2009.05.20
--via the BBC Animals in the Womb series. The Dolphin was cute too!
Before persuading by logic, someone must be persuaded in their system that logic is the best means to accept. Logic cannot be used for this.
Last night at my UU covenant group we were talking about personal ethics. One idea occurred to me is that maybe "a balanced life" should be elevated to the status of a "moral good" - otherwise, it's hard to argue that we're not compelled to be absolute zealots for causes we support, but may not be willing to go ballistic about... gay marriage, fighting hunger, the environment, pro-choice or pro-life, etc.
This is a stance more compatible with Eastern religions - the "moral clarity" and zealotry impulse runs deep in Abrahamic faiths, like how Revelation 3:15-16 (KJV) says
"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."(Even with food, I kind of dig lukewarm! Maybe not so much with water though.)
realism and toleration - tolerance as the key to a nation's success.
I am almost sickened by how difficult it is to get a Java applet to talk to a basic Perl upload script to transfer a file.