07-11-2022, 10:28 PM
(07-11-2022, 03:55 PM)JasonBlack Wrote:(07-10-2022, 07:24 AM)Eric the Green Wrote:(07-09-2022, 03:21 PM)JasonBlack Wrote: Yes. Morality is mostly a set or principles for survival and making the most out of life on an individual and group level. If you can't look out for your own, they are meaningless. For those with exceptional wealth, and whose families are taken care of, one's circle of concern can gradually grow outwards to encompass larger communities, but even then, when is that ever going to really be past the level of the country (excluding individuals from other countries you actually have a real relationship with)?
The idea that I or any human is an individual on "your own" is a delusion. We are always interdependent at every moment. If you think you are an individual, see how long you can survive in this form without breathing. Even being conscious depends on there being others to be conscious of. We each depend on the Earth for physical sustainance. Indeed, my concern does not have to grow beyond myself, because it inherently is already. It embraces others I know, my community, my country, my world, my universe, because I am interdependent with it all.
You'll notice I said "look out for your own", not "go it on your own". Few people have what it takes to truly exist as a lone individual. All the more reason we need to focus on those closest to us. If we can't help them, we can't help anyone.
My own experience makes me inclined against this idea. Families are repressive and confining. And they too, are too much about "our own". "Independent families" is a delusion. The point is we are inter-dependent even more on our community, our state, our nation, and on government and politics, economic powers, and most of all, on Nature. And on the greater Spirit. Spirit, and Nature. These are the two that Americans most forget, to our peril, and through our countercultures and green/new age movements, greatly need to discover, and focus less on our business and looking out for our own.