In my opinion, any action is okay as long as it doesn't hurt others, or the world as a whole. "Good and bad" are not absolute, unchanging concepts. In fact, they are very much situational.
Like for instance: if you hit and verbally abuse someone, it is usually a bad thing to do, because it's hurtful. But if you're having sex with someone who gets turned on by being hit, or verbally abused, and they want you to do it to them, it is generally NOT a bad thing. (Although you still need to use a safe word, and make sure not to overstep their limits.)
Killing someone is usually very, very bad indeed. But if someone is attacking your family, and you know that if you DON'T kill them, five totally innocent victims are going to die instead, killing that person is by far the better option! (Read more about utilitarianism, if you want to understand the philosophy behind this way of thinking, which I usually tend to agree with.)
Then you've got those things that society says is wrong. Like for instance, using drugs other than alcohol. In my opinion, that is a completely hypocritical and unreasonable law! They have not even bothered taking into account what those other respective drugs do, and how dangerous they really are. They've just made their own arbitrary LIST of what's okay and what isn't. Completely ignoring the fact that for instance, most psychedelic drugs are far less dangerous than alcohol, and weed is generally far less dangerous than nicotine. So... just because society says something is right or wrong, that does not automatically make it so.
Same goes for religions, and all of their various hang-ups about basically everything.. The most obvious one being SEX! Some religions, including conservative, fundamentalist Christianity, would like to have you think that pretty much all sex is wrong, unless it is within the confines of marriage. Doesn't even matter if it's a happy marriage or not. As long as you're married, then somehow MAGICALLY it is all okay. Whereas masturbation, or consensual gay sex, or sex between two straight people who love each other, but who aren't married, is supposedly evil and sinful. In spite of the fact that again, it hurts absolutely NO ONE!!
..Hope that was a somewhat useful demonstration of my own moral compass, and my own moral opinions. Remember, if you're in doubt about whether or not something is okay, to simply ask yourself: "If I did this thing, would it hurt someone?" If the answer is no, you can just go ahead and do it. If the answer is yes, you need to ask yourself an additional question: "Would it hurt the world more if I did NOT do it?" If the answer to that is yes, then according to utilitarian principles, and according to my own personal opinion, you are still morally obligated to go through with it. But if the answer to that is no, then just don't do it, because in that case it would be wrong, according to the actual, tangible EFFECTS that it would lead to! Which in my opinion is the one and only thing that truly matters.
So here is how it all started. My chinese family and I used to be the believers of Buddhism, you know, like if you have done something bad, you will be punished in your next incarnated life. Then, my father started having the interest in Christianity and had begun joining and helping the Church. My mom strongly believes in her religion, but don’t seem willing to stop my dad’s action, rather support him. I had listened to some stories the friends of my father told me about Christianity, mostly about how Jesus scarified himself to save people from their sins.
It confuses me was when I compare the two, I found that there is the same message, such as if you do something bad, you will be punished. But, both religions have different types of rules. Like in Buddhism, we are not allowed to eat beef, but in Christianity it is not relevant. At that time of my childhood, it caused me to think that there may be a multiple version of the afterlife.
A few years after, I started to question myself, whether or not good and evil truly exist, even the promise claimed by my elders. If good and evil is just a thing you can choose to believe or not to believe. Like what if good is just a definition of what make you feel good and secure for not having something bad in return. In my childhood, when I did something bad I will feel scared because of the punishment I think I myself will get. So, I have been thinking that maybe “good and evil” is just a belief system used to control the population, to command people to behave in a way and to build a big Empire, which require many other people to obey.
Thus, this caused me to think that different religions have different level of standard for their belief. Example, some actions in a religion are considered as bad, but these may not be in another religion. Doing Bad things make us feel shameful and bad, but what if I can change that and not feeling so. Like if you watch porn or masturbate will make you feel bad, what if you are not feeling so.
This is really foolish, but it has been many times in my childhood, when I did something bad, I will always imagine a giant needle being struck deeply inside my heart and order myself for not redo the same mistake. For all those years, my heart really cannot handle it anymore, with all those stressful memories, always feeling bad for people to judge me and my action, and always calling myself foolish for not obeying the command.
I want to be ******* free. So, if I do so? Will I be finally able to stop feeling guilty, let go of all the sadness I had and feeling happy in the end? Sorry if there are many grammar mistakes, you see English is my third language.
i think you should focus on being a good person who does not get taken advantage from bad people instead of caring less. You don't want to try becoming a self created sociopath who lacks remorse.
Despite what many say about religion, there are good points that it makes that one can use to define the world around them. For instance, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is a pretty good rule for people to follow in general. You don't want people taking your things, don't take others. You don't want people slamming you, don't slam others. By doing to others, what you would want in return, you set the stage for how you want your life to be. No guarantee that doing good will bring good in return, but going around kicking people will earn you the same or more in return.
How would YOU feel If you were a parent and your Child was obeying you and seeing life as you taught; then suddenly changed to a very different way? Isw it 'just a belief' that your child should obey you? Not real?
"One should respect public opinion in so far as it is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny."
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
In my opinion, any action is okay as long as it doesn't hurt others, or the world as a whole. "Good and bad" are not absolute, unchanging concepts. In fact, they are very much situational.
Like for instance: if you hit and verbally abuse someone, it is usually a bad thing to do, because it's hurtful. But if you're having sex with someone who gets turned on by being hit, or verbally abused, and they want you to do it to them, it is generally NOT a bad thing. (Although you still need to use a safe word, and make sure not to overstep their limits.)
Killing someone is usually very, very bad indeed. But if someone is attacking your family, and you know that if you DON'T kill them, five totally innocent victims are going to die instead, killing that person is by far the better option! (Read more about utilitarianism, if you want to understand the philosophy behind this way of thinking, which I usually tend to agree with.)
Then you've got those things that society says is wrong. Like for instance, using drugs other than alcohol. In my opinion, that is a completely hypocritical and unreasonable law! They have not even bothered taking into account what those other respective drugs do, and how dangerous they really are. They've just made their own arbitrary LIST of what's okay and what isn't. Completely ignoring the fact that for instance, most psychedelic drugs are far less dangerous than alcohol, and weed is generally far less dangerous than nicotine. So... just because society says something is right or wrong, that does not automatically make it so.
Same goes for religions, and all of their various hang-ups about basically everything.. The most obvious one being SEX! Some religions, including conservative, fundamentalist Christianity, would like to have you think that pretty much all sex is wrong, unless it is within the confines of marriage. Doesn't even matter if it's a happy marriage or not. As long as you're married, then somehow MAGICALLY it is all okay. Whereas masturbation, or consensual gay sex, or sex between two straight people who love each other, but who aren't married, is supposedly evil and sinful. In spite of the fact that again, it hurts absolutely NO ONE!!
..Hope that was a somewhat useful demonstration of my own moral compass, and my own moral opinions. Remember, if you're in doubt about whether or not something is okay, to simply ask yourself: "If I did this thing, would it hurt someone?" If the answer is no, you can just go ahead and do it. If the answer is yes, you need to ask yourself an additional question: "Would it hurt the world more if I did NOT do it?" If the answer to that is yes, then according to utilitarian principles, and according to my own personal opinion, you are still morally obligated to go through with it. But if the answer to that is no, then just don't do it, because in that case it would be wrong, according to the actual, tangible EFFECTS that it would lead to! Which in my opinion is the one and only thing that truly matters.
So here is how it all started. My chinese family and I used to be the believers of Buddhism, you know, like if you have done something bad, you will be punished in your next incarnated life. Then, my father started having the interest in Christianity and had begun joining and helping the Church. My mom strongly believes in her religion, but don’t seem willing to stop my dad’s action, rather support him. I had listened to some stories the friends of my father told me about Christianity, mostly about how Jesus scarified himself to save people from their sins.
It confuses me was when I compare the two, I found that there is the same message, such as if you do something bad, you will be punished. But, both religions have different types of rules. Like in Buddhism, we are not allowed to eat beef, but in Christianity it is not relevant. At that time of my childhood, it caused me to think that there may be a multiple version of the afterlife.
A few years after, I started to question myself, whether or not good and evil truly exist, even the promise claimed by my elders. If good and evil is just a thing you can choose to believe or not to believe. Like what if good is just a definition of what make you feel good and secure for not having something bad in return. In my childhood, when I did something bad I will feel scared because of the punishment I think I myself will get. So, I have been thinking that maybe “good and evil” is just a belief system used to control the population, to command people to behave in a way and to build a big Empire, which require many other people to obey.
Thus, this caused me to think that different religions have different level of standard for their belief. Example, some actions in a religion are considered as bad, but these may not be in another religion. Doing Bad things make us feel shameful and bad, but what if I can change that and not feeling so. Like if you watch porn or masturbate will make you feel bad, what if you are not feeling so.
This is really foolish, but it has been many times in my childhood, when I did something bad, I will always imagine a giant needle being struck deeply inside my heart and order myself for not redo the same mistake. For all those years, my heart really cannot handle it anymore, with all those stressful memories, always feeling bad for people to judge me and my action, and always calling myself foolish for not obeying the command.
I want to be ******* free. So, if I do so? Will I be finally able to stop feeling guilty, let go of all the sadness I had and feeling happy in the end? Sorry if there are many grammar mistakes, you see English is my third language.
i think you should focus on being a good person who does not get taken advantage from bad people instead of caring less. You don't want to try becoming a self created sociopath who lacks remorse.
Despite what many say about religion, there are good points that it makes that one can use to define the world around them. For instance, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is a pretty good rule for people to follow in general. You don't want people taking your things, don't take others. You don't want people slamming you, don't slam others. By doing to others, what you would want in return, you set the stage for how you want your life to be. No guarantee that doing good will bring good in return, but going around kicking people will earn you the same or more in return.
How would YOU feel If you were a parent and your Child was obeying you and seeing life as you taught; then suddenly changed to a very different way? Isw it 'just a belief' that your child should obey you? Not real?
"One should respect public opinion in so far as it is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny."
— Bertrand Russell