Moral Values are Absolute. And, It's No One's Opinion

To be sure there are cultural differences. Some eat with a spoon, some don’t. Some practice arranged marriage; some believe that marriage is a personal choice. These are just a few examples; and people conclude the cultural values are relative. That’s fine for as long as you mean that cultural values are relative to the country that practices it. A cultural value is not any worse or better than a value of another culture. It’s just different. Cultural relativism, you might say.

What about morality? If cultural relativism is accepted and acceptable, can we likewise conclude that moral values are relative? What is implied in moral relativism?

An Indian mother living in Canada had been convicted for ‘taking the life’ of her second daughter. She and her husband have no sons. They wanted so much to have a son. But, they didn’t. So, the mother did what she did. In Canada, that’s a crime. In India, it’s a practice to which many Indians in India adhered. It is a cultural value, and also perceived as a moral value. Is this a case of a cultural value being perceived as a moral value? If so, can we then conclude that that moral value is no worse or better than loving a child who happens to be a female? Can we then say that it’s alright to have children killed simply because the parents did not get what they had hoped for?

Is evil relative? Is good relative? Is it a matter of one culture imposing its morality on another culture? I was brought in a Christian environment. Does it follow that my moral values are relative? In other words, is the Christian belief in ‘Do unto others as you want others to do unto you’ is therefore relative?

But, does it matter whether it is a Christian belief or not? Harming and exterminating the life of another person is always perceived as harmful to the person who is inflicted with pain. Would you for no other reason except for the fact that the person does not like you, that you just didn’t fit to his or her plan of what life is or should be?

Moral values are not a matter of subjective opinion. They are not an opinion. They exist for the simple and plain reason that the person is to be held with the highest regard. The person is a value in himself, by himself. He is not to be used for someone else’s utilitarian purpose or pride.

Yes, there are cultural differences. But I judged the Indian mother to be guilty of murder. You can imagine that the 3 year old didn’t die without putting up a fight to save her life.

Examined Life, Fear And The Desire To Know The Truth

If you believe that a life that's worth living is an examined life, then the first thing you have to ask yourself is: do you desire to know the truth? If your desire to know the truth is genuine, then you will need to question your beliefs. You can be certain that some of your beliefs have not been examined.

A long time ago, I knew of a person who enjoyed questioning people's belief in God. He liked to quote atheistic philosophers and to make known that God's existence did not rest on evidence. The irony was that when his first child was born, he said to me that he wanted to believe in a God. I asked him, 'why?'

He replied, "Because God's existence would ensure me that there is life after life." He must be imagining his pain of the possibility of losing a child. If he had not had a child, he would not have wished for God's existence. Apparently, his reason for wanting to believe in a Supreme being is selfish, but understandable. Since then he never talked about God. He buried the issue deep within himself. But, it was all clear to anyone who knew him that he lived with the physical and psychological pain caused by an inner struggle between his irrational wish for there to be a god, and his rational thinking.

Every time we are confronted with situations that call for self examination, we take the course of least resistance. Ironically, this course of least resistance creates more resistance, more inner struggle, and it haunts anyone who forgets how the struggle all began. The more we shy away from self examination, the more we avoid knowing the truth. And, the more we avoid knowing the truth - pretending that if we just forget it, it would just go away - the more we are haunted. The more we are haunted, the more fear builds in us, imprisons us.

To be able to live a life worth living, our desire for the truth about ourselves must be sincere. The desire for truth is the fundamental attitude towards facing our fear. For by facing our fears, we come to know the truth about ourselves. For that moment, the inner struggle ceases to exist. And for that moment, there is liberation. Perhaps, this is what was meant by the phrase "Truth shall set you free".

That Uneasy Feeling About Living

We were talking about Socrates' "An unexamined life is not worth living". He also made it clear that one should know himself (i..e., Know Thyself). He went on to say that he knew nothing that lies beyond or below this world, and that the only thing he was capable of knowing is human experience.

I knew of a person who spent a lot of time understanding a philosopher. He read all the works of his favorite philosopher and was seen as an expert by his peers and students. He was adept in logic and was very good at detecting an invalid argument. He was particularly critical of religious tenets, and could prove the untenability of religious statements. Yet, he was uncritical of his biases and prejudices.

I had also come across some businessmen who were skillful at making money, who could see business opportunities that others could not imagine. They'd spend so much time making money that they have no time for their wives and children. Some are aware of that and have put aside enough time to be with their loved ones. Yet, they have little or no time for themselves. Vacation was a time to rest their bodies so that they could do work the following day.

These people are very intelligent, and are very good at what they do. But, I cannot help thinking that they may secretly be wishing for a better life. You may be contented with living in a certain way. But it does not necessarily mean that you're happy. Many of us are just contented with getting by, surviving another day. Time to rest would mean for some us more time in bed, watching DVDS, playing pc games. A contented life; or, a tolerable way of living that produces the least resistance.

So, if a life worthy of living is a life examined, what of your life should be examined? But, more importantly, how should you examine your life? What attitudes or values should one imbibe. Intelligence and deep knowlege of your profession does not seem to be the key.

Any thoughts?

Beyond Religion And Atheism: Should I know my self first?

I’m not going to criticize religion and atheism anymore, now that I know what’s good and bad about them. Being aware of them is enough and we need to go beyond them. What is the next step? Should we begin with knowing who we are? That seems to be next step. Philosophers always begin with the investigation into the nature of the self. It would seem that by knowing who we are we’d be able to go to the next step of knowing what we need to be. However, in this day and age, there are so many notions of who we are, what the self is. Which notion is true about the self? You could spend a lot of time trying to figure out which one is true. But, then you stumble upon the notion of truth, and begin to wander off trying to find the true notion of the truth. But, what is the true notion of truth, when you and I haven’t yet determined the nature of the truth? Perhaps, we need to agree on a methodology. But how are we to determine the correct method of knowing what the truth is in order to know what the self is? It’s terribly confusing, and I am pretty sure, we are going to get into a lot of mess before we could get off the first base. So, I’m going to say: Let’s put the issue on the nature of the self and methodology aside, and let’s start with some realization – some truths that are plain to see.

A friend of mine once told me that he’s convinced that the right thing for anyone to do is to be ‘nice to people’. He just knows that it is morally right to be ‘nice to people’ regardless of their differences, and to be a good father to his children, and a good husband to his wife. I asked him, “What about God?” to which he replied ‘Well, um, yeah, maybe there is a God. Then, again, I don’t really know. But what I know for sure is ‘be nice to people’.“ It is simply and plainly true, and he didn’t have to mention anything related to the nature of the self, or of the truth. I suspect that when you mix up what is simple and plain the truth with some judgments about which you don’t know, but claim to know, it blurs your vision of what is out there, in plain sight. It affects your judgment about the purpose of life and how one ought to live with people who hold different views. This is why Confucius reprimanded his students for getting enmeshed with questions as to whether there is life after life. Getting involved in something you honestly know nothing about makes you forget that your true and only concern of living is to live well. It also complicates life. And when you worry over the things you claim to know, because, deep inside, you know that you really don’t know, then it’s easy to become a victim to certain kinds of religious and political practices.

You and I know, almost instinctively, what is to be done. But, life has been quite complicated by the media, and an overexposure to religious, political and social propaganda. It’s time, according to Socrates, to realize the worth of living by way of examining one’s life.