TheBanyanTree: Ambiguity

[spoonoid]

We are sore afflicted by injustice in the modern world. Why can't we all just be 
nice to each other and  get along?

In order to understand life in the big bad world, one needs to cultivate a 
tolerance for ambiguity. We can work toward world peace, but the inertia of 
ideas held by the unenlightened masses makes our task enormous. So we need to 
accept the fact that we cannot change things overnight. 


We need to realize that many adults who live on one side of a border believe 
that the people on the other side have no justification to exist and must be 
eliminated. This cultural bias is instilled in the  children who accept the 
beliefs of their parents. The underlying motivation of their culture is to 
maintain the power of the true believers in their society. This is the elephant 
in the room that many of us seem to ignore. 


To get the big picture of life on our planet we can look at two extremes of 
human behavior, which I like to identify as Anarchy and Liberty. I know that 
these are loaded words that carry a lot of baggage for each individual who 
encounters them, so allow me to define them for the purposes of this essay. 


Anarchy is the way of animals, the complete lack of government or rules of 
behavior, because there is no one around to enforce rules. Anarchy means that 
behavior is governed by the law of the jungle, where the rules are: kill or be 
killed, eat or be eaten. Anarchy leads to survival of the fittest, and natural 
selection at its finest, where might-makes- right, the ends justify the means, 
and violence is the answer to every question. Under anarchy you do whatever you 
think you can get away with. Watch any National Geographic show about animals 
and observe the creatures' behavior. You will see anarchy in action. When the 
humans with their bigger brains came along, and took over the world from 
animals, the depravities of anarchy were amplified.  


Liberty, on the other hand, is a product of rational human thought, where people 
have discovered that a group of two or more individuals, cooperating and working 
together, can accomplish much more than any individual working alone. The two 
fundamental rules of behavior for humanity, and thus the foundations of 
civilization, were discovered early in the murky history of mankind, and were 
codified in the writings of various religions. The first rule prohibits killing 
a fellow human being. The second prohibits stealing another human's property. 
Note that the first rule is the foundation of the right to life, while the 
second implies a right to own property.  


If a human has a right to life, one would also conclude that said human has a 
right to self-defense, in order to preserve his own life. So an ambiguity arises 
where a man may be justified in killing another human if he does so in 
self-defense. The ambiguity is resolved when the human is prohibited from  
initiating violence against another, which permits limited violence in defense 
against violence.  


Now in order for the human to continue living he must go out into his 
environment to find food and shelter for survival, and a mate to propagate his 
species. To be successful he must compete against other humans for limited 
resources. But he finds that by working every day he creates new wealth that was 
not there the day before. Unlike the animals, the man creates buildings, roads, 
churches, universities, spacecraft and cell phones. As time advances, the humans 
blanket the planet with cities and nations, and an accumulation of wealth that 
grows with every generation.  


Another feature that humans share with animals is the need to compete against 
others for survival in their  environment (ecology).  But note that the humans 
have the ability, if they wish to use it , to respect the human rights of their 
fellow man while competing for survival in their common society. You probably do 
this yourself in your everyday life, since you live in an advanced civilized 
society. Most people reading this do not need to exercise violence against their 
fellow man on a daily basis. Count your blessings.  


While we cooperate with our families and friends, we discover we care about 
other people, and wish to give them a helping hand when they stumble. Thus we 
are compassionate and charitable towards others in our communities, and we are 
grateful when we receive help from others. 


Life is better now for you than it was for your parents, and they had it better 
that your grandparents, who were more prosperous than your great grandparents, 
etc. The world of today contains more wealth than it did in past times, and 
however slow our progress is, humanity is better off than we were in previous 
centuries. Would you really want to go back to simpler times? How about giving 
up your cell phone? Flush toilets and indoor plumbing? Horses can be nice for 
some folks to own, but I prefer to keep my car.  So look at the sweep of 
history, and be optimistic when you realize your accumulated blessings. 


If you feel you want to give back to your society, because you enjoy the wealth 
that surrounds you, all you need to do is continue working at your job, and seek 
to advance to a better job. Support yourself rather than depending on someone 
else to support you. Pull your own weight, and don't forget to help your 
brother. People are the assets of civilization, the ultimate resource. People 
are the ones who do the work and create the wealth that benefits themselves and 
provides an improving standard of living for everyone. 


Make yourself an example of virtue for others to emulate. Those aggressive 
people on the other side of the border can eventually realize that cooperation 
serves civilization far better than continued inter-tribal warfare. Seek Liberty 
and suppress Anarchy.

Later, John.