Moral dilemma...

[lisajulie]

What I wrestle with on a continuing basis:

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/012293.html.

How can I can live in my lifestyle, knowing that is built upon the labor (underpaid and so on) of others.

How moral is this? I don't have an answer.

Comments

[oursin]

Some while since I did a post on the problematic desire for moral purity and there were some very smart things said in comments.

I don't think anybody can be entirely innocent in the sort of societies we live in, based on past or present exploitation.

I am not sure if this connects with jonquil's recent post about certain strands in contemporary Christianity in which people think being Saved is more important than caring for the poor (there's a segue in my mind).

I was immensely struck with this observation by Maggie Helwig: A desire for a warm fuzzy feeling... is one of the worst guides to right action that you can have in this life.

I don't think there's an easy solution: one can be aware of the problem, do what one can, avoid smugness on the one hand and self-flagellation on the other.

[ashcomp]

You are not a criminal for being alive. If you give up everything you own or do, and go live in the desert, you won't have helped anybody who was worse off than you.

If you want to feel that your life is not purely hedonistic (and it's not, by the way) spend some energy trying to make someone else's life a little easier. We've spent the last three years or so helping to run a farmers market in Olney. A bunch of people have one more local place to sell their vegetables, prepared foods, or crafts. A larger bunch of people have easy access to food with no poison or corn syrup in it. And yeah, I feel pretty good for that.

[gilraen2]

you cannot change the actions of the world, only your own actions. you are not responsible for the actions of your forebearers, only for your own. you do positive things every day for those around you. you do not live excessively or impudently. myself, i firmly believe that we are all where we are for a reason, to do some task, make some comment, say some word, give some gift, that, although we may never even know that we have done it, moves the karma of the world forward. if you allow yourself to be so disturbed by the world that you never say that word or take that action then you've failed. you can't ever fix everything, but you can always fix one thing.

[_earthshine_]

I started a pretty long reply to this, and so ran over due to verbosity, and then realized that i should just post it anyway. :)

FWIW, feel free to check it out here.

Thought of you

[gilraen2]

I saw this today from a friend on facebook and thought of you:
Reposted from Dalai Lama: It seems that when some people talk of compassion, they have the notion that it entails a total disregard or even a sacrificing of one’s own interests. This is not the case. In fact, genuine love should first be directed at oneself - if we do not love ourselves, how can we love others?

Now I think I can see your reaction to this, because you do not feel that you love yourself. But I ask you to consider amending that opinion because the love that you so abundantly show others, myself included, had to come from somewhere.