Archive for the ‘Philosophy’ Category
“And”, and how it can kill your business
Posted by sshadmand in Business, Philosophy, Technology on August 17th, 2010
Focus is extremly important when starting a company. It is easy to think that the best thing to offer your customers is everything they need. I mean wouldn’t you want to be the one stop shop for someones needs so they can keep wanting to come back for more? Unfortunately, that always sounds great in theory, but in practive its a concept that kills. McDonals does burgers, and even though now they have a fish filet and a Mc Rib now and again they are a burger joint and when they started and took off they did burgers better then anyone in the biz. After a while they added more products to stay currnet and further saturate their market but they had to start somewhere, and dig into the dirt. Creating a business on the side lines often give people a chance to improve on a big companies ideas, but they neglet to realize how long it took for the company toget their and build their brand off of doing one thing great.
The miss-hap is much like a sub shop that notices that people on their lunch break often needs copies made, so they become a sub shop and copy center. Would you eat at a sub shop that does copies when you wants subs and vice versa? The problem is every time you add an “and” to a sentance about what you do you when you are a growing company you are devaluing each individual thing in that claim by half. I mean if 1 person is great and flipping burgers and they put all ther time into that skill what happens when that same person makes shakes….well you can hire another person for the shakes, but the problems still trickles up — now the manager must be great at spending half his time on managing burger flippers and half on shakes makers. Make your core your focus and do that one thing better than anyone in the world. If you find yourself using the “and” in your value prop raise a red flag.
Another way to think about it is that often times you try to increase value with increasing your offerings. So you say we are a company that focuses on the very best linens (but then you think how do i get the linens to the customer so you continue on) … and we deliver the linens to your door. What just happened there is once you started thinking about alternative ways to increase the value of your company you have inadvertently admitted that the “fine linens” part of your companies offerings isn’t good enough to stand on its own. I have the finest linens – [period]. I am so focused and great at making fine linens you will want them – [period]. It rings stronger and internally, in every conversation and meeting that comes up if the discussion doesn’t ultimately improve the quality of your fine linens dont waste your time talking about it. every new offering (if you want it done well) deserves all the attention it needs and will suck attention from another offering unless you have the brand, management, money, exposure, customer base to help carry you unto something else.
You just can’t avoid it no matter how smart or hard working you are you will give your customers mixed signals, employees diffused objectives and passion, and a mitigated product that can’t compete with a rival that coud spring up and do everything they can to be better at one thing than you. Information gets around quick and people know how to manage multiple systems, if they can save time by finding someone who does something important better than anyone they will use them in no time.
note: I should make one more point. This doesn’t mean that you can’t have new ideas, just recognize that the new idea will need focus and attention and if you think your original idea/business isnt good enough to stand on its own you should decide whether to keep the old business or shift focus completely to the new one.
Difficult vs. Hard
Posted by sshadmand in Philosophy, Style on August 17th, 2010
There is a major difference between difficult and hard for me. I have noticed that professionals love to say they work hard. Over time it has become a badge of honor. I work harder then you and my parents told me hard work = success and there for I will be/am more successful. That logic seems so screwy and I followed it for way to long.
I propose that if you work hard you are bad at something. There are always difficult thing in the world. It is difficult to create an atomic bottom, or be nice to your mom sometimes, it is difficult to start a company. But when something is hard, you are doing it wrong. Life is easier then I think we realize sometimes and wth the mentatlity that working harderr is better then not we fall into this brute force, power through mentatlity. For instance lfiting a tree IS hard and people did it for years, building a pully system was difficut and made lifting a tree less hard.
There are so many red flags that pop up when this is happening. Talking in circles at meetings, staying up late everynight, re-arraging your pitch to others every time you give it. Stop and think am I proud of how hard I am working more then I am takeling the right difficult problem.
It weird, is is actually more lazy to work hard then find the right difficult problem. For instance, if I had a eating problem and I found myself rummaging through my fridge allot the lazy/hard way to solve it could be to put a lock around my firdge and the lock only opens if I ride my back fro more then 3 hours. Thats allot of work and you “solved” the problem, but we know that that is a shit load of work and you didnt really put any effort toward the actual problem. You simply solved all the points around it, but you worked so hard for it right? Congrats your an hard working idiot. That is a red flag. The dificult thing here is you have an eating problem, go to a gym, go to a phychologist and find out why you find comfort in food, buy helthier foods. etc.
Another example is in politics and law. The ROI for “catching someone in a crime” is low. Someone has to wait arond and catch you. The question is why are they breaking the law, why are they angry, is the law right, are the roads safe etc? Way more difficult but when figured out MUCH easier to maintain and wayyyyy less hard. Try building a fence on the border of mexico and US. Thats allot of dumb level hard work. I mean the most similar things are the ancient great wall of china, and the berlin wall…..really? Why dont you want immigrants here, why do they want to be here and find a mutually beneficial result i.e. If they are coming to US for health care, in order to get health care you must be a citizen, in order to be a citizen, you must do x. If its cash then offer cash to register, as it may be cheaper then manning a and building a non interest aligning wall. ALigning interest and solving difficult problems allows you to not need to over manage tasks and decreases hard work. The best system is one that manages itself to to accommodating everyones passions, interest and goals, as closely as possible so that the management of themselves is the most efficient way tow work. Regulating pirating music is way harder then making it cheaper and easier for users to download individual songs almost instantly instead of having to break the law, code, search, and wait for songs that are stolen..
Hiring
Posted by sshadmand in Business, Philosophy, Technology on August 17th, 2010
For years employees would hire vetrans becuase after x mount of years experience an employer knew you they were getting a knowladgable person based on track record, but that is kind of a lazy way to hire. It just like football, you hire skill and lose potential, you pay to mitiagte risk. Employers would then hire young people at a low salary if they were bright, once again to mitigate risk. “You seem smart but you dont have a track record so we will have to pay you less.” Much like foot ball you are not setting your team up to win a super bowl in the coming years. (This also sounds similar to VC world)
What FaceBook, Google etc well in addition to hiring smart vetrans was they flipped the script a bit. They started hiring young people with allot of potential and paying them allot of money. A few years later they are winning super bowls. And the old employer style is having a hard time finding talent. Now everyone wants a young genius and they are in short supply.
Time and time again this risk mitigation strategy is a red flag and one should be sure they are mitigating for the right reasons. Also, when you save time by mitigating it is a red flag because in away you are being lazy, and when you are lazy you give opportunity to those that aren’t lazy to move ahead. (not lazy cause you dont work hard but lazy because you are using a systems to think for you and when you do that you get further and further from being different and different equals success because not everyone can be successful)
When do we really learn?
Posted by sshadmand in Philosophy on July 23rd, 2010
TLWTW
I watched the original The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe (LWW) movie the other day and in the beginning of the movie, as the story starts to develop, the kids stumble into a old wardrobe locked way in an empty room covered in cob webs trying to escape their nanny looking to divvy out some punishment. All three squeeze into the wardrom to hide, after pushing and shoving each other trying to find enough room within, they collapse out of the back and find themselves standing in a forrest covered in snow. They are amazed and begin to apologize to the youngest of the three siblings for not believing her when she told them about this magical wardrobe weeks ago.
As they are marveling at what they have founds “inside” the wardrobe a beaver walks up to them and begins to speak.
“The beaver is speaking?!” they say, shocked and amazed.
“How could this be?”
The beaver wastes no time, and asks the thoroughly confused young children to follow him further into the frosted woods before they say too much; he didn’t want the trees to hear them talk. If the wardrobe and the talking beaver weren’t enough to screw someones perspective of reality up, now they had to deal with guarding the secrecy of their conversations up in a forest with eves dropping trees?! The kids once again looked at eachotehr in disbelief.
So, this troubled me…
The three children, are in a wardrobe one minute, stumble through it to the other side, of which is in fact a large snow covered forest, only to be welcomed by a talking beaver. When the beaver asks them to be careful of the eves dropping trees they look at one another stil in disbelief that the trees can talk and that the talking beaver sounds crazy?! Are you really still doubting things even as they come out of an animals mouth in perfect english? How close minded are you? If I were to see a beaver speak I would realize that I need to be on my guard and that anything must be possible. This is a new world that very well could have more then one thing I consider fact called into question. I would be open to what ever was thrown at me, and be eager to play with and learn about this strange new land with a open mind and blank canvas….wouldn’t I?
But that is the question isn’t it?! If a beaver talked to you tomorrow would your whole world change, or would just the part of the world in which you have characterize beavers as animals that quiet obviously can’t talk need some rethinking? Do you begin to question whether or not this is a new species of beaver, or maybe beavers could talk all along we just havent listened? Does this help confirm that dolphons can talk? Why not? Does it mean a rock has feelings? Why not? I mean before that moment werent you absolutely sure beavers couldn’t talk too? It funny how quickly we arrange what is absurd and what isn’t. You are sure that the sun rises and sets every day — well go to alaska and yo will find that that isn’t necessarily true. And what happens in that instant is amazing, you instantly re-arrange your beliefs systems and facts to make it work, but immediately close your mind off from thinking much more beyond that. On one hand it is good to find your self grounded and not have to question everything every day, but on the other hand where is the line to always keep an open mind progressively? When those realization or stretched over time is it easier to limit your openness? Sort of lying the difference between easing into a hot bathtub or getting into a Jacuzzi before you turn it on.
It seems that every 100 years or so something large and unnerving shakes up our perception of the world, but just like the children in the Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe we are constantly only allowing a scoped segment of information to change with a new observation. These crumbling moments of facts and belief systems are quickly contained to stay within a single new undertdsaning of any given thing and is not allowed to seep to far into a new appreciation to try and re-understand everything all over-again; all the while open the mind for this new data. …The world was the center of the universe “Fact!”, and how could the planet be moving if we don’t feel like we are moving “Fact!”. Atoms are the smallest particles “Fact”. The word is flat “Fact”. Blacks are not the same as whites “fact” — are thoughts all within a few hundred years old. ( Galileo Galilee was sentenced for heresy in 1633 for geocentricity claims less then 400 years ago )
The question is, where is the line between realizations and acceptances. When and why do we find a point to start disbelieving again after a new belief has formed? If I was convinced the earth was the center of the world after hundreds of years of heliocentrisism would I feel enlightened enough and change my tune when it comes to following everything the Pope says – that God wants a crusade to convert muslims and Jews to christianity? Or, would I still follow those commands/belief and solely update the part about the Sun?
Afgan Star
Okay, moving on….
Soon after I watched LWW my cousin passed on some movie suggestions to me, one of which was “Afghan Star”. It is the story of how American Idol made its way to the minds of television producers in Afganistan after the leadership changed laws in 2004 allowing singing, music and television back into the country. The movie was strewn with interviews of countless people describing how beautiful it was to have music back in their lives.
“The empty house is now filled” one man said.
It is symbolic and beautiful that a culture can express themselves. Every contestant and viewer expressed their excitiment and joy of how amazing it was to finally feel free express themselves; how important it was to morale and culture. A women being interview from the thousands of contestants explains that previous to 2004 she had to take voice lessons in her home town in secrecy because she could be beaten or arrested for such things. Her town is less progressive and to this date does not think Afghan Star is good for the country. Another young woman explains how overwhelmingly beautiful she beleives art and music feels and how it fills her life with joy. Watching the movie, I am amazed that these people did not have the right to express themselves, but moved that they are now able to do so and beginning to embrace it. There is forward progress.
But slow down campers, let’s not get too excited. In the second round of the Afgan Star finals the same woman I just described that is overcome with joy now that she can sing and has made it to the final four. As she is singing these feelings culminate into a single expression of happiness through dance, while giving her singing performance.
“What?!! What is she doing?!” fellow contestants yell.
“She is ruining the show for us all” her female competitor says of her performace.
Yup, after an hour of the movie showing the beauty of what freedom and music can do to the soul and after following these contestant to the top, finally living their dream to become a famous singer they all turn on her becuase dancing on TV is not okay — just singing. She was admonished for dancing on stage.
The people have embraced the ability to finally sing through tears of joy, yet when it comes to a woman dancing on stage we are back to square one!? The poor girl cried after she lost and was escorted to her van ride home. All she wanted was to express herself much like others had finally done through song. It was a very emotional moment for me, the sheer ignorance and hypocrisy of people. To embrace singing and in the same breath still admonish this young girl for expressing herself through dancing…….A young man said “she should be killed” –it was painfully frustrating to watch.
So, once again I find myself asking, how the hell do you only learn a little, only see as far as the light is allowing you to…how can you not even tell?! …..Am I doing that without even knowing?
When jews were considered equals we had learned the sadness of our ways except that black were still an unkownon quanity, when our society finnaly was ableto see past skin we had to start over with women and sex’s, and even after that hard lesson was learned we must debate why a persons preference, “gays”. …….Yes the lion the witch and the wardrobe is a silly fantasy about ones imagination and the oddities of reality but the sad part is that the reality we live in is as if not more absurd and our inability to believe in parallel concepts are as surreal and absurd as theirs.
Is life a process of building up foundational truths and refining them over time or is it more like the unraveling of untruths toward a final point at which everything is possible? Are we getting closer and closer to a reality that has bound or one that is realized to have none at all? I have yet to see a talking beaver but if I did tomorrow what then, and why is that different the geocentrism in the face of helio? Knowledge may very well get larger not because we will learn more about what is untrue but we will find out thatall is true.
Are we working to refine what we know and create more conclusions, to get closer to the ultimate thruths, or is that short sited. If all things throughot hostory are learned and unlearend and like an atom bomb we are unable to take an explosive chain reaction of ideas out for infinte distances, i..e our minds are only able to learn 1 or to steps out from the point of impact (wardrobe is forest->beaver talking->but trees cant talk OR singing is okay->dancing is not) then is it possible the there is not a point that we are moving towards and instead just including more possibilties of beliefs. We may know more evry day as the cliche concept but we end up knowing more depth about one thing every day, knowing something about something completly diferent or oppsitte to what we knew is much harder to see. Is it a forever expanding of the breadth of systems or is there a single direction?
I guess I feel like this is a massve hole in our world. It exists right in front of us every day at the same time is so far from being used and weighed against in our every day lives…..Am I on crazy pills?
Some good TED talks
Posted by sshadmand in Philosophy, Style, Technology on July 15th, 2010
TED Talks
Sixth Sense Technology
http://blog.ted.com/2009/03/sixth_sense_demo.php
Great technology of the future. Why take a mobile device out of your pocket when your environment is constantly able to take input and interface with all the world knowledge.
Stumbling on Happiness
(The 21 min summary version)
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html
Read and loved his book, “Stumbling on Happiness” which gives perspective on the science behind what lead to sadness, hapyness, imagintation and how poor/amazing those things work.
Sir Ken Robinson on Education
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
What IS smart? DO we reward all sorts of talent or have we progressively become a society that our bodies are simple a transport device for our big brains. Sir Ken gives a humorous take on our recognition of education.
And his follow up years later if you like him: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html
Physics meets life
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/garrett_lisi_on_his_theory_of_everything.html
This van bound Hawaiian finds the balance in quantum physics and life.
“When all else fails to organize people, conditions will”
Posted by sshadmand in Philosophy, Quotes on July 10th, 2010
Points of Life
Posted by sshadmand in Philosophy on May 16th, 2010
Visual
I. Life has two very distinct points — birth and death. You cannot escape these points, and it always runs in a single direction.
II. As you may know the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Conversely the only way you can increase the distance between two very statically laid points is to focus less on the fairly impossible task of moving said points further apart, it is far easier to increase the quantity of diversions and curvatures of the path itself.
III. I think that’s why we all knows instinctually that increasing our expereinces, taking chances, and traveling “off the beaten path” is so very important to living life. It is the only we way can, in some ways, beat the ultimate beginning and ending we are given. This example is an exercise in the visual and practical application of how to deal with life.
Do not plan for death and do not take the next obvious step so quickly when given a path. Live the longest richest life possible by pulling yourself out of any path plainly laid out, for a a clear path is a short one with one very obvious conclusion.
Some Thoughts on Entrepreneurship
Posted by sshadmand in Business, Philosophy on April 21st, 2010
I was recently asked to put together some quick points around entrepenuer ship. Points became paragraphs and since I rarely get a chance to blog I figured I would kill two birds with one stone….
You have the x-factor
Try to listen, question, get help and delve into guidance and advice that makes sense or intrigues YOU, not just to what people tell you makes sense or what is the current common thought. If you are special enough to be successful it’s because you have your own mind and perspective that’s different and it’s the advice YOU consider and hold onto that matters (if you simply just listen to experts and do what they say because they are soooo smart then you should work for them and not yourself)
Experts eh?
If two experts disagree in a room on something then no one really knows the right answer – take a step back, its time to find your own path.
Do what you love
Do what you love — I know it’s cliché but truly getting that point is harder then it seems. You are an instant success if your doing what you love because otherwise you’re working hard at something you don’t love just to pay for the things you do love. Just cut out the middleman! If you accept the love-of-doing more then the love-of-having life gets so much simpler (sounds kind of hippie , i know..). For example: If you love Ferrari’s then you should work around, on, or with them at any capacity you can (instant success) Don’t work your way up at some random office or profession that you don’t love just to buy a Ferrari some day. (Seems like allot of wasted time just to experience some distant moment of possession)
Focus
Focus hard and focus on your core. Most anyone can make any one thing great if they focused on it and dedicated their life to it. If all you did was think about how to make one specific thing awesome every day I think you would succeed. P.S. Focusing on two things has half that chance of success or less and so on.
Blank pages suck!
Blank pages suck! Conceptualizing abstractly too long can kill an idea. Create, draw, promote, attempt, try, share, and do as much as possible even if it seems unneeded or premature. Don’t let technical know how stop you. A movie can be cartooned without a camera, a car body can be made with clay, and a site for something to help a user base can be an office excel sheet that is passed around via email in its infancy. You’d be surprised how much can be learned and/or gain traction from such things.
Actions + Ideas = Something Great
Every idea can be great, from a specialized trash can, to a purse design, to an ornament you place on your Crocs, or a web site to share simple two line messages with friends (just look around you at what you own or do). Just stick with it ( And mind you that doesn’t mean simply bull-headedly pushing a singular concept – that’s “lazy hard work”). Stick with improving an idea, listening to users, reacting and adapting you self and idea to what you learn and come across. If you do all the above you most certainly will succeed, right? ;)
Don’t Save Money, Save Time and Stress
Often times we go cheap to get things started, and being exceptionally frugal myself this lesson was hard for me to see. Often times saving money comes at a greater cost then the time you lose, the stress you gain and the expertise you fail to implement. Hire people that can do a job exceptionally well, get equipment that will make your business work exceptionally well etc. That doesn’t mean be lazy and spend money without research or thought…spend smart BUT getting someone cheap, bad equipment, lack of staff to handle the load, and cutting corners bites you in the ass often and seems to always end up more expensive and threatens your growth down the road; like death by a million paper cuts. Always get the best and figure out how to make it work in your budget!
Balance
Posted by sshadmand in Philosophy on September 12th, 2009
I love science becuase it presents us with facts and explain systems that surround our life, I love philosphy because it brings meaning to it, and I love love becuase it reminds us how unimportant both can be.
Peace is the ultimate aligment of interests
Posted by sshadmand in Philosophy on August 31st, 2009
The reason to promote peace even in the face of threatining obsticles is important to a democracy as it align interests of the peoples want for peace with the politicians interest for re-election, popularity, success and credibility.
If a powe ful person does not promote peace and does not make it thier promary platform with domestic and international policty the politician is put in a precarious position. Not to say any other platform chosen was not created with the intent to do thier best to preserve the way of life of thier populous, but all other platforms disalign interets over time if and when more obsticles present themselves.
If a persons platform finds itself on the side of promoting a form of proactive defense or wadging war then that person is put in a position in which thier creidbility is at stake if it is ever proven that peace could have been a better option. The need to prove that peace was not an option or is not a clear path can easily become a new objective and from one comprimise to another a person can invariably end up finding themselves trying to prove that there is a need for force which may take either require more force or the framing of negative events to gain puplic cohesion. One decision is made after another and then the allowance of desctive act to prove the need for defese may be the only way to show the validity of ones position.
one thing leads to another and now in order to protct someone you need them to get hurt to allow you to protect them,…seems crazy well look at glenn beck or rush limbagh who have already openly asked ofr destruction or failure to prive they are right. It is an example of misalignment..
Now if eeryone pushed diplomacy and peice the only way they go wrong is if something goes wrong, so in no way would they wantthat.to gain political postivity they must kee things safe. Safteyy and diplomacy align interst between community and leaders. it alwasy ends u p this way, is MLK or JFK remembered for violence who has been hitler, stalin, mcarthy. DOnt let hstory repreat itself and learn from past postivity, and diplomacy in teh face of negativity and violence has always been the corner stone of every philosphy, and histories ideal them all. nothing wirth while is easy.
The Night
Posted by sshadmand in Philosophy on August 5th, 2009
Night
Nights are so offputting at times. The complete lack of sound and motion. You are left to you own thoughts and there ar not very many ways to allow your mind to decerne what is real from what is abstract and what is soley ones own conciousness. I’m not talking about holucinating or a type of day dreaming, although I could see how easy it would be to fall into a state of delusion, but im talking about basic thoughts of life, self, interests, problems etc. The mind begins to swirl and there is no rock or benchmark to bind your mind to as it begins to float away from its dock. When there is no comunity or bustle around you to remind you that the sun will indeed come up, peopel must obay the law of gravity and you are not alone, then your world all resides within your own mind and the mind has no bounds. Your empty and dark surrounding becomes the perfect home for you mind to extend into, the world becomes an extension of your conciousness and it becomes less and less clear as to what is in and what is outside your thoughts.
Are the problems of the day as major as they seem? Why after I fall asleep and awake to the morning sun does the intensity of my thoughts or thier urgency fade? Maybe the night provides the perfect backdrop for the mind to begin to set itself free and take ove rthe conciousness and drive it into the sureal. Its dark, quite, and no one is around to challange its attempst to break free. Right now time seems endless and my worries are loose ended and indefinite, however logically I know that tomorrow all will be back to normal and all i need is some sleep.
It is amazing how difficult it is for my day-self to completly understand the emotions of my night-self is experiencing and vice versa. A sacry movie in the woods at 2 am is not the same at 2 PM but it is the same woods and I am the same person. Who needs drugs to escape reality when reality is so volitale already between night and day. A man jumps off of the top of the building and commits suicide at night, if he only waited till day break would he be far from those thoughts only hours into the morning? More importantly how much of what we think is fact is nothing more then a delusion, our hatred for another country or race? Do we at times of fear and pain fall into our own versions of these dark and lonley nights, where our minds ever so subtly break away from our cast to reality? Only 2 years ago Iran was full of anti- democratic people, stocks had no celining, houses were an easy ticket to personal welth and so on. Did day just finnaly break? How often are our minds pulled from reality becuase of the darkness of rehtoric, and media. If I didnt remind myself of the day on a night like this I would surely be lost. Leason learned Descartes, leson learned.
Are we as humans not born moral?
Posted by sshadmand in Philosophy on July 22nd, 2009
Religion doesn’t create morality ….our humanity is the foundation of morality. Give the power of being human the ability to love life. Do you love life? Do you want to kill right now? Even if God said not to love would you, could you love your wife, your dog or your son less? That feeling within, that conscience or that burning feeling in your chest is your humanity. That person on your shoulder telling you not to do wrong is within you, and that regret you feel and can’t get rid of far after a wrong has been done is part of what makes you human. Your morality, created by God or not, your natural state of being human is what guides you and 99% of those around you.
Religion doesn’t create morality and nor should religion usurp your innate feelings to care for your fellow man – humanity IS the foundation for morality. We should not lose sight of the fact that we are moral by nature, for the sake of prosperity and civilization we always have been. Under hundreds of religions there is a common thread, preservation of life, and the dignities and freedoms that come with such life. Give the credit of being moral back to the people and allow we the people to love life for life’s sake, not based on an order by God.
With or without a greater being watching over us the essence of this observation is that we are humans and we want the best for ourselves and our loved ones as humans, innately. If we assume that ‘without a higher power guiding us all is lost’ then we are invariably saying that we are all bad people innately and we are only acting good because we don’t want to receive judgment or punishment, which actually is just plain saying we are bad people. So why try to be good, we aren’t ‘fooling” god…do you think you can fool god? I mean we are living a lie if we are innately bad unless someone demands we are good. I guess my problem with that line of thinking is that I think I’m a good person that wants what’s best for my friends and loved ones, without being scared into that feeling. I mean did you get forced into loving your child?! I would hope not, you are probabl a good person whether or not someone told you to be. Yes you make mistakes and yes you need guidance but over time it seems like guidance stopped being guidance at all, it became more like mindless slavery and lack of credit to how great of a person you are innately, as a human
If the only thing keeping one man to the next civil is something outside of that man then what are we protecting when we “try” to be good? You can’t force good out of someone. It’s simple: Do you love life? Do you enjoy being alive, do you enjoy living? You should. Without any denomination or oath do you have the will within you to face another human and kill them without remorse or conscience? For those that have no remorse, which I firmly believe to be the infinitely small minority of people out there, I would bet that there is no thread of consistency among them by race or religion, most likely it is their environment that has left them without a ‘moral compass’ as it isnt a lack of doctorine but the over empahsis in adobting a more negatively focused doctorine that can be found any where a person is willing to take a message out of context. Even worst, their misguided beliefs could only be exacerbated, and often is, by their choice of interpretation on what God intends for them to do. Religion has not stopped atrocities on man. Some may argue that it has been the fuel for hate in most cases throughout history. I love the moral compass that is found within relgion. This compass can indeed help guide you in times of doubt or lack of pupose and hope, but it is not the compass but the legs of man that does the walking.
At this point those on the extreme right believe that the lack of religion is indeed the lack of morality, but that perseption lacks a faith in man kind and I beleive the more and more we disect man, humanity, and morality from one another and give all the credit of purpose or goodness to religon we will end up losing ourselves and what maks us beautiful and human. For the most part it is baseless as even the most devout person with mental problems could not repress those problems from within, strictly through their religion alone. The written word can help remind us, re-inspire or re-solidify our love of life but we must re-invigorate our understanding that we as a people are indeed good and no doctrine will keep the bad minority of the world out. It is paranoid, selfish, ascetic, and overall negative.
If religion did indeed “create” morality then let us rely on that creation now within us once again, and let us be moral for morals sake as we were born/created to do so. I was once told by a devout conservative that I scared him because I did not broadcast or adopt a specific doctoring or religion that I believed in, in his words “how can I be sure you wont decide to kill tomorrow if you chose to without knowing what set of rules it is you abide by, a written doctoring”. I responded with “How can I be sure that since you have fragmented your fundamental human morals from a written doctrine/faith one day you won’t hear/read what you believe is Gods word that instruct you to kill me. Won’t you act on that guide as a devout follower without question or rebuttal, in essance dyning your instinct not to kill. Ins’t it more interesting that many have killed against their better judgment or concious in the name of some higher power?” I don’t think this man was a bad person, but most of the worlds most heinous atrocities were constructed in this manner, from women to black, to Jews, to gays and beyond fanaticals only have power when man abandons their own personal beliefs in their innate perspectives on love, life, humanity and our resilience. It feels like we have lost faith in humanity far before anyone can truly argue that we have lost our faith in religion and good.
Easy
Posted by sshadmand in Philosophy on July 11th, 2009
Not caring IS easier…and then easier must be better, we believe the easier road is the less rewarding road and ultimately bad……but…if there is a but……doesnt that make easier only bad because harder has a bigger reward.isn’t going after a bigger reward directly or indirectly selfish. What if wanting to do the easier thing is the least selfish option to choose. Maybe ‘good’ and ‘earn’ are all the result of addiction to increasing the higher reward. In this case one can’t discount the easy route and immediate satisfaction that is gained from the easier solution as any worst then the hardr path as it is just a smaller reward proportionally to difficult routes but other than that it is the same relative product.
