectives are not always in line with each other, and often are in conflict......as such our moralities can be very different and confusing

It's extremely complex, and different societies have different ideas of right and wrong. There are ideas like do not kill/do not steal, that seems to span all societies, and are many others that differ. If the OP is saying all should have the same morals, that's obviously impossible. Humans will always have conflicting ideas of right and wrong across societies, and there's nothing wrong with diversity.

each1teach1 11-07-2014 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seawolf
Yes I agree that empathy affects our choices, but other emotions like anger affect us as well. If we didn't have laws within our cultures based on the idea that murder is wrong, there would be chaos. Of course, not everyone would kill, but it would be enough of a problem that our societies couldn't function.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'Man's Law'. Are there other animals that have laws? They don't have advanced brains and complex societies like we do, so of course they are our laws. We don't enforce our laws on the other animals because they're our laws.


I mention Man's law because you stated that because laws are in place to tell us what is wrong in society, that prevents most people from wronging others.
My argument is that spiritual evolution/growth is what stops most people from wronging others in this day and age. I believe that Nature gives us Humans morality to spiritually evolve into Unity, and not for Survival of the species.


All times are GMT. The time now is 06:18 PM.

Powered by vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
(c) Spiritual Forums