Moral Morality

Last night Vingent and I had a really later dinner at around 11pm at the local McD, and talked quite a load, on things like our coming industrial training, how our home may possibly be haunted because some daft, superstitious and gutless hallucinating friends of Fan saw some shadow-or-other dashing up the stairs, and how some people can be plain degenerates when it comes to being human. Or humane, for that matter.

But they all don’t quite matter because as some wise person supposedly said, ‘if everyone in the world were good people, then the world would be a very boring place and heaven would be made redundant’. Quite true, save the fact that a realm that doesn’t exist cannot be redundant. And that shadow-or-other might actually be the guardian demon that I’ve always wanted, that is here to watch over me and curse whoever who crosses me without provocation.

But possibly the most important thing we discussed that night was human morality, how it is truly meant to be and the role of religion and our very own will in enforcing it.

Back when I was just a child, there’s the first ever series of anime called Digimon that I was totally crazy over, and as I recall the part of it that really inspired me to be a good guy was the 8 crests and the values and virtues they represent: Courage, Friendship, Love, Sincerity, Knowledge, Reliability, Hope, and lastly, Light, probably some religious propaganda in an otherwise good mix of values. Given its irrelevance, I have decided to interpret Light as simply being a good person, in general, seeing as how darkness has always been wrongly attributed to evil.

Right. So we have these 8 values that would’ve sufficed for us to live in this world peacefully, but only if it came from within ourselves, as portrayed by the very same show. Distort it, or if it comes with ulterior motive, or if it was otherwise forced, then it works too, for a while before it backfires just as effectively as you wouldn’t want it to.

And this is where religion spoils it all. Every one of it. Especially the monotheistic ones. Even the agnostic Buddhism and its karmic claptrap is no exception. Why? Simple, really.

You see, what every single religion out there are saying, to be very honest, direct and blunt without any form of caramel coating, is, ‘do good or else’, and monotheistic ones take it a step further by changing it to, ‘obey me for I am ‘good’, or else’. To spell it out, every religion has this supposed realm called Hell and every evil doer or disobeyers will be sent there, disintegrated in to a billion useless pieces and burned with eternal hellfire as punishment. But what for? What’s fear have to do with anything?

Sure, fear is widely regarded as a very effective weapon, probably even the most effective, if you’re interested in warfare, subtle or open, it makes no difference. It’s also perceived by mankind as the most effective deterrent. But it still is nothing more than a mere weapon. When people forget the existence of such a weapon, or when they have finally disarmed this psychological nuclear warhead, how long will such virtues of humanity last? Not even a fraction of a split second, I’m afraid.

When it comes down to it, people have got to want to do good just because. They’ve got to want to, say, not murder random strangers, and not because it’ll get them a life sentence, death sentence, or eternal youth, burning in flames. That’s why we need to get rid of the ‘or else’ factor. Otherwise, it all seems pointless. People are being ‘not evil’ out of fear. Not because that’s what they want. Because with fear, all one can be is ‘not evil’, because the evil intentions are there, just not acted out because of the possible consequences, and that’s not being properly good. The only way to be a truly good person is to want to be so from the bottom of one’s heart, without any fear or doubt. Only then can people actually help others because they are concerned about the welfare of others. True empathy and altruism, if you will.

And in studying psychology I know more than ever that intrinsic motivation and rewards work infinitely better than any negative reinforcement or punishment. It is infinitely ineffective, detrimental even at certain extents, to rely on fear to enforce morality. Not to mention that in doing so, one is also being a hypocrite, using immorality to enforce morality. I remember as a child my father was (and still is) the kind of person who’d want you to be moral, but would want to do whatever he likes himself. And so I grew up getting caned whenever I told a lie and also whenever he told one and I pointed it out. Point being, people mimic others; so if you want morality out of someone, then first practice what you preach. Leadership by example, if you will; instead of by fear, coercion and hypocrisy.

What I propose here is an ideal, one that will definitely outlast any weapon, including fear. Weapons wear with usage, and will eventually break. Ideals, on the other hand, live forever, so long as they are properly initiated. And as with many old ideals, this one, too will hopefully replace reality one day.

And with that, adieu to y’all.