Morality, politics and religion: A lesson
This lecture applies to all of us that debate on this forum, it helps to see the other side. But can you recognise it and accommodate it?
A very interesting talk of 18mins on the subject - see below:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html
One can but try
"Deaths in the Bible. God - 2,270,365
not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the
many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers
were given. Satan - 10."
How many people here actually want to see someone else's side of things?
Brit/Adey: I fully agree with both on this.
There are so many problems in the world, why do we have all to create more issues and problems and excuses to be so materialistic, and some say they do this and that in God's name and forget charity, others live on charity just for not working.
Only God Can Judge Me
الله فقط يمكنه محاكمتي
I am you and you are me, if you love i love, if you suffer i suffer
أنا أنت, و أنت أنا, إذا أحببت نفسك أحببت نفسي, إذا عانيتَ عانيتُ
Never assumed that you didn't know what an epiphany was..
I agree with you totally..
Met a guy a few years ago. He lost his three year old son in a hit and run.. He said that after the tragedy, he suddenly realised that life was not all about materiality and achievement.
He gave up a high paid job.. Started growing his own vegetables. Worked only to get enough money to get by and devoted most of his time in charity and volunteer work..
last time I saw him, he was really happy with his lot.
I wasn't passing an opinion on Wilkinson, just posting an interesting news story.
ps I know what an epiphany is. :)
and, some can find happiness through freedom from religion. This is true for many. :)
"Deaths in the Bible. God - 2,270,365
not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the
many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers
were given. Satan - 10."
The whole point of an epiphany is that there is a “sudden realization”. It can be triggered by anything. In johnny’s case , it was the quantum physics.
Today’s society has put pressures on humans and we all suffer from anxieties and issues. Many of which are “of our own making”. We have become materialistic and there is an emphasis to “
succeed”.
The problem is that most of us do not realize this or look for solutions. In his case he found happiness through religion. This is true for many.
Well I think the categories are the general 5 'BEST' and are not meant to be exclusive or deal with the minutia of everyones individual concepts of morality.
On a related matter concerning eastern religions(which I do have a modicum of respect for as thought provoking world views, as opposed to the judeo-christian-islamic monotheist tribal god of the desert dogma), do you know that Jonny Wilkinson has become a buddhist?
"He returned in glory to Kingston Park in Newcastle last Sunday, working miracles with a rugby ball and displaying a new messianic mane of golden hair.
What the 4,602 rugby fans who witnessed Jonny Wilkinson’s new haircut could not have realised is that it was but the outward manifestation of an inner journey to enlightenment.
The fly-half, already regarded by some England fans as a deity in his own right, says that he experienced an epiphany while reading about quantum physics. This in turn led him on a path to self-discovery, via the practices of Buddhism, to a sense of liberation from his anxieties over life, death and rugby.
All of this complex odyssey, from sub-atomic particles to the Middle Way, is unravelled in an interview with The Times today. It began after the Rugby World Cup Final in 2003, a game that Wilkinson secured for England with a now historic drop goal.
Related Links
* Wilkinson: quantum leap that saved me from despair
Even then, at the peak of his success, “I did not know what it really meant to be happy,” he said. “I was afflicted by a powerful fear of failure and did not know how to free myself.”
In the four years that followed came trials to test the patience of the Buddha. Wilkinson, his life ruled by a driving obsession to succeed on the rugby field, suffered repeated injuries.
In his anguish, he began reading about quantum physics. His moment of revelation came as he read of the thought experiment known as Schrödinger’s Cat.
The experiment was conceived by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödin-ger to demonstrate a conundrum at the heart of quantum physics: that a sub-atomic particle exists in two states. However, the act of measuring it effectively forces it into one particular state, rather as England’s discounted second-half try in the 2007 World Cup Final appeared to many fans to be both a try and not a try, until the referee called for a video replay.
Schrödinger sought to illustrate the strangeness of this phenomenon by imagining a cat in a sealed box with a jar of cyanide and a piece of radioactive material. There is a 50 per cent chance, at a given time, that the material has decayed to trigger the release of the poison. At that time, quantum physics says, the cat is both alive and dead.
As soon as one opens the box, the cat is either alive or dead, however. Observing it has made it so.
“It had a huge effect on me,” Wilkinson said. “The idea that an observer can change the world just by looking at it, the idea that the mind and reality are somehow interconnected . . . it hit me like a steam train.”
He realised that his entire world-view was bound up with a fear of not achieving his goals. “Quantum physics helped me to realise that I was creating this destructive reality.” This in turn led him to Buddhism, which helped him to overcome an abiding fear of failure, which he believes was rooted “in an even deeper fear of death”.
He said: “My motivation today has nothing to do with status, money or ego.” In his return to the rugby field on Sunday, after four months recovering from injury, he scored 22 points. As for his longer hair, it was, he said, “the new hairstyle, representing the new me”.
Yesterday Professor Peter Main, of the Institute of Physics, was delighted to learn of Wilkinson’s transformation via quantum mechanics, though “I think his interpretation wouldn’t be the mainstream physics interpretation”, he said.
Professor Main had a similar sort of experience in his student years over the “EPR paradox”, involving quantum mechanics, classical intuitions and physical reality, though it led him into physics, rather than into Buddhism. Nor did it help the professor to relaunch himself as a successful rugby player. Still, “the mere fact that Jonny Wilkinson was getting inspiration by reading about physics and enjoying it is wonderful”, he said."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article4783833.ece
"Deaths in the Bible. God - 2,270,365
not including the victims of Noah's flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, or the
many plagues, famines, fiery serpents, etc because no specific numbers
were given. Satan - 10."
That one I was laughing.
Haven't seen TED lectures since...although I'm still not convinced if people'll learn with what he said.
but then again, it's just discussions...
"Everything in this book may be wrong." Illusions: The Adventures of The Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
I have listened to many of the TED ectures and they are superb.
Ofcourse its true that our “concept of morality” helps define our views and in many cases our actions.
I would agree with many of his thoughts. For example, Classing myself as a “liberal”, I DO tend to see things within the harm/care and fairness/reciprocity frames.
Having said that, whilst the theory is superb, I would find it very difficult to actually break down things into the five aspects – especially with the current political use of spin and lies.