The Seperation of Religion and Ethics.

What does separation of religion and ethics have to do with anything? It is a brave new world we are living in, where old institutions like church, religions, are dyeing (changing color?), and nothing is arising yet to replace them. Religions provided extended social grouping, support for education, arts, great buildings, and numerous other functions. They were great for building community. The objection to atheism, seems to be lack of ethics, yet there is little connection between the two in any detailed way. Modern life has outstripped any ethics found in religion. Fraud is not a consideration in any religion, yet it is the primary issue of today.    

Religion is typically the belief in the supernatural, or description of events that would require supernatural for them to occur. This is the totally delusional part of religion.

Some claim that religion produces ethics and virtue. Bull crap. Fear does not keep people in line. It is often used as a threat, especially to children, but that is verbal abuse of a form. This life time is all we get. We need to do good in this life time, and our memory is carried on among the those who survive us. That is all there is. Ethics must be instilled in people, as it is right to do right. In modern society, people are less obviously dependent on others and the relation between each other, yet we are more dependent as we are less physically self sufficient. We can be more emotionally distant from each other, as we have the ability to communicate with each other over great distances, and sort our relationship by interest. 

Understand that our "purpose in life" is to cooperate, to reproduce, and in general to flourish as a species. Existence is meaningless until we paint on our purpose, our personal plan, for the day or life and then we can apply our motivation, once we have a plan. That plan can be action, or production, almost anything. It could be to create, produce, provide support to produce, or to raising of children or consciousness. Expending and extending knowledge, or documentation of knowledge, or transmitting that knowledge to others all works.

Evolution, the processes that brought us to this point in human development continue at there slow and unsteady pace with short periods of rapid change. We have not evolved to the same place, nor at the same time. There is a spread, likely some sort of normal distribution of development. We are not all at the same place.

As there is a normal distribution of brain cell column spacing, one end of the spectrum dyslectic, the other end autistic, with normal between, I expect that the range of evolution is similar. That leaves biodiversity high, which that suggest that there is better chances of survival.   

frosty tree tops one winter day

 

Unbeleivers

What would a instruction book to teach the art of life for the unbeliever look like?

It would include suggested behaviors and thoughts for all forms of Non-believers, Non-theist, atheist and even Spinzoa theist. It would be more catholic than the Catholic Church, for it would include all those useful and true concepts like family, social community, compassion, and disallow anything that physically hurt other people. Catholic means inclusive. That is something the Catholic church is not.

It would need to include high level ethics, logic, and reasons for all the stances it took, starting at what we call in engineering "first principals". Water flows down hill. You cannot push a rope. Vacuums suck. Compression squeezes molecules together. Time goes forward, and the like first principals that are difficult to argue with, but may need to be expressed.  Its main purpose would be to teach, in the span of years, what it took our ancestors centuries to work out. There is automatically room for improvement, for this is a state of the concept paper, not a final draft or proclamation. 

It would need to state clearly these first principals. A supernatural god does not exist. We do not know all the answers yet. Logic is our only clear tool. We are born to cooperate, since our purpose is to flourish and reproduce. We have done that quite well, and now we need to understand how to get along in ever increasing density until we have the political will to control our population.  I see this document, belief system as a composite of Maslow, stoic, Buddhist, Spinzoa, positive psychology, philosophy, all that is believed to be true and right, but with the provision to test everything, and use that which works and helps (buddhist). Ethics would need to be the foundation as well as real psychology in understanding how we get ourselves to do logic. This is all of the above, combined. There are parts that must be cleaned up, and other things that cannot be.  Buddha hallucinated, likely due to fasting, so that portion should be left out. 

First, we need to agree that the logical way to proceed is logical, not historical beliefs driven. These beliefs have brought us to where we are, a lot of us but no piece. The question is how do we go forward from here? It is through a logical belief system, based on logic, not prescription. We are all equal, that is rational humans are all equal, and logic must control all decisions.  Now how about the non-rational among us? Those who do not yet have control of ourselves that others do? And then that are the ungifted, as Marcus called them. There are the infirm, mentally challenged, and the young who logic ability has not developed. Hell, there are lots among us who have not developed logic, or have chose not to. Stewardship may be the answer. More education, training, or the like. Evolution is not uniform among the population, that is for sure folks.

Equality has it's limits. And then there is the starting philosophy, religion, superstitions, delusions, and purposeful deceptions that we maintain. We all would like life to be simpler, easier, more pleasant, and perhaps harbor a delusion that it should be more to our liking. Many harbor a concept that we should like something and then just buy it, regardless of cost. Not practical in a logical society. The logic says we should have a need, and manage by controlling our needs. We need to practical, frugal, even minimalistic.

We need to understand our personal identity, as one of the unbelievers who use stoic/buddhist philosophy. There are cultural identity and individual identity, primary and secondary identities. We have individual identities as our primary identity,  natives and blacks seem to have their cultural identity as primary, hence the poor mes attitudes, but that is not germane here.

Enough of my stream conscious/daydream.

Is that the natural you or did you learn that?

Is that the natural you or did you learn that? This suggest there are two of us, a natural us, on which learned behaviors, beliefs, values; philosophies, are loaded. So we can learn new things at the personality level,  belief level, emotional level. OK. I just realized that I am pretty much a sociopath like; I just just do not care about other people; that is not to say that I behave that way; I have learned to care for some. Some other things just need to be done, regardless of there cost. Oh well, shit happens. Other things, I cannot force myself to do.

When I do a cost/benefit analysis on overeating, the desire for food out weights anything else, at times. It is a short term irrational pull, that I must learn to resist, not allow to start, or displace it. It is that basic self that is in control, not the learned behaviors. So the effect is there, but the learned behaviors are not as strong as the root native characteristics. 

This also has down sides. I wanted out of my home situation as a child. It was a wait, eat, grow, age, situations, just waiting to be big enough and old enough to get out. I was gone in days after writing that last final exam of grade twelve, but no diploma, I flunked English, the undiagnosed dyslexia played a role in that. Plan completed. On my own. No plan for the future. Not good. Find a job, make money, find a place to live, etc. Oh well, that was almost 50 years ago, it is over, I am retired, no plan for the future. Now I have the time to study philosophy and my mind's workings or not workings. It does not matter. I care about other people about as much as they care about me. So are we social by nature or is that learned behavior, knowing that we do better as a social group than as individuals? Learned I think.

I now know that I am a introvert because I feel anxiety on meeting new people, unlike the extrovert who feels joy or pleasure on meeting new people. I forced myself to do it anyway, even though I felt anxiety. That feeling has just become stronger, to the point that I am a extreme introvert. But is that a characteristic of a sociopath, feeling? Not quite. For society to flourish we need to work together and get along to some extent. There is a continuum of cooperation levels, world, country, province, county, area, tribe, family, individual. But individual is singular. Are we or are we two, mind and body; natural and learned; but that make we are four, and 2 by 2 matrix. Yes, we need to cooperate with ourselves.

But we need to come first so our priority level may be generally reversed, self first to country last. Occasions may arise that we put other levels over ourselves, but these are special. Family for some, but not consistently, and then what about the human detritus with our family. There are some who are just evil among us. There are those we are better to not associate with. There are those too, who abuse and use us. These are the worst of the lot, know them and respect them for what they are, and deal with it all that way.

There are those also who push lofty ideas on us from above, the politicians, who do not need to live in our situation. Regardless of what they say, some of the concepts will never be accepted by all the people, some will not be accepted by but a few, US racial or Canadian Native situations for example. Politics can dictate over our bodies, but they cannot control our beliefs.   

For this, I am Responsible

What we have here is a failure to take responsibility for my own life. It is only I that I can count on. The stoics say some things are up to me, some are not. I am responsible for what is up to me, and can only influence some of the things that are not up to me, and most, I have no influence over. I can influence my reaction to them. For this I am responsible.

I have a bad tenant that became bad; my part is that I rented to her late husband. She got pregnant and trapped the guy. She will be soon gone. The house is not up to the standard she would like to become accustom too, with her low income, and cannot afford the rent. Oh well, she has the poor mes, and the I wants. I am not responsible for her attitudes, that is her problem, and soon the Counties. She is moving to County housing.

It is all about responsibility. I could have evicted her, but I did not, my part. I could of evicted her husband, but he paid the rent on time, and looked after the place. He had a long and painful death. Returned to where he came from, OK. She has struggled to pay the rent for a year and then I raised it. She decided she wanted to live in a better place, but had no one to pay for it. Native eh, the poor me culture, may contribute. I allowed a native into one of my properties, that was my part. For that, I am responsible.

Food knowledge, for that I am responsible. What the government teaches is wrong, but I am still responsible for listening and believing them for all those years. LCHF exaggerate, but I am still responsible. Too much fat cause weight gain, yet LCHF say we cannot get fat on fat, and that fat satiates, bullshit. We overeat for at least one of six reasons, poor food knowledge, physical appetite issues, maladaptive behaviors issues, environment factors, food addiction, and other habit, convenience, availability issues. Oh well, I am responsible, it is a life style choice. I can choose to eat right foods and quantities, against the advise of others, go it alone, on my own, for it is my life and I am responsible, or "go with the flow and get fat". Others are free to push there opinions, but it is still my responsibility to choose correctly, obtain good for me foods, prepare those foods, and eat only appropriate quantities. Others are not responsible for pushing onto me their products. It is my responsibility to resist. For this I am responsible.

It is a lifestyle choice, and for this I am responsible. The organism must adapt to the environment it finds itself in or parish, that is not the ultimate law of Darwinism, rather, reproduce or your species will not survive. But if we reproduce and too many survive, then what? Mass die offs when groups run out of water, food, energy, or the rise of the individual family hording for survival? That is a topic for another day. For now, it is personal responsibility for the food that I consume, my life choices, living with my past choices in this time of mass bullshit public information and misinformation. Our current environment is not healthy, or is not inducive to healthy choices. It is about survival once again, and personal responsibility for the choices that we make.

and a picture just because

        

Doing what we know is right

Confidence and courage are both related to doing what we think is right, doing what is right because it is right to do right. Circular logic or fundamental belief; it is none of my concern.  

A quote from some where:

‘Moral courage means that you do what you think is right without bothering too much about the effect on yourself.’

Coming to sort my beliefs, becoming atheist, is abandoning a belief in any supernatural god, not abandoning my values. People need to cooperate to get along, to flourish, as a population. This becomes more obvious as, being an non-theist, we realize that faith and hope are meaningless desires for a delusion. What will happen, will happen. we need to accept the worst possible, and move on improving the situation and outcome, ever way possible. Death may be worst outcome, and is available. Once we accept that, we can move on living as best practical, and for as long as we can. Death is not within our control, but much of how we live is. It is up to us, at least parts of it.

Youtube has many theist videos that suggest atheists have no moral values, which shows they do not understand the word - atheist. We are not savages, it is simply, we do not believe in a supernatural god, We have morals, and values, just not god based reason for doing things. We need a real purpose in life, a reason of doing, but one that is real. We start with understanding the word - theist, and know it is all about belief. If we believe something is right, than knowing we are right, we can do what ever is right and know we are right, and not be much bothered by what it's effect on use is, because that too is right. Circular human existence,circular human logic. Oh well, shit happens.

But what is the best we can? People are destroyed by high living and by poor living. It is much so now, and was in Epictetus's time, or so one of the fragments says. Minimalism is not my way; I have difficulty to throw out anything that is useful, that was the way I grew up. Saving anything of value, but throwing trash. Bit of a hoarder, but I do not have a issue in giving stuff away, but nobody wants it, so high living is not the way either. Somewhere between, but toward the low end, I think. Not soft, but comfortable, durable and sustainable.

I was out picking highway garbage as part of the service club that I am exploring associate with. Many humans are such vandals and wasters. I could call them pigs, but pigs are cleaner and more useful. And then there is the useful lost stuff that is just garbaged. No recycle, that would be more work. I just do not agree, but I understand. Perhaps I need my own project, but I do not want that much labor.

Cardboard and paper decays, and the ditch mowers take care of most of that. It is the metals, and non-rotting junk that needs to be picked up, but they want everything, especially plastics and colored paper, the stuff that can be seen when fresh, that needs to be picked up. Such a waste of effort for paper that will rot. But I did not know what the garbage was until I did a day of picking. Oh well, it is good exercise.

Doing what is right, knowing we are doing right, knowing why it is right, and the like right behavior is the foundation for courage and confidence. We do not need a god to show us what is right, we can figure that out for ourselves.The old scripture do not show right, much of them are barbaric, perhaps better than the original tribal savages, but not what we need today. Religions got us to where we are today, but now we need better direction, and need to clean up our personnel code of conduct. Coming out as a non-theist take courage, for we will be attacked by delusional theists. Expect blow-back from the religious. 

enough. insert picture because

A Jasper beach

Change After No God Realization

Having realized that there is no god, change is inevitable. This is a big realization. I have doubted there was a god most of my life, but now realizing that there is no god is a major change, and more changes are required to account for the changes in responsibility. Some things are up to us, and some are not. That has not changed. What has changed is now the thinking makes it so is much more important. It is me that must change, there is no god to put anything onto. There never was, but religions have been lying to us all along. That is the hard part to understand. Religion has been and is committing fraud since it's conception. Priest are basically fraudsters, whether they realize it or not.

A this psychological evolution occurs, as more and more people recognize there is no god, fear will be a factor for more people. Some will be stricken with fear, more than presently will not be able to cope with reality, and will need to adjust. Add to that all the fear mongering going on with children, stranger danger, over protective parents, and the ability to isolate with the internet, it will be more stressful for child rearing. Not more dangerous, just more stressful, and add to that the learning to deal with the overpopulation, and shortages of water, energy and good foods.... The world has always been a dangerous place. The demand for services will just load taxes to the point of killing the reasons to work, killing the economy. Oh well.

The number of sociopaths and psychopaths will likely grow, that is the people who stop or decide not to be cooperative, but be takers only, and use that possibility to there personal gain. In old times these would be the tyrants, like the Alberta Progressive Conservatives had become before they were tossed from office in May 2015. Mistakes were made but not by me attitudes. Government cannot serve all the special interest groups, there are too many, the cost will kill the systems. In the long term, all it will be able to do is step back and let the people do what they can, as the governments will be essentially broke or headed that way.

Each individual must decide, on there own, whether they will be part of society, or an individual. As the psychological awaking takes place faster, there will be changes. The biggest thing is that the children should not be indoctrinated into religion and not permitted to question and penalized for leave any bullshit religion. Christianity had the inquisition; Islam has apostasy, a specific word for leaving. All religions should be abandoned in favor of truth, no god, but then we need to figure out how to live well on our own. That is where personal responsibility come in, in a big way.

It all comes down to doing what is right to do, for the right reasons.

Realization is another word that I need to talk about. Nothing has changed in the world, it is just the way I looked at it. I am amazed at how resistant to realization when we have a concept locked in our mind. In the case of religion, the god concept, and when we realize the concept was wrong, and that belief dissolves, and just goes away, how many years have I wasted with this wrong concept in my head. Wasted may not be the right word, as all we have is the present moment, but spent, not fully realizing the truth, and how things really are. Would it have changed what I did? Definitely yes, but that is history. It is only now, in the present moment, that change can be made. I am just amazed that I did not see it before. How many more major revelations lie in my belief system?

And a picture because I can