Comments | _earthshine_: Snippet Of Social Philosophy

_earthshine_

Snippet Of Social Philosophy

Apr 04, 2010 11:24

I started to comment on a post by lisajulie, but realized it captured enough of my views on society that it might be worth posting. (It also gets me around a comment length limitation, but that's an unintentional side bonus. Honest!)

lisajulie writes:

How can I can live in my lifestyle, knowing that is built upon the labor (underpaid and so on) of others ( Read more... )

.tpc_piece, .tpc_philosophy, .sec_public, lisajulie, .tpc_sociopolitical, .tpc_blog_lj

Comments 8

rivercrossings April 4 2010, 22:18:30 UTC

I agree.

_earthshine_ April 5 2010, 16:48:13 UTC

I thought you might. :)

logangrey April 5 2010, 18:15:11 UTC

I think there are some key issues to consider though ( ... )

_earthshine_ April 6 2010, 00:00:27 UTC

I agree with you pretty much across the board, and don't see too many spots where what we both said contradicts. I think what you added is probably more detailed and pragmatic advice, and adding the key point that we should keep our resource level gauge on a global scale, which i think is an important addition.

I think, for many of us, that whole part about staying sane gets to be a pretty crazy juggling act. For others -- perhaps the luckier/healthier ones -- that's not as tough, leaving a lot more resource for the higher cause.

The only thing i'm inclined to address specifically is your question:

Why point out that there will always be bliss and always be suffering?I point this out because it provides a larger philosophical context that i believe -- at least for some -- helps to serve the end cause. I think acceptance of the situation allows us to face a kind of dichotomy within us that pits our eternal sense of hope against a scene of endless despair. Perhaps for some, this leads to a collapse to some kind of nihilistic ( ... )

a2macgeek April 6 2010, 16:35:10 UTC

Nicely said.

_earthshine_ April 11 2010, 02:36:46 UTC

'ppreciate it. Thanks for checking it out.

jesus_jeff April 7 2010, 23:03:43 UTC

The question can be turned around as well: How can I be happy in my current situation, knowing that there are so many others benefiting more from my labor than I am, or otherwise living lives they did not earn?You're right, it will always be like this. The names and places may change, but the overall structure will be the same. I think of society as something like a 3-body gravitational system. There are a few points of equilibrium, some stable and some unstable. There will always be a richest person, and there will always be someone trying to take that person down. We might convince everyone in the world to be nice to each other and eschew material possessions and whatnot, but such equilibrium would be unstable and would soon dissolve ( ... )

_earthshine_ April 11 2010, 02:44:43 UTC

I agree with the concept here. I've heard it called a "personal dynamic range". The worst day of your life could be identical to someone else's best, and by what other metric can we gauge life?

The answer to that question, though, is through awareness and, eventually, compassion. I'm not sure we need to experience suffering beyond our own personal worst in order to begin to understand it, and even feel it with those who are there. I agree that we shouldn't make ourselves miserable over it, but i think it's important to seek a wider perspective. In fact, i sometimes think we can increase our happiness by learning more about other people's challenges.

In a more mechanical way, i think awareness also has to do with realizing how we affect other people. There is no existing at all without somehow affecting everyone else. Granted, many effects could be called negligible, but many are not (especially when summed across larger numbers of people). We don't want to get lost in our own experience and lose sight of that, either.