Assuming responsibility

A)    Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?

1.      This is the title of the previous painting of Paul Gaugin. However I will change these questions to the following ones:

2.      Why should we care where we come from or where we are going? Why should there be a meaning in life or a definition of the human being?

3.      If such questions just cause confusion and mislead us, shouldn’t it be better to live our lives as simply and naturally as possible?

B)    Sense of duty

4.      According to Wikipedia, a duty (from ‘due’ meaning ‘that which is owing,’ whence ‘debt’) is a commitment or expectation to perform some action in general or if certain circumstances arise. A duty may arise from a system of ethics or morality, especially in an honor culture. Many duties are created by law, sometimes including a codified punishment or liability for non-performance. [1]

5.      “Performing one’s duty may require some sacrifice of self-interest…” However do we really perform our duty because of altruism, or is it just because we have to comply being unable to perform otherwise?

6.      Who is the person who has the authority to tell us what to do, while we are not exclusively subject to our own self-determination?

7.      By definition therefore a ‘duty’ is an obligation imposed on the person by some external source (e.g. another human being), so that the obligation serves some other person’s interest, even if the purpose is considered beneficial for the common good.

C)    Faith and falsifiability

8.      According to a definition, falsifiability is the capacity for some proposition, statement, theory or hypothesis to be proven wrong. That capacity is an essential component of the scientific method and hypothesis testing. In a scientific context, falsifiability is sometimes considered synonymous with testability. [2]

9.      Faith, on the other hand, is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Alternatively, it is strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof. [3]

10.  On one hand therefore, we have the constant dispute of scientific skepticism, which always challenges what is considered true or self- evident. On the other hand, we have the acceptance of arguments or facts which are considered absolute and eternal.

11.  Are both these two views of the world and mental attitudes equally important and necessary? In fact science is also based on axioms- admissions which are treated as valid by default, and on which any scientific theory is based.

12.  Is therefore science another, let’s say ‘modern,’ form of religion? Could, on the other hand, a religious person or priest be allowed to doubt about his faith, in order to improve his religious views and come closer to God?

13.  Is finally the most important aspect of personal or social attitude to be tolerant with other peoples’ ideas, no matter how strongly or bravely we hold on to our own views- even if the other person is just  a thief or a coward who says what he says just to save himself or to avoid the subject?

D)    Plausible deniability

14.  According to Wikipedia, plausible deniability is the ability of people (typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command) to deny knowledge of or responsibility for any damnable actions committed by others in an organizational hierarchy because of a lack of evidence that can confirm their participation, even if they were personally involved in or at least willfully ignorant of the actions. [4]

15.  Accordingly, a cover up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence or other embarrassing information. In a passive cover-up, information is simply not provided; in an active cover-up, deception is used. The expression is usually applied to people in positions of authority who abuse power to avoid or silence criticism or to deflect guilt of wrongdoing. Perpetrators of a cover-up (initiators or their allies) may be responsible for a misdeed, a breach of trust or duty, or a crime. [5]

16.  An example of a cover up is the delay of the publication of Chernobyl disaster by the Russian government. It is believed that then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev waited an astonishing three weeks before even mentioning the accident publicly. [6]

17.  Another example is the drop of the atom bomb at Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WWII. The Americans argued that they dropped the bomb in order to stop the war as fast as possible- otherwise they would have suffered great casualties by having attempted a land invasion into Japan. But the truth is that Japan would have surrendered sooner or later. And why the second bomb? The ‘great casualties’ argument was perhaps just a good excuse, while the real purpose was to see the effects of radiation on living human beings.

18.  To which category do the scientists who made the bomb (as well as the pilots who dropped it) belong to? Are they heroes or monsters? Certainly they can’t be both. 

19.  How often don’t we ‘cover- up’ our own intentions or true feelings either because we are ashamed to admit the truth or because our goal is selfish? Would any official or government ever be allowed to deny or falsify evidence if all members of that society were characterized by integrity?

E)     The unbearable lightness of being

20.  With respect to the film with the previous title, and according to Wikipedia, challenging Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of eternal recurrence (the idea that the universe and its events have already occurred and will recur ad infinitum), the story’s thematic meditations posit the alternative: that each person has only one life to live and that which occurs in life occurs only once and never again- thus the ‘lightness’ of being.

In contrast, the concept of eternal recurrence imposes a ‘heaviness’ on life and the decisions that are made- to borrow from Nietzsche’s metaphor, it gives them ‘weight.’ Nietzsche believed this heaviness could be either a tremendous burden or great benefit depending on the individual’s perspective. [7]

21.  Is human existence ‘light’ or ‘heavy?’ In fact- as I write these words and try to figure out what the answer to the previous question might be- I feel very heavy and exhausted. Mental effort as well as moral attitude- which always goes with mental discoveries- usually makes us feel ‘heavy.’ Perhaps it would be much easier for me to do something else- playing a video game for example- never bothering with the deep meanings of life. However this is impossible- at least for me-. My life would be pointless without constantly exploring my mind and the universe- as well as offering my thoughts to all the rest- without ever asking for any money.

22.  But the pleasure which I take back as repay is what finally lifts my heaviness. I really feel sorry for people who have never had any existential problems, but who- because of their laziness- always feel heavy. Thus, to reply to the initial question, existence is heavy for those who do nothing with their life, not bothering to ask questions about the purpose of life- so that despite the fact that such questions pose a great sentimental and moral burden, the answers to these questions is what finally liberates us and makes us better beings (see Nietzsche).

F)     Eternal damnation and reincarnation

23.  According to Wikipedia, damnation is the concept of divine punishment and torment in an afterlife for actions that were committed on Earth. [8]

24.  The problem with Christian religion is that it takes for granted that human beings are sinners, so that they have to purify themselves during their lives. I honesty wonder how any progress can be made if, instead of assuming that we are all born neither sinners or saints, we are preoccupied all our life with guilt. Few people realize how devious such- mostly subconscious- guilt can be, depriving us of any lightness of the being- if all earthly pleasures or daring thoughts are condemned by default. If this so then even the promise of Resurrection is pointless- what’s the meaning of going on with our lives in Paradise as perfect beings, if our previous life on Earth was a living Hell? Should we keep on living an immoral and ignorant life, just because there is a God who will forgive us, regardless of everything?

25.  The sense of duty which one has to perform during his life, either as a soldier or as a priest or simply as a common person, is related to the meaning of karma in Oriental religion. This is a description:

Karma is the law of moral causation-

- What is the cause of the inequality that exists among mankind?

- Why should one person be brought up in the lap of luxury, and another in absolute poverty, steeped in misery?

- Why should one person be a mental prodigy, and another an idiot?

- Why should one person be born with saintly characteristics and another with criminal tendencies?- - - Why should others be congenitally blind, deaf, or deformed?|

- Why should some be blessed, and others cursed from their births?

Either this inequality of mankind has a cause, or it is purely accidental. No sensible person would think of attributing this unevenness, this inequality, and this diversity to blind chance or pure accident. [9]

26.  What we see here is that the same mistake is made: As with Christianity so with Buddhism (at least according to the previous article) human beings are treated as sinners per se. In both religions people can be born disabled or deprived not by chance but because in this or in another life they did something bad. This is the aspect of guilt we were talking about- to punish yourself because you deserve it. Perhaps having the opportunity to return and correct the mistakes we had made in our previous life may seem encouraging. However if human beings are by nature imperfect- and we truly are- then no matter how many times we return, no matter how many opportunities we will be given, we will repeat the same mistakes again and again- and this is not just because we are not intelligent enough as a species to deeply understand the causes of our behavior so that we can change it, but also because- even if we had understood the causes- we would likely chose to keep on repeating the bad behavior for the fun of it…

G)    Deliberate imperfection

27.  But is there anything fundamentally wrong about this?- Is there something wrong with our shortcomings? Commonly deliberate ignorance (sometimes willful ignorance) is the practice of refusing to consider or discuss logic or evidence disproving ideologically motivated positions. [10]

28.  This is similar to plausible deniability or falsifiability we earlier mentioned. We either know what is wrong but deny it, or we try to prove we are right. How different are the two previous formulations? How many times do we have to repeat the same parameters of a problem in order to solve it? Aren’t we finally relieved when we find a solution- no matter if that solution is always based on pre-assumptions and commonly accepted routines of thinking? How certain can we be about any deduction we make or any belief we hold after all?

29.  Once it was believed that the orbits of planets were perfect circles, while the planets themselves would be perfect spheres. It was also believed that the Sun and the stars revolved around the Earth- our own center of existence. Later on it was shown that the universal processes are far from perfect or ideal. While the orbits and shape of the celestial bodies are elliptical, not only the Earth revolves around the Sun (and not the opposite) but also there is no center of the universe. The universe itself is not a perfect being. It is an immense structure, without origin or purpose, chaotic and violent. Has the universe to be reborn in order to fit our own expectations about morality and perfection? Or had we better accept and try to understand the universal reality?

30.  But if there is no moral code, meaning of wisdom, or purpose of perfection in the universe then- supposing here that the universe finally succeeded by been imperfect- what is the advantage of imperfection over perfection? 

31.  If we take for granted that we have no misdeeds to declare and that we will inevitably go to Paradise- as finally all sins are forgiven- then our life will be empty, as there will be nothing left for us to correct. But if, on the contrary, we assume that we have defaults by nature- not because we are cursed for some unknown reason- then we will have something to deal with and improve our lives.

32.  In fact perfection is a vague and indefinite idea, while imperfection is a condition which we can build upon- as it leaves room for progress. Isn’t it better therefore to acknowledge our ‘disadvantages’ as properties- neither ‘perfect’ or ‘imperfect’- which we can rely upon, and which we can work with towards the uncertain- thus absolutely objective- future?

33.  Isn’t it ultimately assuming responsibility the only way we have in order to be excused?

[1]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duty]

[2]: [https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/falsifiability]

[3]: [https://www.google.gr/search?q=faith+definition]

[4]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausible_deniability]

[5]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover-up]

[6]: [https://people.howstuffworks.com/10-cover-ups-made-things-worse8.htm]

[7]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unbearable_Lightness_of_Being]

[8]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnation]

[9]: [https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm]

[10]: [https://www.conservapedia.com/Deliberate_ignorance]

11/9/2018

Image: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?, Paul Gauguin [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_Do_We_Come_From%3F_What_Are_We%3F_Where_Are_We_Going%3F]