Foundations

Religion dismantled; morality stripped of its foundation - what is next? A new morality, a new foundation. Can reason be the guide for such an undertaking? Surely its role is paramount, but even reason meets limits and knows dependence. For what is reason - in the realm of morality - without experience? Does not reason call 'bad' that which it concludes one would not want to go through, to experience? Does it not label 'evil' as that which has led to one's own or another's suffering?

Reason divorced from, unaware of experience would be thoroughly useless in anything concerning 'morality'. But experience apart from reason instigates the death of morality. A creature without reason cannot be held morally accountable for its actions and a creature without experience cannot be expected to understand even what an action is (nor, I think, would they have any conception of cause and effect).

So it is with reason and experience that this foundation is to be laid.

First Principle: A person should not merely be a means to an end. A person should be an end.

Are there exceptions? Of course. What is to be said of the doctor called upon as a means solely for the end of healing some ailment, or the countless examples in this vein? Without question, society functions on such transactions. An important distinction in these situations is that the person used as the means is fully aware of their role as such and has consented to such a transaction. Now something must be said for the manner in which they have consented: willingly and gladly or involuntarily and begrudgingly. A doctor willingly and gladly offers his service to you because, among other reasons, he supports himself and his family in the best way that he is capable through the transaction. A prostitute, on the other hand, involuntarily and begrudgingly offers her services because, among other reasons, she thinks that it is the only way she is capable of supporting herself.

The doctor consents because he can; the prostitute consents because she must.

The importance of this distinction cannot be overlooked! I call utilizing the doctor's service acceptable and using the prostitute 'bad'. Why is the transaction with the doctor merely acceptable and not 'good'? Because it is a transaction and not an interaction. There is nothing morally noteworthy about a visit to the doctor. Though there is something to be said for attempts to transform the transaction into an interaction, attempts to make the doctor an end in and of himself and not simply a means to achieve wellness. That could be dangerously close to being called 'good'.

And so I have my first principle, we shall see what comes next.

Silent Demise

What a feeling - to stand in view of the demise of all that life was once to be. And not with a bang, but with a whimper. I am finding myself further and further away with each passing day: a silent demise. A demise of what? Everything I previously lived for, everything I previously defined myself through, everything that was previously "I".

I'm frustrated, lost, confused, and at times overcome by feelings of homelessness. But I continue on because I must - I must be honest with myself.