A Chronic Moral Dilemma: Religion and Our Own Conscience, Part 2
The Nature of Moral Leadership
Higher concepts in reason are a derivation of walking the chain of knowledge, but ill religious concepts lead from nowhere to universal harmony, without stopping to ask how. Their altruist fog permits ideals that bear no adherence to the 1-4 cognitive process below. Their true fantasy is where anything is possible morally, an anti-concept used to justify the slaughter of men and the seizure of our assets throughout history.
Objectivity cannot be subverted; there is no becoming a victim of reason. Rational concepts are intuitive of life. Instead, dictated action removes moral choice, and thus the pride it could generate. Unsound faith removes moral responsibility. Either approach taken by religion or the State creates drones—blind, deaf, and dangerous.
“Faith in the supernatural, begins as faith in the superiority of others.” —Atlas Shrugged
Faith is confidence in the continuation of a known pattern. When used improperly, faith is meant not to enhance reason, but to avoid it. Their “higher state of being” doesn’t bring what you first expect: a clearer understanding. No, it is a state where cognitive effort for understanding and physical effort for reward is unnecessary. A “higher mode of consciousness,” must result not in a negation of your senses, but in greater clarity, building on what you already know.
But instead of working to acquire their prophet’s heroic human traits, die-hard illusionists mimic their impossible marvels, reflecting the superhero worship of children which they show such contempt for. They want to raise their hands and part the sea, but refuse to define constructive means to overcome their barriers. They want to magically raise the dead or heal the sick, but won’t listen to evidence that stems sickness and the patterns that lead to it. They will call upon the heavens to guide their lives, but won’t hold their emotions in check to think clearly. They are willing to snap their fingers and turn one free meal into ten, but shrug at the moral constancy necessary to earn them, or anything else. They have a ruthlessly disciplined imagination, a one-way valve that closes at the first touch of reality. At any time, two key destinies lie before every man: the result of effort and that of sloth. Look down and see whose feet are moving. If they are yours, then so is the decision of where to place them.
A morality is an endeavor of Man like any other (such as medicine and computer technology), always in some stage of development, subject to constant scrutiny and continually being advanced, seeking to enhance the living power of individuals in the most spiritually profitable way. That requires an active mind to practice and to pass down.
Epi-stems and the Origin of Existence
The proper moral code is the same every morning you wake up. It never changes. Axioms are, and that’s it. Finding the origin of the universe or even proof of a god will not change our sleep cycles, the due dates on our Visa bills, or absolve us of responsibility for our day-to-day lives. This is our life’s context, whose effort is never to be escaped, jilted, or transferred to others.
So, can we become Christians and automatically gain superiority over those who are not? Accepting Jesus (or Allah for that matter) doesn’t give one the knowledge to practice anything. It is a pledge to be virtuous—nothing more. A proper moral pledge is to actively pursue the knowledge necessary to be virtuous—the commitment to fully adhere to the rational process of cognition. And your success in this endeavor is your actual adherence and its result; the civil preservation and furtherance of life. This is the bridge between us all.
Warrior Note: As language is a means of comprehension, it precedes and therefore negates religion as a substitute for comprehension.
I can’t imagine surrendering my faculties for an unobservable alternate universe when this one is as complex as it is. Its scope and implications are difficult to grasp with every weapon you have set to stun! And attaining rational conviction is a road nature defined for us each to travel alone.
Looking forward, the lost will persist in unquestioning obedience to maintain an image of moral adherence, never questioning the standard to which they adhere. Yet here is the real world to feel and hear and see, which encompasses the whole of their lives, is the subject of their every conscious moment and makes possible their contemplation of the nonexistent. The true field of their awareness has a consistent, non-contradictory structure identified by Man and demonstrable, step-by-step. It purely respects their means of cognition and gauges their advance with a clear link to the steps that come before and those to follow. All they need is the courage to see.
Conversations are an example of walking the epistemological chain. That is why in trying to apply it to life, religious conversations often end in violence or silence, even between believers. This is due to delusional fantasies borne of differing cognitive breaks. What one wants to believe differs from what the other wants to believe, but neither is held to the rules of thought, so no middle ground is possible.