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Okay. Some musings on the concepts of virtue, specifically in relation to religion. (And you can blame, at least in part, Saiyuki, Havelock Vetinari, and Good Omens. Who says fiction doesn't make you think?)
If someone is judged virtuous not only by their actions, but by the reasons for their actions, their intentions and values ... then doesn't that make the concept of a Divine external reward/punishment in and of itself a temptation/test?
What I mean is ... in terms of the Christian cosmology, the thought I keep coming back to is that, for every action and choice we make, the question we need to be asking is not 'What would earn me Heaven?' but 'What would be worth Hell?'.
Because, if we make choices based on a desire to avoid punishment/earn rewards, then aren't those choices fundamentally selfish? We're not making them for moral reasons, we're not making them because we believe they're right, we're making them to best advance our own position/to avoid painful consequences for ourselves. If we follow an external moral code just because it is an external moral code, because it is a code endorsed by authority, and not because that external code matches our internal idea of virtue ... then aren't we both a) lying to ourselves and those around us, and b) in the cases of conflicts between the external and internal codes, committing a sin/crime/unvirtuous act? I mean, if you are ignoring your own internal conscience, doing something you doubt is right/believe isn't right according to your personal values, simply to avoid negative external consequences for yourself (Hell) ... Um. Isn't that sort of immoral? Doing something you believe is wrong just to avoid consequence. Isn't that ... pretty unvirtuous?
I mean, you could be perfectly right, objectively, and the choice you then make against your better judgement could genuinely be the right one, at least by Divine Judgement. But ... if your intentions/reasons count as much as your actions, then you're sort of wrong either way, in that situtation. And ... I tend to think that it should be your reasons, more than your actions, that should be the foundation of any Divine judgement. Because anyone can do something, and have it accidentally turn out right. You can't judge them for that, except to judge them lucky. It's only if they do something because they believe it will be right that you can judge them as a person, judge their internal virtue.
If virtue is the thing being rewarded, then to earn it, you have to actually be virtuous, not just look the part and pay lip-service to the idea. And if virtue is not the thing being rewarded, if the system you're trying to be part of will reward an evil person with good press as much as a genuinely good one ... then isn't it your moral duty to reject that system to start with?
The question I can't help but feel you should ask, if you want to know if you're taking an action for moral reasons, isn't 'Is this what God says I should do?" It's:
If there is no God, if the God that exists is not my God, if the God I believe in is not a god at all. If Shaitan was whispering in Mohammed's ear, if the Bible was written by a chartalan, if Buddha was promoting the biggest pack of lies ever told with a straight-face. If every Holy Scripture ever written was a lie, or a test to judge the virtue of my soul. If everything I believe is a lie. If the action I take today flies in the face of all Judgement, if the action I take today damns me for all eternity, if my soul never knows a moment's peace beyond this moment, because of the choice I make today ... Will that act be worth it? Will it satisfy my conscience and my internal soul so thoroughly that any judgment upon it, any consequence because of it, will be worth it to me, to see it done? If I die because of it. If I suffer without end because of it. If I am hated and reviled, and Judged filthy by God himself because of it. If this act destroys me. If it does all that. Is it still worth doing? Is this act still, to my mind, right?
And if it isn't, and you do it anyway, then you chose wrongly, even if you are rewarded for it. If it is, and you do it, then you chose rightly, even if you are damned for it. Maybe not for the world, maybe not for whatever Divine may exist, but for you, and your internal soul.
Guilt should not be about fear of consequences to yourself. Guilt should be regret for the consequences to others, to the world around you. And virtue should not be about doing something pretty, to satisfy a thing more powerful than yourself, but about doing something right, regardless of the consequences you may face for it.
Of course, doing something for the right reasons doesn't guarantee that it is right. Just because you believe in something that strongly doesn't make it objectively correct. For every act you take, you have to accept the idea that you might be wrong. That this act will damn you anyway, regardless of how much faith you have in it. Every choice you make might be the one that damns you. Every choice you make may have already damned you.
I think that's sort of the point, really. Whatever God there is, if there is any at all, their Judgement is their own, and if they are as omnipotent and omniscient as people say they are, we're not going to bribe our way past that Judgement with whatever pretty lie or pleading face we put on. If they see us for what we are, for what we really are, regardless of what we do, then the best thing we can do is be true to what we are, for better or worse. To make every choice count on its own merit. To make every act worth it just for what it is, not for what potential rewards and punishments it might buy us.
The best way I can see to live life is to make that life, every moment of it we possibly can, worth whatever damnation it earns us. To feel as little guilt as possible on leaving that life, not because we have satisfied any external code, but because we have satisfied our internal code to the very best of our ability. Not to act based on what some word says will earn us Heaven, but based on what, in our own selves, would be worth facing Hell. To make that life count, on its own merits, for what we are now, not what we will be after we die.
And if there is no God, if there is no Judgement save our own at all ... well, will we not be satisfied regardless?
What I mean is ... in terms of the Christian cosmology, the thought I keep coming back to is that, for every action and choice we make, the question we need to be asking is not 'What would earn me Heaven?' but 'What would be worth Hell?'.
Because, if we make choices based on a desire to avoid punishment/earn rewards, then aren't those choices fundamentally selfish? We're not making them for moral reasons, we're not making them because we believe they're right, we're making them to best advance our own position/to avoid painful consequences for ourselves. If we follow an external moral code just because it is an external moral code, because it is a code endorsed by authority, and not because that external code matches our internal idea of virtue ... then aren't we both a) lying to ourselves and those around us, and b) in the cases of conflicts between the external and internal codes, committing a sin/crime/unvirtuous act? I mean, if you are ignoring your own internal conscience, doing something you doubt is right/believe isn't right according to your personal values, simply to avoid negative external consequences for yourself (Hell) ... Um. Isn't that sort of immoral? Doing something you believe is wrong just to avoid consequence. Isn't that ... pretty unvirtuous?
I mean, you could be perfectly right, objectively, and the choice you then make against your better judgement could genuinely be the right one, at least by Divine Judgement. But ... if your intentions/reasons count as much as your actions, then you're sort of wrong either way, in that situtation. And ... I tend to think that it should be your reasons, more than your actions, that should be the foundation of any Divine judgement. Because anyone can do something, and have it accidentally turn out right. You can't judge them for that, except to judge them lucky. It's only if they do something because they believe it will be right that you can judge them as a person, judge their internal virtue.
If virtue is the thing being rewarded, then to earn it, you have to actually be virtuous, not just look the part and pay lip-service to the idea. And if virtue is not the thing being rewarded, if the system you're trying to be part of will reward an evil person with good press as much as a genuinely good one ... then isn't it your moral duty to reject that system to start with?
The question I can't help but feel you should ask, if you want to know if you're taking an action for moral reasons, isn't 'Is this what God says I should do?" It's:
If there is no God, if the God that exists is not my God, if the God I believe in is not a god at all. If Shaitan was whispering in Mohammed's ear, if the Bible was written by a chartalan, if Buddha was promoting the biggest pack of lies ever told with a straight-face. If every Holy Scripture ever written was a lie, or a test to judge the virtue of my soul. If everything I believe is a lie. If the action I take today flies in the face of all Judgement, if the action I take today damns me for all eternity, if my soul never knows a moment's peace beyond this moment, because of the choice I make today ... Will that act be worth it? Will it satisfy my conscience and my internal soul so thoroughly that any judgment upon it, any consequence because of it, will be worth it to me, to see it done? If I die because of it. If I suffer without end because of it. If I am hated and reviled, and Judged filthy by God himself because of it. If this act destroys me. If it does all that. Is it still worth doing? Is this act still, to my mind, right?
And if it isn't, and you do it anyway, then you chose wrongly, even if you are rewarded for it. If it is, and you do it, then you chose rightly, even if you are damned for it. Maybe not for the world, maybe not for whatever Divine may exist, but for you, and your internal soul.
Guilt should not be about fear of consequences to yourself. Guilt should be regret for the consequences to others, to the world around you. And virtue should not be about doing something pretty, to satisfy a thing more powerful than yourself, but about doing something right, regardless of the consequences you may face for it.
Of course, doing something for the right reasons doesn't guarantee that it is right. Just because you believe in something that strongly doesn't make it objectively correct. For every act you take, you have to accept the idea that you might be wrong. That this act will damn you anyway, regardless of how much faith you have in it. Every choice you make might be the one that damns you. Every choice you make may have already damned you.
I think that's sort of the point, really. Whatever God there is, if there is any at all, their Judgement is their own, and if they are as omnipotent and omniscient as people say they are, we're not going to bribe our way past that Judgement with whatever pretty lie or pleading face we put on. If they see us for what we are, for what we really are, regardless of what we do, then the best thing we can do is be true to what we are, for better or worse. To make every choice count on its own merit. To make every act worth it just for what it is, not for what potential rewards and punishments it might buy us.
The best way I can see to live life is to make that life, every moment of it we possibly can, worth whatever damnation it earns us. To feel as little guilt as possible on leaving that life, not because we have satisfied any external code, but because we have satisfied our internal code to the very best of our ability. Not to act based on what some word says will earn us Heaven, but based on what, in our own selves, would be worth facing Hell. To make that life count, on its own merits, for what we are now, not what we will be after we die.
And if there is no God, if there is no Judgement save our own at all ... well, will we not be satisfied regardless?
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