<\/p>\n
The world is complex and our But there is one other important difference We are able to care about beings It is our expanded capacity to Other animals make tools, the I think that is good.<\/p>\n But one remains: our ability to And these qualities provide us a Here is perhaps the greatest I was led to this chain of All agreed<\/i> it was a mistake, nor could they mention the name of The nihilism that infects almost When I spoke out against the war When the evidence points one way Only a country’s moral fiber can <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The world is complex and our knowledge of it is small. Each and every one of us benefits from knowledge we do not have used by people we do not know. Virtually nothing we “know” is based on first hand experience. In terms of our awareness of our complex environment we may be ahead of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nknowledge of it is small. <\/span>Each and
\nevery one of us benefits from knowledge we do not have used by people we do not
\nknow. <\/span>Virtually nothing we “know”
\nis based on first hand experience.
\n<\/span>In terms of our awareness of our complex environment we may be ahead of
\na termite’s awareness of hers, but not by much. <\/span>Perhaps mostly we are ahead in our awareness that our
\nenvironment is complex and if we are honest with ourselves, that we know little
\nabout it.<\/p>\n
\nbetween ourselves and a termite. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nwho are of no use to us; both people and other beings. <\/span>So far as I know, the empathetic sphere
\nof even the most moral of animals, such as elephants and chimpanzees, is
\nconnected to their personal experience of another. <\/span>Perhaps because of our greater ability to abstract, people
\nare able to care about others whom they will never meet and who will do nothing
\nto help them personally. <\/span>Think of
\nthe motives behind most of us who donated to Haiti after the quake, or who
\nsupport the integrity of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge while not ever
\nexpecting to visit it.<\/p>\n
\ncare for others that most distinguishes ourselves as a life form. <\/span>Intelligence is highly overrated, and
\nas we learn more, if we are honest, we also become progressively more aware of
\nwhat we do not know. Expanding the heart has no such internal paradox.<\/p>\n
\nsupposed mark of human distinctiveness I learned about when young. <\/span>Now we also know that other animals can
\nlearn simple English. Culture also exists among animals. <\/span>All these time-honored marks of human
\ndistinctiveness have broken down.<\/p>\n
\npractice genuine care for others simply because they are sentient beings and
\nwithout regard to their usefulness to us.
\n<\/span>Whether we call them love, care, empathy, compassion, or even simple
\nrespect, these qualities are open ended.
\n<\/span>They have no internal paradox, as does knowledge and learning. <\/span>They can extend indefinitely. <\/span>In addition, the more we practice them
\nthe more we encourage their being practiced by other people.<\/p>\n
\npretty good way to navigate in a world where if we are honest with ourselves,
\nwe know very very little. <\/span><\/p>\n
\npractical value of religion: it situates our capacity to love, care for, and
\nrespect others within a context that tells us it matters. <\/span>In doing so, religion can strengthen us
\nwhen we are feeling weak. (Any so-called ‘religion’ that does not do this
\nscarcely deserves the name.) <\/span><\/p>\n
\nthought when I read about a recent panel at the libertarian CATO Institute <\/a> featuring three Republican Congressmen discussing whether the attack on Iraq
\nwas a mistake. <\/span>One had initially
\nvoted against the war, one for it, and one was not in Congress at the time, but
\nbased on his subsequent behavior likely would have initially supported American
\naggression.<\/p>\n
\nany Republican in Congress who thought otherwise. As Grover Norquist pointed
\nout, that’s 100% who feel it was an error. <\/span>Not that many have the integrity to say it out loud. All
\ncontinue to vote to support the war, except for Jimmy Duncan, one of three
\nRepublicans who had opposed it.
\n<\/span>For nearly all loyalty to party trumped refusing to support mass
\nkilling. A big majority of Democrats are not any better.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nall ‘conservatives’ and a great many others as well deprives them of the
\nstrength to exhibit their most human qualities. <\/span>They do not have the courage of their hearts. <\/span>They fall far short of their human
\npotentials, potentials that do not require great learning or wealth to
\nmanifest. <\/span>When they abandon these
\nqualities, they are left with ego and power alone as guides through a complex
\nworld.<\/p>\n
\nbefore we attacked, I was pretty sure that the charges against Saddam Hussein,
\nbad as he was, were trumped up. <\/span>I
\nwas sure Bush was lying to us. <\/span>I
\nwas very sure that Iraq would not become a free democratic society in my
\nlifetime, and certainly not because of anything we could do “for” the
\nIraqis. <\/span>And finally, I knew that our
\nleaders would kill huge numbers of innocent Iraqis and Americans by attacking. <\/span>It was my awareness of the massive
\ncrimes about to be unleashed in our name that gave me the courage to speak out
\nrepeatedly against the looming war. But I admitted there might<\/i> be WMDs in Iraq, though based on what I had gleaned
\nfrom the reports I doubted it. <\/span>(At
\nthe time none of us knew of Iraq’s real reason<\/a> for being somewhat evasive on
\nthe issue. <\/span>But we were well aware
\nof the weakness of Bush’s arguments that they did.) <\/span><\/p>\n
\nor another, basic morality provides a compass more likely to be right than
\nwrong. <\/span>Acting from a position of
\ngreater care is less likely to be mistaken than acting from a position of less
\ncare. <\/span>Everything that has happened
\nto American society since those crimes against the Iraqi people were
\nimplemented has shown that when we abandon our most human capacities and give
\nourselves over to ego and power, the direction is down hill. It is an old
\nstory. <\/span>Thucydides described it,
\nand a somewhat similar Athenian degeneration into nihilism, in his history of
\nthe Peloponnesian War. I challenge any reader to show how this episode of
\ndeliberate murder<\/a> is in any sense less depraved <\/span>than the actions by Nazis or
\nCommunists. <\/span>Or this one where
\nwomen were murdered and then apparently had the bullets dug out of their
\nbodies, and their deaths blamed on honor killings<\/a>. More background about NATO’s atrocities and the constant cover-ups can be found
\nvia Glenn Greenwald<\/a>. <\/p>\n
\nprevent such outcomes, and America’s elected representatives, the media, and a
\ngreat many Americans despite all their talk of ‘values,’ did not have it. <\/span>Nor do they seem yet to have found a
\nmoral compass. <\/span>Hopefully these
\nlatest atrocities might finally reach and touch the withered hearts of our
\nfellow citizens. There has to be a time when decent people say “enough!” I
\nthink this is it.<\/p>\n