@ prometheus' "no such thing as free will" comment.
Oh yes we have free will. we make choices everyday. I do not buy into excuses people use to be addicts and social parasites, abusive destructive or cowardly they have the ability to pull themselves up with every breath they draw in, I know cause I lived it, I know cause I watched the people around me live it, and you best believe it cause if the people I grew up with were convinced they weren't accountable or had an excuse there would be a few more monsters walking around. most really have no fucking idea.
and why wouldn't you embrace the parts of us that were natural?
things like empathy sympathy love etc etc surely were necessary for survival of our species right? as a social animal and one who lasted so long due to its ability to adapt and learn? not that loyalty to children and social structure are unique to us, look at meer cats, lions and bees to name a few.
but going on your train of thought there, what defines you? some spirit anomaly?
Im made up of my lessons and values and my idea of ideal situations. no one taught me, no one presence on this planet contributed to the majority of the things that drive me, other than me. sure I have basic instincts, im in my sexual prime right now and feel mortality coursing through with vengeance (mostly my genital area) butthese are raw, and I am the master of them...if I werent Id be fucking strangers in the bar parking lot.
Is an ideal situation one where murder is ok? No, society cant thrive like that and my loved ones would always be at risk. Is my ideal society one where stealing is ok? no, because I think people should be rewarded for their hard work and merit and someone shouldnt just be able to take it from them with out consequence. Do I think hurting people should be ok? no, because it would stunt growth, cause stigma and interfere with moving toward a constructive coexistence.
our instincts are not bad if survival is the goal, if learning is the goal, if thriving is our goal. I think the things that are taught are the destructive things...and most people who have children probably agree in some part. ever watch a baby watch its sibling play and begin to cry fiercely when things got rough and they thought their brother or sister were being harmed? how is an infant taught that? I suggest they arent, I suggest they felt empathy or a form they cared for or felt connected to.
These are just the basic things, when we move into the area of religion and tradition ceremony and social structure, things become relative, but I suggest the basic things are not, and sympathy and empathy are two examples of things that are not taught, but untaught and in my opinion were necessary for the survival of the species.
You know the beauty of many of the native American medicine wheel teachings, including that of my native Choctaw heritage taught to draw off nature. no matter what the circumstance there was an element be it water fire wind, or an animal be it bear fox or horse that had a lesson for you. regardless of whether you were suffering great pain, great sorrow, great lonely or great happiness, there was always a lesson, another place to put your mind, a place to go to evolve a little...perhaps out of bad situations, perhaps into a stronger wiser being in good ones. again, imo we are not above nature and we lose so much if we think we are. And these lessons were always up to you to fdefine, like a piece of abstract art, you formed your own substance from it, through your own mental process, applying it how you needed as it spoke to you. Im not sure if too many can understand how gorgeous and precious that is. and if you have never sat quietly in nature and pondered the existence of everything around you and what it had to teach (with out being on acid...though thats fun too) youre missing out.
me and jim beam are hanging out over here and I got a bit carried away, but my point is, we are not apart from nature but a part of it. biological construct is beautiful and in raw form ideal for the most part and shouldnt be treated as weakness but rather as the beauty in the human animal. Of course the human has its bad traits, but I submit the human animal wouldnt have survived if the majority of their mental process was all about their individual greed or comfort.
I am not a hippy.
