But the point is that the Wrong exists in large amount because we draw the distinction. He's not saying that by any stretch of the imagination that things like serial killing can be construed as "good," what he's trying to say is that such things wouldn't happen if we simply followed our nature. It's not a statement of what a person should or shouldn't believe about the world as it is now, it's a statement about what the world could have been, if we hadn't been distracted into the mold that society has pushed us into.
Let's have a parable:
A religious fanatic believes that all who are not of his religion are going to burn in hell, so he feels it his duty to preach to them, and warn them of hell every time he sees them. Well, it turns out that he was the only one of his religion (it came out of his head!), so he preached to everyone. Most people found it really annoying, but they tolerated it, because he wasn't hurting anyone. As he sank further and further into his dementia, he started becoming more and more annoying, and people started saying that they'd converted, just so that he'd leave them alone. But he saw them, later, engaged in acts that his religion forbid (eating fish on Mondays!) so he concluded that they'd relapsed, and went to convert them again, but this time he felt he had to save them from relapse. He talked them into converting (so that he'd leave them alone!), and then stabbed them to death, to send them to heaven, so that they wouldn't go to hell.
Now if it weren't for the first misconception (his invented religion), he never would have killed people. It's against his nature. So the passage is trying to illustrate that initial problems multiply exponentially, and modern society is the result. The only way to fix it is to start at the drawing board (in our heads!) and do it again. Don't think about Right and Wrong, Good and Bad. Think instead about the Way, about Nature, and the Uncarven Block.
By creating the dichotomy, we've created the Bad. It's not to say that Evil People don't exist, and that there is no bad, it's to say there wouldn't be if we had a society built without that dichotomy. Think of it like a philosophical/historical exercise.
Parabolic thoughts on ParableswerdnusNovember 10 2007, 07:41:07 UTC
I love your parables. The Way... It's difficult to see everything without being colored by distinctions. Black is the absence of color, while white is all colors. For me, this dichotemy exists, and uncarving my 'block' doesn't come easily. I like doing things my own way, which closes my mind more than opens it. You're a good teacher.
Let's have a parable:
A religious fanatic believes that all who are not of his religion are going to burn in hell, so he feels it his duty to preach to them, and warn them of hell every time he sees them. Well, it turns out that he was the only one of his religion (it came out of his head!), so he preached to everyone. Most people found it really annoying, but they tolerated it, because he wasn't hurting anyone. As he sank further and further into his dementia, he started becoming more and more annoying, and people started saying that they'd converted, just so that he'd leave them alone. But he saw them, later, engaged in acts that his religion forbid (eating fish on Mondays!) so he concluded that they'd relapsed, and went to convert them again, but this time he felt he had to save them from relapse. He talked them into converting (so that he'd leave them alone!), and then stabbed them to death, to send them to heaven, so that they wouldn't go to hell.
Now if it weren't for the first misconception (his invented religion), he never would have killed people. It's against his nature. So the passage is trying to illustrate that initial problems multiply exponentially, and modern society is the result. The only way to fix it is to start at the drawing board (in our heads!) and do it again. Don't think about Right and Wrong, Good and Bad. Think instead about the Way, about Nature, and the Uncarven Block.
By creating the dichotomy, we've created the Bad. It's not to say that Evil People don't exist, and that there is no bad, it's to say there wouldn't be if we had a society built without that dichotomy. Think of it like a philosophical/historical exercise.
Reply
everything without being colored by distinctions. Black
is the absence of color, while white is all colors.
For me, this dichotemy exists, and uncarving my 'block'
doesn't come easily. I like doing things my own way, which
closes my mind more than opens it. You're a good teacher.
Reply
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