I bumped into someone who was thoughtful and articulate today, and they challenged me to try and do the same. I usually just kid around about having ‘offensive’ religious views and leave it at that, but this is the long version for you and the rest of the world.
(This may not be all that offensive)
The nutshell version is that my take on things is a delightful blend of metaphysical/moral objectivism, humanism, and skepticism.
Objective roughly means that I think reality is objective in nature, though our perspectives of it are constantly in flux. I view ethical decisions in the same light.
We will probably never make the maximally correct choice in an ethical quandary, but I view a subjective ‘any/most things go’ approach to moral choice as alternatively lazy, willfully ignorant, or just plain selfish, depending on the person.
Since it would be nigh impossible to make the ‘perfect’ choice, screwing up is a fundamental part of being a person. We just have an obligation to try and screw up less as we figure out the consequences of our actions. That’s where the humanism kicks in.
If there’s a divine presence out there, it doesn’t seem to be doing a whole lot in the physical world; good or bad, the world we live in is a product of our actions, and by extension our responsibility. For me, this responsibility to live in and take ownership of an imperfect world / state of affairs means two things. First, we have to acknowledge and be aware of suffering. It’s a constant, it’s not going anywhere, and it’s generally viewed as ‘bad’ despite the apparent disagreement over which kinds of suffering are most important.
The second thing is more complex, so I’ll chalk it up to my gut for a start.
I believe we have a moral obligation to reduce suffering which we should take into consideration when making decisions and considering their consequences.
This requires compassion for others, which I feel is reasonable for two reasons. First, because our initial placement in the world (social/economic/geographic/cultural/etc) is an arbitrary accident of birth. Second, because our cause-effect progression from that point is bound to include a litany of poor decisions and unforeseen consequences (see above).
The skepticism tacked on to the end is essential to keeping an open mind re: past and future decisions, and to remain conscientious and critical rather than dogmatic or oblivious. It also nets me either a healthy dose of scorn or patience from fundamentalists both religious and ‘rational’.
