Snippet Of Social Philosophy
I started to comment on a post by lisajulie, but realized it captured enough of my views on society that it might be worth posting. (It also gets me around a comment length limitation, but that's an unintentional side bonus. Honest!)
lisajulie writes:
How can I can live in my lifestyle, knowing that is built upon the labor (underpaid and so on) of others ( Read more... )
I think, for many of us, that whole part about staying sane gets to be a pretty crazy juggling act. For others -- perhaps the luckier/healthier ones -- that's not as tough, leaving a lot more resource for the higher cause.
The only thing i'm inclined to address specifically is your question:
Why point out that there will always be bliss and always be suffering?
I point this out because it provides a larger philosophical context that i believe -- at least for some -- helps to serve the end cause. I think acceptance of the situation allows us to face a kind of dichotomy within us that pits our eternal sense of hope against a scene of endless despair. Perhaps for some, this leads to a collapse to some kind of nihilistic hedonism or apathy -- i guess those are the ones that shouldn't think about this. :) However, i think that for many of us, it forces us to stare down the barrel of that reality and reach the conclusion that it is not the results of our compassionate acts that form the core of goodness but rather the causes and doing of those acts themseves, the wellspring within us that moves us to feel and care for others despite the innate interminableness of the tasks. I believe that knowing this not only serves the cause by keeping us from despair, but also serves our own well-being by providing a higher view of the whole of Reality that allows us to better understand everything we see, and perhaps even begin to see a kind of purpose in it.
Those have been my current set of conclusions anyway. I keep thinking about this.
Ditto. :)
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