Those That Forget The Past, Blah, Blah, Blah

[flameelf]

Anymore, no one seems to agree who said this first:

http://jaywalker.ca/Jaywalker_Magazine/Columns/Publisher's%20Notes/forget_the_past.htm

I know the first time I saw it, it was attributed to Friedrich Nietzsche. But it's an absolute truism, honestly.

Some of the greatest oafs have quoted wonderful things--when Ozzy Osbourne got it right with his

Comments

[waster60268]

's both the greatest and the worst thing ever to be able to choose good or evil. i firmly believe that both of these things exist; i believe there are absolutes out there somewhere, but i also believe that we can never know exactly where the lines between them are drawn; it wouldn't work if we could see them clearly, and it wouldn't work if we didn't have the ability to choose [what we perceive to be] one or the other, either. [there's this perfect messy elegance to the system.. as usual.]

['m not sure how mr. lewis' description of evil as a perversion of good might fit into all this, but i like it..]

[flameelf]

I agree with you on most of this, but I believe it's more clear on what is Good and what is Evil than most of us want to admit. There ARE grey areas, but some things are a slam-dunk

[waster60268]

mhm.. i've had plenty of arguments with friends about good and evil; typically, they start by saying that it's all relative and subjective; i then typically ask them to give me their feelings towards puppy mutilation or baby rape or historical mass genocides, and typically they can't deny that they think such actions are wrong. everyone had morals, [whether intact or twisted,] and that's got to mean something.

this brings up something i forgot to mention; if you fill yourself with goodness, there's generally less room for evil [and the goodness tends to revolt at the introduction of evil, so it serves a double purpose.*] to do that, though, you must first acknowledge that good and evil exist. lack of distinction and awareness leaves one open for a fall. we don't have the *choice* your first respondents referred to unless there's first something to choose between.

[flameelf]

*Stands up and applauds you*

Absolutely right!!!!

There used to be NO QUESTION of good and evil, but it all became relative and subjective somewhere in the last couple of centuries.

I don't think we did ourselves any favours by blurring the boundaries.

Nechtan :)

[topknot]

We don't have the *choice* your first respondents referred to unless there's first something to choose between.

A-freaking-men! Someone else who truly gets it!