I thought I'd liven things up with a thread about ethics? What rules do you live by? What is right and wrong?
The following is a big chunk from the book I am writing:
How do we know that something is evil? It really depends on what our parents, our grandparents, our teachers, our peers and society in general has taught us. I would say that as an adult doing anything that makes you feel guilt, is doing evil.
As a Pagan I follow a nature religion and there is no big epic battle between good and evil in nature. If I do something 'evil' I'm not choosing Lucifer over Jehovah. I'm choosing myself over some other life form. Any guilt I feel is empathy with that other life form (rather than my spider-sense telling me I'm going to hell).
Evil is one of those words that each individual has to define for him or herself. For example I think killing anything is evil. That doesn't mean I won't squash a bug or eat a sausage. When I do those things I choose to be evil. Evil is simply putting your-self first.
Is breaking the law evil? The sane amongst us would agree that things such as murder and rape are evil but when it comes to some of the more minor crimes like internet piracy or smoking weed, opinions are divided. When a person breaks the law they might be thinking "I know it's very wrong but I want to do it anyway." in which case they are committing an act of evil. However they might honestly think "this stupid law shouldn't exist because everyone does it" or "this law shouldn't exist because breaking it doesn't hurt anyone" or "I can see why some people need this law but I'm an exception because... and it shouldn't apply to me under these circumstances."
Evil and illegal are two different things. Judges and Politicians and public opinion decide what is illegal. We make our own individual decisions about what is evil. Maybe some divine being will make a final judgement, maybe they won't.
My definition of evil can be broken down into the equation:
Evil = Choice + Harm + Empathy
With that in mind you can better consider the implications of the following:
"An' it harm none do what thou wilt." – Doreen Valiente
It’s important to read the above correctly:
Not this: Do what you like, it won’t hurt anyone.
This: Do what you like if it won’t hurt anyone/anything.
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." - Aleister Crowley
What he meant was that we should learn to choose to do good because it is the better choice and not because we are compelled to by some law.
Whilst Aleister may be more right, Doreen is clearly more useful when it comes to instructing/raising the young.
The following is a big chunk from the book I am writing:
How do we know that something is evil? It really depends on what our parents, our grandparents, our teachers, our peers and society in general has taught us. I would say that as an adult doing anything that makes you feel guilt, is doing evil.
As a Pagan I follow a nature religion and there is no big epic battle between good and evil in nature. If I do something 'evil' I'm not choosing Lucifer over Jehovah. I'm choosing myself over some other life form. Any guilt I feel is empathy with that other life form (rather than my spider-sense telling me I'm going to hell).
Evil is one of those words that each individual has to define for him or herself. For example I think killing anything is evil. That doesn't mean I won't squash a bug or eat a sausage. When I do those things I choose to be evil. Evil is simply putting your-self first.
Is breaking the law evil? The sane amongst us would agree that things such as murder and rape are evil but when it comes to some of the more minor crimes like internet piracy or smoking weed, opinions are divided. When a person breaks the law they might be thinking "I know it's very wrong but I want to do it anyway." in which case they are committing an act of evil. However they might honestly think "this stupid law shouldn't exist because everyone does it" or "this law shouldn't exist because breaking it doesn't hurt anyone" or "I can see why some people need this law but I'm an exception because... and it shouldn't apply to me under these circumstances."
Evil and illegal are two different things. Judges and Politicians and public opinion decide what is illegal. We make our own individual decisions about what is evil. Maybe some divine being will make a final judgement, maybe they won't.
My definition of evil can be broken down into the equation:
Evil = Choice + Harm + Empathy
With that in mind you can better consider the implications of the following:
"An' it harm none do what thou wilt." – Doreen Valiente
It’s important to read the above correctly:
Not this: Do what you like, it won’t hurt anyone.
This: Do what you like if it won’t hurt anyone/anything.
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." - Aleister Crowley
What he meant was that we should learn to choose to do good because it is the better choice and not because we are compelled to by some law.
Whilst Aleister may be more right, Doreen is clearly more useful when it comes to instructing/raising the young.
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