Originally posted by Patient_Leech
I just mean it's the potential starting point for morality in the same way that it is for the healthcare system. In the case of Brave New World, of course the point is not to rob human life of its nature (our capacity for suffering is indeed an intrinsic part of our nature and even aids in survival), but it's simply a way to definitively say, "It's wrong to stab your neighbor, even if they slept with your wife" (for example). It doesn't mean "just feel good all the time no matter what the means." And there are, of course, other ways to "feel good" than popping pills and sex. Those are really just escapism, which can be unhealthy, because you're then avoiding reality.Nice post, though. 👆
Originally posted by Patient_Leech
I just mean it's the potential starting point for morality in the same way that it is for the healthcare system. In the case of Brave New World, of course the point is not to rob human life of its nature (our capacity for suffering is indeed an intrinsic part of our nature and even aids in survival), but it's simply a way to definitively say, "It's wrong to stab your neighbor, even if they slept with your wife" (for example). It doesn't mean "just feel good all the time no matter what the means." And there are, of course, other ways to "feel good" than popping pills and sex. Those are really just escapism, which can be unhealthy, because you're then avoiding reality.Nice post, though. 👆
In Mormonism, it's considered the design of Lucifer to rob humanity of opposition because it dams (not damns) their eternal progression. We believe that we chose to be born into this mortal existence as a means to further our eternal comprehension of existence and righteousness. When presented with the option to exist, as flesh-mortals, Lucifer presented the option of zero agency: no choice. Pure automatons. So that none of us sin and all of us are worthy to enter into God's presence, again. (This is also why most Mormons oppose legislating 1984 Thought Policing - despite their self-righteous judgmentalism. )
This idea is as evil as it can get. It is the most supreme of evil. No opportunity to progress, of our own choice, then existence is futile.
So, at the foundations, if we start with morality, it would be the opportunity to exercise agency, experience oppositions and hardships, and grow as eternal beings. This would be the highest moral position - an eternal law that no matter the machinations of man or devil, it will still not cease be true.
This logic also defeats the ridiculous idea of the "Problem of Evil" and also destroys the idea that just killing babies will save them from sinning so they go to heaven. All you did by murdering innocents was dam their eternal progress for a brief instant. The problem of evil becomes the solution of eternal progression. And when you frame existence under the notion that every sapient entity born had a choice to be born here, it's no longer a cruel God torturing ants: it's a bunch of eternal beings trying their hardest to eternally progress. We had nearly an infinite amount of other choices but we chose the dice-roll sandbox of hardship.
In this way, Mormons view all life in the entire universe as having been righteous, stalwart, intelligences that mad the most righteous decision to be born into the mortal plane.