Post B084CEXYCVwu8YVono by wmbean@www.minds.com
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 (DIR) Post #B084CEXYCVwu8YVono by wmbean@www.minds.com
       2024-04-07T18:56:38+00:00
       
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       The Consequences Of Ones BehaviorIn every society the elders always instructed the younger members that behaviors have consequences. Now some may think this is simply a “Law and Order” teaching, but it's not.  As babies we learn different sets of behaviors.  We cry when we are hungry, our diapers need changing, or some other irritant and learn that usually mom is the one who comes to see what we need.  Adults are somewhat scary and we learn to smile and and coo with appreciation to our mothers and fathers and even our siblings, assuming we have any,  As we continue to grow we start to learn other behaviors such as eating foods, using the toilet, and sleeping through the night.  For those of you who have taken courses in child development, this is but a small list.  Learning when “NO” means no is often fought with pain at an early age and some learn quicker than others.  A family structure, meaning mother and father (and throw in a couple of siblings) is best for teaching the child what it needs to know through the years.  There are a great many lessons that are possible to learn and we are not confronted by all of them.Well, this reads like a boring bit of information but the purpose is to alert our attention to the current state of the Western World which appears to have lost its way in human development.  We tend to think about the consequences of one's behavior as a singular event rather in a collective sense.  That is a false assumption for our individual behaviors do not happen in a vacuum but in society either in a large context or small.  As a child our individual behaviors affect not just us but our parents, siblings, and friends.  Later on our actions have consequences in our school educations, neighborhoods, work environments, places of worship, and other social venues.  We exist as group members within various groups, from family to school to work to political affiliations.  Yes, John Donne, no man is an island.The history of mankind is that of the tribe, that limited extended family in which the individual is subordinate to the patriarch who gives the rules (within limits of the group members assent) becoming a universal society where laws are standardized, contracts are upheld not as personal promises that may be broken but as a social bond that demands one upholds a contract to which a man has entered.  Where marriage is both a social contract to and a spiritual contract to be honored and upheld.  Civilization as the centr4al social force gives to men and women certain rights as ascribed by higher power than a warlord or king.  That higher power, a spiritual power may seem fictitious to the non believer but when embodied within the common assent of society gives the weight of permanence in the law of such a society.The consequences of a society of men and women embodying the concept of “Rule Of Law” and abide with respect for such a concept means a society that is less prone to crime and violence.  As we know from experience not every man or woman in our society has such respect and eschews such behavior that is outside the social morn.  Thus begins the training of the child in our social norms, the rules of acceptable behavior.  And yes, all children to some degree challenge such rules while only a few will fail to learn the lessons of the consequences of their behavior.  But children need more than rules, they need principles they can learn to guide their future behaviors.  Perhaps that one universal principle we call the “Golden Rule”: “Do unto others as you would have them unto you..”, sums up a civilized society.  Instruction in spiritual matters gives reason to moral behavior, for morality is not based on arbitrary human political reasoning.  Morality is no relative to the fads and false reasoning of those who would see is multifaceted in its application. Morality is binary, either a behavior is right or it is wrong.  Same with the Rule Of Law, either it is obeyed or it is not.  Yet humans grow accustomed to looking for excuses why deviations should be allowed.  One can read the Bible and see that this have been the habit of humans for thousands of years.The Enlightenment brought the illusion of the “Progress Of Man And Society”, a concept borrowed from Christianity (mostly on the Protestant side) where men and women were captains of their own souls.  It envisioned a world that would eventually throw off kingship and other tyrants and reward the faithful with an ever increasingly perfect world, a heaven on earth, no need to wait for Christ to come back and establish such world himself.  If such philosophers were short on answers as to how to achieve such an idealized place there were those who thought they could supply such answers.  One must believe in the promise land, the one with flowing milk and honey, where peace and harmony could be attained, and it all would come about if everyone believes alike, exactly.  The irony of such an idea that supreme individualism should result in supreme conformity was lost of a great many of these thinkers and philosophers.  And how to achieve such  perfect place?  The use of power, the worship of power, the alpha and omega for the meaning of life.We come today to the realization that our Republic is in great danger of becoming a fascist society  ruled by those whose beliefs are based on the ideal of power, whose own works are epitomized by such beliefs.  The rationalizations for lawlessness are rampant, the excuses for moral perversion piles high on the alter of political power.  And the Hoi Poi are to be trampled into the dust as unworthy citizens fit for little else but exploitation.