“We are so engrained in the beliefs society has shoved down our throats our whole lives; from the time we are born to the time we die, we are formed. Our identity, our beliefs, our perspectives; everything. We are already mapped out by our environment and societies’ culture, so much so that we will never know what’s real and what’s not.”
-a wise soul
What are your thoughts on this quote?? How does our environment affect our outlook on life? To what extent do you believe society controls us?
Some people might think bad things just happen, or they are just simply accidents- there’s no reason.
Maybe they’re right, but I don’t necessarily believe that’s true…
“I believe “everything happens for a reason” because I think that everybody shapes their own individual path by the choices they make every day. At times, it may seem that certain events was destined to be in your life but really I think it was all the choices you made before that put you into that moment. Everything that happens to a person affects them whether it’s big or small and shapes their entire life. I don’t really think that there is a destiny or fate, but I do believe all the choices you had made before has a reason or purpose in shaping your individual path through life.”
-wise soul #1
“I believe that everything happens for a reason so it depends as you see the situation. Life is full of positive things but many people always see in them as bad. Everything comes at the right time and you should enjoy it. Every day is a challenge to overcome and I think that you should see the good side things like gifts, lessons, or opportunities to have a better life. Sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful, and unfair at first, but in reflection you find that without overcoming those obstacles you would have never realized your potential, strength, willpower, or heart. Nothing happens by good luck. If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them, for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to when you open your heart. Finally, if you love someone tell them, you never know what tomorrow may have in store.”
-wise soul #2
“Yes, I do believe that everything happen for a reason. Actually, what will be happened in future, it’s depends on our present activities. If we plant good seeds in soil and take good care of it, we can expect a good tree with fruits and flowers. Like this, if we do something good in present, we can get good result in future. If we started to believe on our fate, there is nothing left to do with life. We make our own fortune. We have to work hard to become successful and make everything good in our lives.”
-wise soul #3
“Yes, I do, everything happens in life, it happens for a reason, but sometimes you don’t know the reason. I don’t really live that in my life but I believe. I think, because it’s true, they live a lot of examples like that. Yes, I agree with the authors when they say that there can be danger in believing everything happens for a reason. Yes, I agree with the authors when they say that it is “karma” that punishes the bad and reward the good. I don’t know why, but I believe that everything you see that happens, it always happens for a reason.”
-wise soul #4
“You might not know it now and it might not seem like it for a long time- but you’ll know when you know. Maybe your life isn’t what affects it, maybe the horrible thing that happened changed someone’s life that you didn’t even know. Maybe hearing a story or seeing a picture sent someone off the path they were on and onto a new and path of salvation. Life can be tough, and it can throw so many curve balls. But yes, I believe that everything happens for a reason.”
-wise soul #5
Do you ever wonder if we are the only beings in the universe? I mean of course it is highly likely that we are not the only ones, but who knows? Cosmology and theology are very fascinating subjects. You probably don’t think of yourself as “just a speck”, much less the whole population, the whole planet, or even the whole galaxy as being “just a speck”.. but in reality, everything we know is “just a speck” compared to what is out in the universe and beyond.
I believe in a “creator” or “ultimate power” in the universe, but I can’t help but wonder how we got here? If it really was a big bang? And how about evolution? Thoughts on creationism? There are so many questions with so few solid explanations; or so many different answers that you can’t even decide. No body knows! And we probably won’t ever know for sure. I mean how can we? It is just really interesting to think about. 🤔💭
…
“I’d like to think we disperse our energy or matter into whatever or wherever we most admired or connected with.”
“When we die there are 7 seconds of brain activity, and for reference when we dream our brain is active for a fraction of a second, so my theory is that either we re-live our life over and over, or it’s just one big dream that lasts forever essentially giving us what we want.”
“I’m a believer in God, and I believe that when we die, our souls go to Heaven to be with Him. I believe that we find ultimate peace and unending love in this afterlife.”
“I believe that we are actually all the same person, and not just people but animals and plants too, and therefore all of life is perfectly fair because every good or bad thing we do we just do to ourselves.”
“I think that we reach our paradise; How? I’m not sure. But, I just know that we will find peace.”
“I believe that mother-nature rules over us and that there is this delicate balance in the universe that can be upset. I believe in karma and that everything happens for a reason. When we die, I believe all our actions are accounted for and we will be judged on how we respected this balance and how we treated nature.”
“In my perspective, when we die, we are reborn into another being. This is where the strange feelings of familiarity and memories of things we haven’t experienced come from.”
“I’m into the idea that if we have unfinished business, we can’t pass through into the afterlife until it is resolved.”
SIDE #2 IT IS A HUMAN CONSTRUCT
By: Marty Frolick
Morality is very likely a human construct. Don’t confuse morality with empathy or sympathy as some answerers have. Grief is not morality. Morality demands a judgement on whether or not an action is good or bad. This then requires a definition of what is meant by good and by bad. Animals do not decide whether their actions are moral or not. Arguments could be made that there is no ultimate morality and any judgement is entirely subjective. This means that any action could be both moral or immoral depending on the context.
The reason you feel like you “know right from wrong” or feel guilt after an action, is because you are measuring your action and the consequence against a learned standard.
Morality can appear to exist in animals and humans as some innate behaviour but this is really only an appearance. Actions that increase our chances of survival also increase the survival of our genes. Genes that coded for any behaviour that helps us survive will become more common in the gene pool. A great deal of our learned morality comes from the idea of being nice to others and living cooperatively in groups. Because living in groups and working cooperatively increases our chance of survival, it is more common in our behaviour. While it appears that our genes have somehow programmed us with a sense of right and wrong, our sense of what is right and wrong is actually just the set of behaviours that ensure our survival – there is nothing good or bad about them other than the fact that they are beneficial to us.
That is why killing someone who is attacking you is okay while killing a respectable member of your community for no reason is not. Both actions ensure our survival and have different contexts that make one moral and the other immoral by our subjective standards.
By: Helge Moulding
Morality as it exists in nature is instinctive behavior governed by the reactions of creatures to particular situations.
Morality as it is practiced by human beings starts out as instinctive behavior, but it is shaped by social norms, which in turn are governed by a variety of factors, from human history, to human understanding of human behavior.
In the human context there are two ideas. One is that morality, as a social construct, is entirely arbitrary, and no one society does morality better than any other society. But, this kind of moral relativism is not, in fact, accurate.
Morality is a set of rules that we use to interact with one another. Whether or not we agree on what the rules ought to be, most people do agree that rules exist. Even people who do not agree that the word “morals” has real meaning will agree that people manage to live together in complex societies by establishing rules and convincing at least most people to abide by them.
I think we can stipulate that a society where people largely flourish is one that is doing morality correctly. On the flip side, I think it’s reasonable to say that a society where some people generally are allowed to mistreat other people (e.g. allows slavery, or has an aristocracy above the law) is doing morality wrong.
So, yes, morality is a human social construct, but it is not arbitrary.
By: Dan Holliday
I believe that we’ve mostly inherited a millennia of natural selection on our brains that pushes us to see transcendence in our existence — the passionate belief that we are a part of something larger and more significant than our own ephemeral existence.
This isn’t imply that you MUST be religious to be moral, only that wherever we find even the most primitive humans, we find spiritual, transcendent belief systems. And I cannot discount the importance in believing that our morality serves a higher purpose, even if it doesn’t.
SIDE #1 IT EXISTS IN NATURE
By: Dan Avangard
Why wouldn’t it? Perhaps we humans have evolved in expressing morality in a much more complex manner than other species, but the roots appear to remain the same for all.
“Human morality was not formed from scratch, but grew out of our primate psychology. Primate psychology has ancient roots, and I agree that other animals show many of the same tendencies and have an intense sociality.”
By: Bruce McIntyre
Morality existed in nature, long before humanoids, much less humans existed. There are genetic basis for cooperation and communication within a species. And the tendency to “protect” the herd is part of our heritage. As our species has developed, the intra group communication and tendency to protect the group against influences both from outside and inside was the start of the development of what we now term as “morality.”
Note that all of this existed long before the concept of religion. Religion has adopted many of these attributes, and called them “Religious morals.”
And as our society has developed, that standard of morality has changed (and hopefully improved). If you read the Old Testament you will see ‘morality’ as it existed a couple thousand years ago. Things have changed, and in many ways has improved.
As our species continues to develop as a modern society, morality continues to primarily be a secular exercise, while various religions try to find a way to combine modern morality with religious dogma.
By: Jeff Corkern
The concept of “morality” was forced into being by the—-PHYSICAL—-fact we are all eternal beings who have eternal souls.
When the scientists finally realize we have souls, they are going to look at each other and realize souls are why the concept of “morality” evolved and persisted in human society. Along with concepts of “justice”, “law and order”, “compassion”, and a thousand other concepts.
By: Kyrani Eade
Morality exists in nature.
The clear evidence is that all people start with a conscience.
And furthermore most people value their conscience and try to keep it clean, they will acknowledge the wrong doing, have remorse and make amends. Why bother to do that if it was only a construct.
Sure, some may deaden their conscience but in doing so they become inhumane, they have no empathy and act unethically. But this makes other people shun them, so they have to wear a mask to try and be accepted and thus live within society.
Hope's Corner 