Sunday, June 29, 2014

On Ethics

Ethics are always a sticky subject, and I'd like to discuss them in a little more detail.

I am of the opinion that the only difference between myself and the majority of people is that I choose not to deceive myself, or others.

I do not believe there is such a thing as good and evil. Without exception, when someone says something is "good" they mean, even if only subconsciously, to say "good for me". Every individual's concept of evil is what is "bad for me", whether or not they are correct in what is actually bad for them.

Everyone acts out of self interest. You, reading this right now, do what you think is in your best interest, and what makes you feel good. If you help others, it is because it benefits you to do so. Even if you help someone else at your own expense, you only do so because it causes an endorphin rush which makes you feel good.

I simply accept this fact.

I practice neither Satanism nor Thelema, but I find some of the philosophy interesting. People (including the people who try, poorly, to practice these paths) seem to misinterpret the intention. In terms of ethics, both give the imperative to do what is right ONLY because it is right. To do what you feel you should do in any given moment. They posit that if you do something because someone else tells you that it's right, then it doesn't count. "I was only following orders" amounts to the same thing whether you saved the world or committed genocide. If someone has to tell you to do the right thing, you're just a sheep. If you end up doing the wrong thing, then at least you made a decision, and you get to live with the consequences and learn from your mistakes.

I do lots of things some people consider wrong. I've been known to defend my friends with violence, both physically and mentally. I have very little interest in what is socially acceptable, politically correct, or even legal. I do what suits me, and I help the people I care about. At least I'm not a hypocrite.

Lots of people claim to have a code of ethics, they talk about what is good and right, and then they look the other way while someone else is suffering. They do what is good for themselves, and they talk about how good they are. They're liars. They lie to you, and to themselves.

I'm not better than some of them, but I'm honest about it.

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