Chuck, Cicero and Aristotle
Apr 03, 2006 08:16 AM
by carlosaveline cardoso aveline
Chuck,
You wrote, see below: "I reject the moral basis of any argument. Morality
is a chimera, a 19th
century delusion."
I guess Socrates, Jesus, Plato, the Pentateuch's authors, Cicero, Lao-tzu,
Aristotle, A. Saccas and the Pythagoreans ll lived in the 19th century,
then.
The whole Divine Wisdom dates to 19th century, then, and there was no
Ethics before that. Where did you get such an incredible idea?
I am thinking for instance of Cicero's "De Oficiis", "On Duties". A superb
book on Ethics. Much better than Aristotle's.
Regards, Carlos.
From: Drpsionic@aol.com
Reply-To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Theos-World Re: occultism and irresponsibility
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2006 12:17:20 EST
In a message dated 4/1/2006 9:45:33 AM Central Standard Time,
robert.b.macdonald@hotmail.com writes:
Consequently, the cautions given by HPB, Judge,
and the Masters, I find to be quite prudent. Really the argument is
not all that difficult to follow. Power corrupts those not ready for
it. Without the moral strength, power twists and disfigures. For
those with more rigid constitutions, it can shatter (as in minds). If
you teach a moral pervert, or someone with the seeds of a moral
perversion, how to astral travel, the power will ultimately be used in
perverted ways. Why would anyone think otherwise? Your belief is a
perplexing one.
It is based on more than my experience, difficult as that may be for you to
understand.
I reject the moral basis of any argument. Morality is a chimera, a 19th
century delusion. Believe me, I am a moral pervert in ways you cannot
begin to
imagine.
The question is this, and I have raised it in forums with people who
actually can think beyond a book, is what effect on society has 100 years
of large
segments of society actively engaged in paranormal activity at some level,
from reading the horoscopes in newspapers, to playing with Ouija Boards
(and
that principal is a lot older, we have records from the Roman Empire of
similar
devices) to using varying form of psychic influence in their daily lives.
I
use the 40 year mark because it was about 40 years ago that the psychic
boom
began with the massive media interest in psychics like Jeanne Dixon, Edgar
Cayce and others, and then blossoming out into other areas.
And from the data available, there has been no sign of any social
dislocation that can be attributed to that. You need to look at mortality
statistics,
crime statistics (and those relate more to demographics than anything else
so
you have to be careful with them) verifiable mental illness taking into
account changes in theory and documentation.
The answer is nothing.
But, we know that it is having an effect at the personal level. The
person
who knows that a simple mental procedure can make the traffic cop look the
other way at the right time has changed the relationship in the power
dynamic
between himself and the traffic cop. A small thing, but one that has
major
consequences in the whole life of that person for now he is not a tiny,
helpless person in the grip of forces he cannot control. He is the one
excerising
control.
And there are literally millions of people doing that. One merely has to
look at the sales of books on the subject of psychic powers and magick over
the
decades. Even if a small percentage of the people buying those books has
gotten significant results, the numbers of people are still huge.
So if that many people now believe that they can change their private
world
(and that is the world they seek to change, people don't worry a lot about
the world at large, they have too many more important things to deal with
in
their lives) there has got to be a ripple effect somewhere but that ripple
effect has NOT been to damage those people's lives.
There is no discernable personal danger. What it may do to the broader
society is another matter, but that is not going to stop anyone. And we
really do
not have a handle on what it is doing to the broader society yet.
Now that may screw with the morality of our 19th century forebears, but
they
are dead and cremated and their morality should be cremated with them.
Besides, corruption is cool. Recognize that. Given the choice between
the
good that benefits others and the evil that benefits one'self, the
rational
man will choose the evil that benefits himself.
That may be perceived as a danger to one who cares about morality. To one
to whom morality is the irrelevancy of all irrelevancy, you need a better
argument.
Chuck the Heretic
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Yahoo! Groups Links
_________________________________________________________________
Ligações gratuitas de PC-para-PC para qualquer lugar do Brasil e do mundo
com o MSN Messenger. Saiba mais em
http://imagine-msn.com/messenger/default2.aspx?locale=pt-br
[Back to Top]
Theosophy World:
Dedicated to the Theosophical Philosophy and its Practical Application
