[from Joel Judd]
First, who is Z_GANNCP@CCSVAX.SFASU.EDU ???
The standards discussion appears to want to continue, soooo...Rick (920511)
said, regarding religions telling people where to set their reference for
certain perceptions:
I think this is not a good was to help people function well...it would only
help if 1) everybody >perceives the work (SIC?) in the same way 2) uses words
in exactly the same way...3)lives in a >world that produces exactly the same
disturbances...
I think it functions very well if a religion has a "Do all you can for
others but be responsible for yourself" ethic at its roots. In this way,
you try to point out to someone what kinds of things have worked for you
and others, but you do *not* force them to act in your image.
The thing about principles that I think gets confusing sometimes is the
distinction between how we label the principle and what we *DO* that we
interpret as reflecting it. I don't think there is anything wrong with
telling someone: Don't lie! It's bad. But there is always someone
(invariably someone older and "wiser") who asks: But what about if the
Gestapo is knocking at my door asking if there are any Jews in my basement?
Here we have a particular experience, not a common one by the way, where I
have no problem telling the officer "No." But that doesn't make lying good!
And my 3-year old certainly doesn't understand when I tell her "Look,
mistruths are generally not good, and telling them will contribute to a
type of character most people don't appreciate, so you should always tell
the truth, except when your mother asks you if her green hair is beautiful,
or your friend asks you if her dying Mom is going to get better, or the
Gestapo knocks at your door...Besides proposing standards for people to
follow, religions also usually provide guidelines against which to check
your personal interpretation of the standards.
We ALL teach standards to others, whether we consciously recognize it or
not. Being grown-ups and knowing so much about everything, it's sometimes
tempting to let the benevolence in us make us reluctant to teach the things
that really do bring happiness to people's lives, in the name of not
infringing on their "rights" or "freedoms" or "autonomy" or whatever.
There's actually one more piece to this picture for me, but I'll wait and
see if this topic continues before using up more space.