Philosophic Stuff

[XIVcaliber]

After talking to Niko at school today, I feel I should clarify my moral philosophy.
1st Law: Nothing is absolute, universal, or definite, including all of these laws. The world turns. This too shall change.
2nd Law: The ends do not justify the means, but the greater good is still important. It simply has the same level of importance as immediate, short-term good.
3rd Law: The balance between good and evil exists without your help. "Providing contrast," is not a legitamite excuse for bad behavior.
4th Law: Your life does not need to be absolutely dedicated to charity. Improving your own life is as good an act as improving someone elses, as long as you don't drag others down so that you may rise.
5th Law: Honesty and humility are important. Humility allows you to accept the honesty of others, and honesty allows you to remind others of the importance of humility.
6th Law: You reap what you sow, so plant kindness, generosity, and joy. There will be weeds, and not all of the seeds will sprout, but the one's that do are worth the effort.
7th Law: Desentization cripples your empathy. Do not allow yourself to be conditioned to atrocities; when a million deaths seems like a statistic, remember that a million is a multitude of individual and tragic deaths.
8th Law: Concentrate on the now, for it is all that exists. The past has been destroyed and recreated into the now, and since the future doesn't exist yet it isn't worth worrying too much about.

1st: And thus it is that all these laws should be disregarded because as you admit they aren't absolute, and also based upon a completely arbitrary method
2nd: So then do means justify ends? I can't agree with this one because the long term is the most important part of doing good. Simply put "You give a man a fish, he's fed for a day, you teach a man to fish, he's fed for a lifetime." Naturally there are means that are not to be allowed, but still many times horrible action can be justified by the outcome.
3rd: Never said it was an excuse for wrongs, just a reason why all life has value even wretched life
4th: Given. but also isn't the very act of raising one self the lowering another just by virtue of the fact that you are raising yourself. Just as if someone were to move up in a race from 5th to 3rd place, then the old places would be lowered simply by him raising himself. All life is like this analogy.
5th: Lies often protect more people than the truth. The truth can hurt.
6th: You reap what you sow. But often times the seeds of generosity and kindness can look a lot like the seeds of hate and other negatives and vice versa. Just sow what you think is best, for that is all you can do
7th: Death is a part of life. I fear the deaths of those close to me to a degree that I can't even really fathom. That being said, none have enough tears to shed one for every life lost, many only have enough for those they love. I admire the strength you had during your tragedy Jake, you contended with something that haunts my deepest nightmares. In that respect you are a much stronger man than I.
8th: The now exists only on the instant, concentrate on the next now, for that is what the now effects. To focus only on the now would be inaction.

1st: Nothing is absolute. One may think so, but no matter what circumstances come up that may prove something correct, we will truly never know.
2nd: The ends do justify the means. The fisherman analogy is a great example of this.
3rd: No idea what you're talking about.
4th: Both of you make sense, I'm conflicted on what to put here.
5th: This is where I lay down the law. Humility is something humanity will never grasp. If humility existed for everyone as they abide by these laws, the world would be perfect. In Thomas More's Utopia, the Humanist describes a perfect society with the use of education, morals, and reason. However, the basic corruption of the human soul is at fault when pertaining to making utopia unattainable. More himself said his society will never come to frutition, nor do I believe the same. Honesty, on the other hand, is an investment anyone can make. Lies can protect, but only in the present tense. Living lies will destroy your soul. For this, I refer back to the fisherman analogy, that the ends justify the means, as a way of saying that telling the truth may hurt, but in the long run honesty is a virtue. Also unlike me, I would also like to cite a memory from my childhood, an episode of Veggitales. Oh, the Christian propaganda. Nevertheless, moral lessons can be learned from such. The episode I am referring to, from a metaphorical standpoint, is one where a boy tells a lie, and as he lies, he creates a monstrosity within his soul, one that plagues him and the people around him, and eventually the entire city. Lies build up, and they cannot be stopped unless honesty is achieved.
tl;dr version: Screw your bluff check, I have logic.
6th: Seeds are seeds. Your own farm is what you must keep watch of, not others. To other farmers, your seeds of kindness may seem like the bane of their own crops, but those are trivial worries that shouldn't occupy your mind.
7th: I've...had no tragedies in my life. No comment.
8th: Niko's philosophy makes more sense on this one. Now only exists for the smallest amount of time you can possibly perceive; Future nows are what you must live for, future nows that disable the inaction of the present now. "Now" is a figurative term; it comes from the brain's perception of the present tense. Now can be a moment, and it can be a period over the course of weeks. This is why it's always beneficial to work for the future, and use "now" to aim for your future goals.

[Dreamaniaccomic]

I'm going to type what I should have typed and sum up my moral philosophy in one commandment my mom gave me innumerous times throughout my life.

Do the right thing.
Chances are you'll know it when you see it. The key is doing it.

[niko2pico]

And thus you are arguing what I have the entire time.

[XIVcaliber]

I'm going to type what I should have typed and sum up my moral philosophy in one commandment my mom gave me innumerous times throughout my life.

Do the right thing.
Chances are you'll know it when you see it. The key is doing it.

B-but...doing the right thing is such a corrupted venture. Only the truly chivalrous can do the right thing and actually do the right thing. No one knows what the right thing is because the belief of the right thing has been clouded numerous times by the gripping catastrophe that is greed and chaos.

[Dreamaniaccomic]

And thus you are arguing what I have the entire time.

You argue it, yes, but from what I know of you personally you tend to focus entirely on what the 'right thing' is in a purely logical way. The thing is, you're doing this at the expense of the 'right thing' as seen from either an emotional or ethical view.
Allow me to use a situation we discussed earilier: You have arrested a man for a heinous crime. He offers you a bribe to let him walk free.
Niko, you argued that you should take the bribe and turn him in anyway. Logically, this indeed makes sense: you can use the bribe for a good cause, and the man is indicted anyway.
But the moment you look at the case emotionally and ethically, this line of reasoning starts to break down. By taking the bribe and breaking the 'contract' between you and the criminal (however dubious the contract is) you're compromising yourself emotionally and ethically. Emotionally, because the act of betrayal (even if he's a complete monster) simply feels wrong to me. Taking the bribe itself, whether the criminal walks or not, is still an amoral act. Ethically, you are betraying an unspoken trust, and not just one between you and the criminal. You took money for a service and didn't carry out your end. Yes, the service was a wicked one, but then why did you even accept money if you planned to turn back on the deal? It just doesn't work. You can bend morals, stretch them, heat them until you can bend them in a circle, but once you break them... it all breaks down. Everything.

[niko2pico]

And thus you are arguing what I have the entire time.

You argue it, yes, but from what I know of you personally you tend to focus entirely on what the 'right thing' is in a purely logical way. The thing is, you're doing this at the expense of the 'right thing' as seen from either an emotional or ethical view.
Allow me to use a situation we discussed earilier: You have arrested a man for a heinous crime. He offers you a bribe to let him walk free.
Niko, you argued that you should take the bribe and turn him in anyway. Logically, this indeed makes sense: you can use the bribe for a good cause, and the man is indicted anyway.
But the moment you look at the case emotionally and ethically, this line of reasoning starts to break down. By taking the bribe and breaking the 'contract' between you and the criminal (however dubious the contract is) you're compromising yourself emotionally and ethically. Emotionally, because the act of betrayal (even if he's a complete monster) simply feels wrong to me. Taking the bribe itself, whether the criminal walks or not, is still an amoral act. Ethically, you are betraying an unspoken trust, and not just one between you and the criminal. You took money for a service and didn't carry out your end. Yes, the service was a wicked one, but then why did you even accept money if you planned to turn back on the deal? It just doesn't work. You can bend morals, stretch them, heat them until you can bend them in a circle, but once you break them... it all breaks down. Everything.

That money feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and nurses the sick. I would sacrifice my honor to do that.
also for me what is right involves looking at it from a logical way, how does this end.

[XIVcaliber]

Eh...I got nothing. I'm not much of a philosopher as I am a writer.

[niko2pico]

Let's go socratic on this one.
I'll just keep it simple

Is it ever right to take another human's life?

[XIVcaliber]

It is never right to take the life of someone. But, the ends justify the means. If you kill a truly evil person and rid the world of him, you're doing a good thing by doing a very bad thing.

[XIVcaliber]

Guess who's depressed. Don't even try pitying me, it doesn't work. I never think of depression as a bad thing, simply an outlet for me to reach my true potential. When I'm depressed, I gain a new outlook on life. My philosophy changes. I seek new possibilities. I create new ways to deal with my problems, and put them to action, often in the form of writing. Sad, maybe, but the unfortunate truth is that my intelligence reaches its peak while I'm in a state of sadness. Don't ask me, only God knows.

I've been more religious lately. Perhaps God does exist, and he gave me this peculiar ability in order to better the world. The sacrifice of one's happiness can mean wonders for the happiness of many, as is standard in life. Sacrifices tend to have positive rewards, especially when it comes to one's intelligence and ability to influence others. Art is one of those things, and what I do is an artform. God put me here to better the people by sacrificing my own well-being, something I can cope with as long as it's for the greater good. When I'm like this, I understand myself. I understand how my superiority complex ruins my friendships, and makes it impossible to start new ones. I understand my brain's vicious circle, the one that keeps me in an endless loop of suffering and reward. Despite this, I hold on, knowing things will be better in the long run. Why do I hold on? Part of it is because I find myself looking to God in situations like this. Who else could understand me other than the creator of all life? I'm hardly a devout person, but it's situations like these that I keep myself in a pit and wait for God to drag me out. Another thing that I realize while this is happening is that criticism is nothing. Criticism is simply one's lack of a perception for a particular subject matter, and ways of which they seek to improve it. The only one who can truly give criticism on their work is themselves, and though I accept criticism from my friends, I often use it as a basis to how I critique myself. Success can only be achieved through bettering oneself, and the only way to do that is to realize one's flaws, and apply solutions. God is simply a guiding light, a beacon in the darkness to blaze a trail to recovery.

The Golden Rule. My one commandment.
"Treat others as you would want to be treated."

Why doesn't it make sense anymore? Why is it that during the morning, I mind my own business while others bother me? They jeer and laugh at me, as if I have a handicap, while I do nothing to them? Is there any peace in this world? People continuously break the one rule that binds all religions, that persists through all cultures. The youth of America is being poisoned by horrible role-models, distasteful media, and violent family lives. The one thing I mourn over again and again and again for eternity is that I can't empathize with people. I was an only child, spoiled all my life after a divorce racked my parents, and after I was too young to care. Being such, I have friends that have dying relatives, damaged social lives, a dysfunctional family...yet, I'm their friend. I'm expected to sympathize with them and help them through their problems, acting as a mediator. How can I serve my true purpose as a friend without knowing what they've been through? How can I truly say I'm there for them, when I can't? This is another piece of the vicious circle, my mind trying to overpower my will. I see my friends and family die when I daydream. I watch them suffer, watch situations that will never happen in their lifetimes, and my mind does this to disorient me. I often push back the thoughts, but thinking too much often gets me into a state such as this, where I ramble on and on about life and how it doesn't make sense. Nothing makes sense. If the world made sense, there would be no war, no conflict, just the human race co-existing with one another.

Cynicism hurts. It drains the life out of people. It can turn a cheerful, bubbly teenager into a sobbing mess of a man. That's what I am, on the verge of tears and writing this because it needs to be heard out. Not because I want attention, not because I'm forcing my beliefs, but because I need to get this information out there. The sad part about this is a shocking one. I'm going to wake up tomorrow, be perfectly fine, and lose the train of thought I was pursuing all night. This entire thought process will be lost, but thankfully, because I put it in journal form, it can stay preserved.