gramps wrote:O. K. Let's take it over the top with this discussion.
When I lost belief in god, I realized that a large part of the morals I 'believed' in had been taught to me by my parents and by priesthood leaders and extended family. I found myself in somewhat of a chaos. It was not unpleasant, at all. But, I wasn't sure any longer that they were a part of me!
But I began to question everything I had assumed and thought was right, both for fun and practical purposes. I found myself at times doing utilitarian calculus before I would consummate a desired path. Or then I would run a Kantian analysis and think about how that would work in a given situation. And then I would compare my thinking with my conscience, and then analyze that.
I also tried to understand Pierce and James. At times, I think pragmatism seems reasonable to me.
How have you guys navigated through all of this? Has it been fun? Would you do it all over again? How have you developed your moral compass? Do you have any foundational principles that guide you? How do you wade through the maze of it all?
I should say, in the spirit of full disclosure and all, that one of my guiding principles while going through the maze, at least, was that if it doesn't hurt anyone else, then, take the risk and see what it is all about.
It has been an interesting ride, indeed.
I myself am right in that area gramps, having been razed with the traditional CHristian moral code and largely still holding to it. WHy you might as for an atheist such as I? Well probably because we're only willing to change our morals when we find something that feels good, and thus have a valid reason to replace them. Otherwise, we're on the autopilot morals our parents installed. Which of course has been a total block on me experiencing those moral changing experiences, notably the whole don't have sex before marriage rule which seemed to run my life for a number of years, no drinking and smoking dope less so. Couple that with a bit of bad luck a bit of standoffish/shy nature and you end up with little experience indeed. Religion is certainly a double bind in that reguard of letting us feell out our morality for ourselves rather than being dictated morality.
As to doing mental calculus, been there as well. I don't know the exact mathematical formulas or whatever, but down on the farm we call it "ciphering" and usually I talk myself outta a given course, aided by that Christian morality, both internally but also socially living in the Bible Belt.
Man I suck....I think I'll get shitfaced and relapse.
"Whatever appears to be against the Book of Mormon is going to be overturned at some time in the future. So we can be pretty open minded."-charity 3/7/07