Rule Book

Renunciation is incompatible with man's nature, to remove all liberty from his will is to remove all morality from his acts.

Jean-Jaques Rousseau
**********************
The author and humorist Isaac Bashevis Singer was once asked if he believed in free will. He answered "We have to believe in free will. We have no choice."

When I was a youngster I got a hold of some published play scripts. There are two publishers who print working scripts of plays that have been produced on Broadway. In those scripts I found diagrams of the sets and often photographs of them, a list of the props and costumes and all the movements of the actors around the stage accompanying the dialogue. It said things like "Enter L X DC" (Enter from stage left and cross to down center). Or "(Pointing his finger at her.)"

In my youthful innocence I thought how nifty. If one built the scenery to look like that and followed all those direction one could easily do the play. Then later I came to realize that what was in the published script was the stage managers copy. It showed how the director staged the play and some idea of how the actors performed their physical actions. But in order to produce the play one had to start from just the dialogue and the authors original text and invent a brand new production. One could not simply hop scotch through someone else's production. Years later I had the privilege of working for a great director, Charlie Hensley, who came into rehearsal on the first day with a button which read "There are no rules."

The philosophical study of Ethics is about what we ought to do under any circumstance. It is a complex study. To attempt to design or discover a book of rules for living is a disastrous activity. For one thing no rule is going to apply to every circumstance, adaptations must be made. But even more importantly a book of rules for ethical behavior will, in fact, deprive us of our morality. Once we abandon or repudiated our right to freedom of choice we have also renounced our right to lead moral lives.

The freedom to make choices is our only guarantee of morality. To make a wrong choice and suffer as a result may not teach us what the right choice is but it will certainly teach us what the wrong one is. But bungling along, stubbing our toes and bumping our heads, checking out someone else's rule book, getting the advice of wiser wayfarers and, above all, reasoning things through, thinking for ourselves, may not bring a completely benign and happy life, but it will lead us to a better one. The choices we make determine the choices we get to make.

In the end the only certainty of a knowledge of right and wrong is one you have earned for yourself.

DB - The Vagabond
*********************

Weekend Puzzle

Here we go.

M APBH FHJ MX SFH YGJMDSMOH

TXL M APBH FHJ MX SFH ETAA

NIS ATYS XMDFS PX SFH NTKY GPJKF

M APBHL FHJ NHYS PE TAA.

(Sit down to do this one.)
DB

Simplistic Settlements 10/02/09

A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.

Socrates
****************
Come in, join the party.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Why is reason better than emotion?

There are charismatic preachers of all religions who can inspire their congregations into extreme states of emotion, bringing them to a point of shouting and weeping and generally believing that the holy spirit is upon them. Those are the false prophets we've been warned against. It may be good drama, but it's bad spirituality.

Similarly, there are those who can generate among, perhaps the same, congregations of people a sense of self-righteous moral outrage to the point of violence over some issue by simply sticking to the emotional side of it, with pounding of fists and shouting out invectives against it, while totally ignoring any other side of the question.

I don't need to cite example. You can turn on the TV almost any day and see one of these ethical criminals at work. They can evolve an otherwise intelligent group of people into a fanatical religious or social mob.

And so we have women being whipped for wearing trousers, innocent children being allowed to die, political prisoners being tortured ("renovated"), doctors being shot to death, homes and nations being invaded, families destroyed, the innocent in jail and the guilty roaming free, the shouting down of honest discussion, the plundering of the poor by the rich, buildings being blown up, rage, cruelty, violence, rape, murder, war, mayhem, all under the umbrella of entitlement, defending our freedoms, claiming our rights, gaining closure, maintaining the status quo, protecting ourselves, doing the right thing, keeping up a good appearance, social order, sanctification, gut reaction, the Word of God.

We live in a vulgar, world wide. sordid, ethical snake pit. It's a grand day for the false prophets. It makes them feel important and powerful. "Mischief thou art afoot, take whatever course thou wilt." Shakespeare

So why is there still civilization? Because there are still some civilized people in it, people who are willing to think things through and who are sensitive, concerned and patient enough to see the results of any action or thought. There are still people who reason instead of react. There are people who will not give in to the crowding and stuffing of their minds and will walk out on the false prophet when the emotions start heating up and go listen to the wise instead.

I claim my rights. I claim the right to think for myself, to reason things through to the best of my ability, to listen to intelligent points of view, to agree or disagree in a civilized manner, to support the ideas I believe in and have patience with the others. And, whenever I am given the opportunity in my vagabond journey, to stop the criminal, lift up the broken, soothe the hurt, praise the compassionate and applaud the ethical.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
____________________
May angels splash around in your apple cider.
**********************

AUTUMN QUESTION



This is not a contest.



If you could be remembered for one thing, what would it be and why?





You have all Fall to answer if you wish,

Reply here or at dbdacoba@aol.com



1 response so far



Thank you



DB

Managed Morality 11/26/08

It is great to be able to ask myself, what do I really like, and not what am I told I should like.

Elle Macpherson
**********************


Isn't it odd how we grow up with a set of likes, dislikes, behavior traits, opinions and perceptions of reality and what the world is, only to have to realize that most of it was simply given to us to accept without question and we, in fact, may have a different set that is wholly our very own. If by good fortune your parents, teachers and any other influncers of your life were consistent in their morals and minds, you have a fairly clear ethic to live by.. But what if you find out it isn't your ethic? What if you realize that the way you think is just a reflection of the way you have been told you should think? What do you do?

Some young folks become rebellious and throw out the family values with the bath water. Others begin the long, treacherous journey to understand themselves.

I was a thinking kid. (I grew up to be a thinking actor, the bane of many directors, particularly the less than brilliant ones.) As a thinking kid I had to process certain thoughts that were handed to me by my family. For one thing there was often a negative suffix added to observations about me, as in "You don't like squash? What's the matter with you?" Which taught me that there was something the matter with me and I didn't know what it was. Then there was "You have got to learn how to make something out of yourself." That meant that I wasn't anything and I didn't know how to become anything. And then there was the blue ribbon, solid gold, Oscar winner, "Well, I hope something comes along some day, hits you in the head and knocks some sense into you." That one told me I had no sense and I'd better watch out because something might hit me in the head any day. That last remark continued for about 35 years during which time life had already hit me in the head plenty of times, thank you.

Out of all that experience came that wonderful but slightly scary moment when something inside me said "Wait a minute! There's nothing the matter with me. If I don't like squash I don't have to like it. Period. If I don't behave the way you want me to, I don't have to. I behave the way I want to and I know why. And I don't need anything else to hit me in the head, I have enough sense already." In other words, out of the confusing mish mash of other people's opinions I was developing my own ethic. It wasn't great and it needed development and adaptations, but it was MINE.

It is a difficult problem to separate what you really think from what you still carry around from the influence of others. It's easy if you know, for certain, that you disagree. It gets harder when you finally realize that Mom was right. Maybe she wasn't right about everything, but there are a few that you know are true and you can go ahead and accept them as your own thinking,without having to accept the squash.


DB - The Vagabond