Thursday, April 1, 2010

chapter 1: good, evil, and perception

And of course, we start with something simple, black and white, right? Wrong. Good and evil is actually a very grayscaled concept in this world, especially when you think about some of the difficult situations that one will have to face in life, such as having to lay off workers or lose money due to a sharp decline in economy. The differences between right and wrong can sometimes be very clear, but sometimes it can be very vague. Other times, it doesn't even matter whether you know what's right or wrong because you lose your choice in the matter, due to uncontrollable conditions (threat, impulsive reactions). The reality of the matter is, all of the good and evil that can possibly exist is merely man-made. There is no natural good and evil, otherwise animals killing and eating each other would probably be considered as such, even though its for the mere purpose for survival. This creation of good in evil is extremely prevalent in religion, where good and evil is skewed to include only the things that said religion wishes to include. In the end, it good and even is just a concept. General perceptions of positive and negative emotions do exist, but it is in fact us that end up labeling what is good and what is evil. G&E also exemplifies the fact that this world is mostly comprised of comparisons. Everything that exists in life we see as relative to another. This is the way our perceptions work. to say that something tastes "delicious" is relative to it tasting horrible. If all you eat is dirt for half of your life, then perhaps eating rice plain, a generally bland food by itself, would be a gourmet delicacy for you. At the same time, if royalty is treated to glamorous food for all of their life, but they suddenly become middle class and are forced to eat simple commoner food like porridge, then that level of food, albeit a decent food in general society, will probably taste terrible to said royalty. Good and evil works the same way, but it is more complex because just about every action we do in life can be scaled on a level of good and evil, which This can further be scaled to an emotional level. For example, someone may be generous and give money to the poor, and that would be a "good" action because one is being kind. At the same time, one can delve into the emotional level and ask why he/she is doing such a thing, and may come to see that the purpose for giving money is to make him/herself feel good for doing a good deed, which can be seen as selfish. These, of course, are all perceptions, and it is then where the ideas of G&E start becoming very vague. There are many situations where it will be difficult to judge whether someone is good or evil, and the only one who can truly know which it is is themselves. If you steal money for your family, is that good or evil? If you give someone food now to expect a favor in the future, is that good or evil? There are so many different possibilities with this idea that its difficult for another person to truly pinpoint your true beliefs, although being extroverted would probably help you in figuring it out.

So in the end, everything is just a perception. Everything that exists in life exists because we think it does. This explains itself in the questions, "if a tree falls and no one hears it, does it make a sound?" and, "If you are alone in the dark with no one to acknowledge you, do you exist?" This means that, to coin a concept, you need examples of both sides. Good isn't good if evil doesn't exist. Without contrasting forces, concepts don't come into fruition. Right in front of you you may see this text on a page, but its also a perception. These letters really aren't supposed to make any sense but because we gave them meaning as words we can understand them as symbols and communication. That's also perception. It's difficult to argue against the concept of perception because that argument is just another one of your perceptions. We don't really pay attention to these things because humans, like other animals, just like to live and take things as they are, but i guess its just kind of interesting to go into it. And, well, they say that wisdom is knowing that you know nothing, but it's more accurate to say that wisdom is knowing that what you know is only your beliefs caused by your experiences.

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