15/01/2010

About Morality

Is it possible that we created moral rules to only increase predictability in human behavior? We wanted to feel safe and for that we sacrificed on our own freedom for only to have a higher predictability on how other people would act under different conditions.


As Maslow's pyramid suggests, reaching a sense of safety has always been a top priority for us. Fear as it seems to me is the very base upon which we built our existence. In a sense fear is sister to existence or better to say fear is the anti existence. Because the moment we start to exist, we are born with a desire to survive, with a fear of not existing, of dying.





This base of fear diffuses to all parts of our developing lives - slowly and subtly. Also to our social relationships. We fear each other and this fear makes us to do the most stupid things.


I think Rumi had it all right (I hope he is - as these 4 lines sum up my life philosophy):


Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to. 
Don’t try to see through the distances. 
That’s not for human beings. 
Move within, but don’t move the way fear makes you move.


Instead of negotiating with and trying to understand what being a human is all about, to deal with the fear, we have been choosing the much easier path. We created rules to imprison ourselves and others; reference points where we could align human behavior to. But these very rules sometimes make us alienate ourselves.





Why I wrote is a duel scene I saw in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. You see - until only couple of centuries ago, it was morally wrong to kill someone unless you invited the person to a duel. How graceful hypocrisy can get - eh?

9 comments:

berfin said...

You sound so yourself.. as always. Searching.
And Rumi is great as always..
Move within, but don’t move the way fear makes you move.

Morality is one thing, but conscience is another. I believe in conscience, the very distinct beautiful voice within.
What makes one "unique" are the moves despite the morality and I believe all these moves are conscientious. Our very open eyes.
Morality takes you from killing, so does conscience in different ways.
And I prefer the second.
Loves,
b

degisen said...

precisely my point, berfin. when i said "negotiating with and trying to understand what being a human is all about" I actually was trying to emphasize the act of building communication with your inner voice, with the universal truth and justice.

berfin said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Zeynep Celen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zeynep Celen said...

Fear comes in many disguises. You even fear your body, fear that it will make you sick. Fear for me nowadays, means that "I definitely KNOW and it will be bad"...for now I am practicing "not being so sure about it", not trusting the very clever and ikna edici voice in my head...it gives me space to relax.
There is a yearning to know (producing many masks of truth labelled as knowledge or common sense), and the people who go all the way say that they came back with a big "wha?".

berfin said...

Dear Zeynep(am not sure which one but still)

You sound like anyone following the heart, daring to fly. If desire took you that far from your safe routine, you were meant to do it no matter this "what" of others.
One thing counts "in "others"" : harm. I hope you didn't cause many.
"Heureux qui comme Ulysses a fait un beau voyage
Puis s'est retourné plein d'usage et raison,
Vivre entre ses parents le reste de son age.
Means
Happy who like Ulyses, who made a long journey
Then returned full of reason and experience
To live with his parents the rest of his age."

berfin said...

psst krut i dont have the b number
select b_number from call_details where caller_id = "bseyhan"

degisen said...

"Keep walking, though there’s no place to get to." is a good sum-up for this sentiment.

Instinctively I've always known that there isn't much to know, there isn't a goal to fulfill. But then at some point, I felt the urge to regress the life, to flex it a bit to the limits to see how it responds. It is pretty much like these little kitsch toys filled with water - which you shake to see it "snowing" inside. You know shaking won't bring you anything, but you still do for it for the temporary dazzle.

and it's during this shaking and snowing I feel I'm in communication with life - or better to say life's voice is perceptible to me. maybe that's what i'm doing right now - coming into communication with life to set a new course for the ship and then do the auto pilot do the rest until the next shaking.

Rumi would absolutely be highly critical about my two paragraphs above. He would probably tell me if I'm not able to hear life's voice in the ordinary, it's my ears that needs to be sharpened. Instead however, I'm shaking the life to make it louder.

Zeynep Celen said...

Thank you Berfin for the quote, yes I agree with all you are saying.

I would say the trick is to realize that the snowglobe is in constant flux and using simple things-without hurting anyone- to get out of the sleeping mode.

My teacher says add a WOW to everything you see...try it one day (even if it feels cheesy- hang onto it for a day). Say WOW to the stop sign, to the car, to the food you are having...even if you have it for the 100th time. There is a WOW in everything. Heart beating constantly is a reminder of this miracle. Miracle of life, constantly reminding of Itself in the probably 4-5 breaths you took without noticing while you read this :).

I do have a goal to fullfill actually (and I think it adds life to my being). I aim that every cell of by body realizes all that I write-oneday...