Here's a Doodle with Really Philosophical Thoughts on Reality and Absolutes
Posted 04-30-2017 at 09:48 PM by Ludlum'sDaughter14
Updated 04-30-2017 at 09:59 PM by Ludlum'sDaughter14
Updated 04-30-2017 at 09:59 PM by Ludlum'sDaughter14
Here is a model of the good, the bad, and the ugly that I drew tonight on a whim:
I don't have the passion or patience to be an arteest, but I can draw geometric shapes in understandable combinations. The highly symbolic approach usually works a little better in the form of poetry; in other words, I think an explanation of this dynamic doodle is in order:
The picture itself (excluding the purple background, which was for aesthetic appeal) is a spectrum of values.
The yang symbols with the little yin at each end of the spectrum represent moral absolutes. Everyone operates based on absolutes, even those who deny the existence of the concept. Not everyone's absolutes are right, however; in fact, the majority of the world is operating based on faulty belief systems. Diametrically opposed and contradictory belief systems cannot simultaneously be true. As my favorite personal coaster says, "I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong." However, the yin represents the limited number of stated absolutes which are actually true and consistent with reality. These absolutes also include the basis for determining what is right and what is wrong. Certain decisions will always be morally right or morally wrong, and therefore fall at the extreme ends of the spectrum.
Emanating out from each end of the spectrum is a gray area. This area includes elements which are right or wrong, good or bad, wise or unwise, based on multiple factors. They cannot be addressed with simple ultimatums. An action that is wrong for one person to take may be the only right option for another, depending on circumstances, history, culture, purpose, motives, conscience, etc. Sometimes, out of multiple options, no option will be "right"; they will all appear wrong in one way or another, yet an option must be chosen. In that case, the right option becomes the one a person chooses based on what they believe to be right by acting in good conscience and otherwise harmonizing with the moral absolutes they know to be true.
The fundamental mistake most people make is to see either only the ends of the spectrum or only the gray area in between. Past generations were legalistic in their declarations of moral absolutes, but our current culture has gone to the opposite extreme of denying that moral absolutes exist and claiming that every area is a gray area, and therefore not open to judgment. The truth lies in a balanced approach that acknowledges both types of elements and handles them appropriately.
Speaking of balance, we come at last to the center of the model, which I have nicknamed the Vortex of Perfection. This is what everyone seeks to attain and what some think they have attained, but, in the words of Galadriel, they are all of them deceived. This is the ultimate Right - the purest motives, the most correct statements, the highest achievements, the precise points at which the gray areas between absolutes reach their Golden Mean - all such perfections reside here. But why a vortex, you ask? Because most people live under the unconscious, mistaken impression that perfection is possible to achieve in one area or another. We hold ourselves and everyone else and the world itself to standards to which we can never hope to measure up... at least not in this life. The state of everything being Perfection, i.e., as-it-should-be, does not currently exist in this world. It exists in the spiritual realm, but we cannot reach that state without the direct intervention of our Creator, who in the end will recreate the universe to exist in the state of Perfection it was originally meant to exhibit, once the time is right and those who have given up their false absolutes and surrendered to the Truth are also renewed to be perfect. We won't understand perfection or in any way accomplish it until we have been made perfect. In this life, we must be content with half-knowledge and a lot of gray areas. No one individual has it all right; all we can do is get the absolutes right, and the gray areas will take care of themselves as much as necessary.
Well, now that I got that out of my system - to bed? Or not to bed? Better now than at 2, Brute.
I don't have the passion or patience to be an arteest, but I can draw geometric shapes in understandable combinations. The highly symbolic approach usually works a little better in the form of poetry; in other words, I think an explanation of this dynamic doodle is in order:
The picture itself (excluding the purple background, which was for aesthetic appeal) is a spectrum of values.
The yang symbols with the little yin at each end of the spectrum represent moral absolutes. Everyone operates based on absolutes, even those who deny the existence of the concept. Not everyone's absolutes are right, however; in fact, the majority of the world is operating based on faulty belief systems. Diametrically opposed and contradictory belief systems cannot simultaneously be true. As my favorite personal coaster says, "I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong." However, the yin represents the limited number of stated absolutes which are actually true and consistent with reality. These absolutes also include the basis for determining what is right and what is wrong. Certain decisions will always be morally right or morally wrong, and therefore fall at the extreme ends of the spectrum.
Emanating out from each end of the spectrum is a gray area. This area includes elements which are right or wrong, good or bad, wise or unwise, based on multiple factors. They cannot be addressed with simple ultimatums. An action that is wrong for one person to take may be the only right option for another, depending on circumstances, history, culture, purpose, motives, conscience, etc. Sometimes, out of multiple options, no option will be "right"; they will all appear wrong in one way or another, yet an option must be chosen. In that case, the right option becomes the one a person chooses based on what they believe to be right by acting in good conscience and otherwise harmonizing with the moral absolutes they know to be true.
The fundamental mistake most people make is to see either only the ends of the spectrum or only the gray area in between. Past generations were legalistic in their declarations of moral absolutes, but our current culture has gone to the opposite extreme of denying that moral absolutes exist and claiming that every area is a gray area, and therefore not open to judgment. The truth lies in a balanced approach that acknowledges both types of elements and handles them appropriately.
Speaking of balance, we come at last to the center of the model, which I have nicknamed the Vortex of Perfection. This is what everyone seeks to attain and what some think they have attained, but, in the words of Galadriel, they are all of them deceived. This is the ultimate Right - the purest motives, the most correct statements, the highest achievements, the precise points at which the gray areas between absolutes reach their Golden Mean - all such perfections reside here. But why a vortex, you ask? Because most people live under the unconscious, mistaken impression that perfection is possible to achieve in one area or another. We hold ourselves and everyone else and the world itself to standards to which we can never hope to measure up... at least not in this life. The state of everything being Perfection, i.e., as-it-should-be, does not currently exist in this world. It exists in the spiritual realm, but we cannot reach that state without the direct intervention of our Creator, who in the end will recreate the universe to exist in the state of Perfection it was originally meant to exhibit, once the time is right and those who have given up their false absolutes and surrendered to the Truth are also renewed to be perfect. We won't understand perfection or in any way accomplish it until we have been made perfect. In this life, we must be content with half-knowledge and a lot of gray areas. No one individual has it all right; all we can do is get the absolutes right, and the gray areas will take care of themselves as much as necessary.
Well, now that I got that out of my system - to bed? Or not to bed? Better now than at 2, Brute.
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