Amerika

We are told that morality exists in a space above our fallen world.

In this space, all humans are important, and there are shared truths like morality that are more important than the world below.

When we think of this space, we think solely in terms of intent. We forgive others for what they do because they did not mean it. We keep consequences away from them because they did not intend to do bad.

In this weird world, “evil” is a matter of a deliberate desire to do evil. That does sound a bit circular, perhaps. There is no cause of evil, it just is. And some things are just good, period.

In reality, evils and goods are result. A good result improves things; a bad result (“evil”) destroys good things and increases bad things.

The religious and ideological types do not want to admit this, but stupidity is evil. Narcissism is evil. Morality is evil. All of these things lead to bad results.

What works is natural selection. The good prosper, the bad are destroyed, and everyone else is left alone to muddle through with whatever benevolent thoughts we can bestow upon them.

This order is not moral; it is a higher level than moral. It always works. It does not require measuring intent or making up metaphysical categories. We simply measure results.

Perhaps our society became neurotic when it decided to weigh its actions by intentions not results. It made us give up on doing the right thing, and focus on having the right emotions.

If we did away with morality, people would do instead what benefited them. Correction: they do it anyway, but now they could do it more directly. There would be no subterfuge.

There would be two side-effects. First, we would know everyone was acting in self-interest, and stop listening to lies which always start by claiming that they are not acting in self-interest; second, we could discover that actualized self-interest includes not just helping others but helping intangibles like culture and nature.

As the Age of Symbolism winds down, and people stop looking to symbols to do their thinking for them, this is the type of cognitive maturation that will transpire.

Tags: dualism, moralism, morality