In a recent conversation with "my Mormon friend" (everyone should have at least one), she asked how I could accept a religious or spiritual system that did not have a strict and static sense of right and wrong. She was speaking of karma (and although she didn't know it, dharma too). How can something be right for one person but wrong for another? To her, this just didn't equate. It seemed too subjective. How could a society function with such loose rules?
The answer is, of course, that it's not quite that lacking in black and white. While both Hinduism and Buddhism embrace the idea of individual karma/dharma, it's not the moral free-for-all that I think my friend imagines. There are still some things that are just wrong, no matter what. Let's use the good old Ten Commandments as an example (as they are, in fact, universal rules found in all societies -- at least the important ones). Adultery -- I'm hard-pressed to think of an example where this would be acceptable or "good" karma. Maybe if your childhood sweetheart was in a loveless, abusive marriage, and you gave in after 20 years and finally did it -- would that be so wrong? Hell, even most Christians (the non-rabid kind) would think that was ok - or at least forgivable. How about euthanizing someone with a painful, terminal illness, when he/she wanted you to do it? That's killing, but again, rational people of all walks would agree that this is not a sin. And so on.
The meat of the matter is not so much the clarity of rules, though. I think the real issue for my friend is a general lack of authoritarian structure. It seems so vague. And I get that. I understand how weird this seems to someone who has grown up in a very structured life and who is ok with it. But some of us aren't into that scene; the idea of an authoritarian god lording over me like an angry daddy.....well that's just about the last god I want to worship. (I prefer the kind with six arms wielding swords). Some of us are ok with the idea that we each walk a different path in this life, that we are subject to the karma of the previous life, that we may be flawed and make mistakes but that we can evolve beyond that karma for the next cycle.
To view humanity this way is to view it with compassion. Instead of cracking down on someone for being different or "sinning," why not view him with some empathy and understanding? "Poor kid, no wonder he turned out that way, from his childhood" etc. Why shower sinners with bile and venom instead? Is that what Jesus would do? Would he cast someone away for the path his life has taken? I'm pretty sure the Bible is filled with examples to the contrary.
So this comes down to not a difference in values, but authority preference. Here in the Puritan West, we like our religion heavy on the fire and brimstone. We like our God to treat us like naughty children, to act the strict and punitive parent. But in the East, while there is still plenty of punishment for evildoing, it's more laidback. "Hey man, you can do that if you want, but you're gonna get it if you do," rather than "don't you do that OR ELSE!" It carries a tacit implication of individual freedom of choice. How ironic that in a country that espouses the idea of freedom that we should have a state religion (yes, let's just call a spade a spade) that does just the opposite.
I don't need God or George Bush or Larry Craig or Pat Robertson to tell me what's right and what's wrong. I can figure that out for myself. That's between me and god (or Shiva or Krishna or Ganesh....). And if I can't, well, then, I'll just suffer some bad karmic fruit until I figure it out. And more important, I will respect other people's rights to do the same.
The U.S. would be well-served to adopt a more Eastern philosophy. Gay marriage, abortion, euthanasia, and so many other issues would just disappear from the political soapbox. Just imagine how great we could be if we were focused on REAL issues.
Afterthought next morning: Children require a more structured (authoritarian) parenting style. As one matures, one (hopefully) evolves beyond this to an ideology that allows for more individual thought. Perhaps this is a metaphor for societies. The US is quite young and so is still in the mindset of being told what's right/wrong and blind obedience to a leader. India, on the other hand, is quite old and has matured to a philosophy that allows more subtlety of thought.
Perhaps the reason why westerners seem to want a fuhrer is that the western philosophic,religious, literary and artistic traditions work hard at attacking authority. Most people dont read philosophy, worship anything in a disciplined way (when was the last time you saw a christian visting the prisons or washing the feet of a prostitute?, read litarature or consider art. To make the point briefly, here are two examples. Socrates, arguably the inspiration for western philosophy, was all about questioning values within a dialogue. This questioning laid bare the idea that people cannot rely on outside ideas or things to guide their lives. They have to make decisions themselves. Jesus called for his disciples to leave their parents and families behind if they truly wanted salvation. Once again, we see the anti authoritarian nature within at least a part of his message. If one accepts this part the emphasis is on thinking for oneself wo reference to outside authoritarian ideas. I think people in the west want authority because these thinkers/teachers hit on an essential truth of the human condition - that we are alone and free. As many writers like sartre and nietzsche and kirkegard have pointed out - this is scary. So why not give up my freedomto question and to act to another, larger power that promises happiness, success or ever lasting life? religion is overcooked philosophy with all the answers and with none of the questions. I think our freedom rests in what carl sagan said: "our lives our defined by the power of our questions and the depth of our answers."
ReplyDeleteBTW - James wrote the first comment - I am having trouble working this thing.
ReplyDeleteBut just to add a little - we are free to ask questions and to find answers. We give up that freedom to ministers/teachers/politicians/popes/sugar daddies/self help gurus who say that they have found the "ANSWER" - there is no universal answer - there are the answers that we can find ourselves and it makes our time on this earth much more meaningful to share them.
Well, I hear ya, and you are basically echoing my point - though you don't realize it. I'm saying that all our philosophers and everything else about Western thinking is YOUNG, and therefore less evolved, so to speak. Eastern societies are older and wiser. So yes, the West is all about authority, because we are young children who need it. We are not adults who can think for ourselves.
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