Many people think these words do not have a place in the modern world: we are what we are, and what we are is determined by the universe of matter in which we find ourselves. We are helpless trams confined to our rails, and whether we express this fatalism in terms of behaviourism or the new genetic determinism, the fact is that nothing is our fault, and conversely, nothing is to our credit. We are simply the blind product of random physical events, biological evolution being the most recent chapter in this inevitable narrative.
Anyone who knows me well will realise that I don't go along with this. For one thing, we are conscious. Well actually, we don't know that everybody is conscious: we can only speak for ourselves. When Jesus Christ said "Forgive them, for they know not what they do" I take that to mean "Forgive them, because they are not conscious: they are physical machines which function without knowing what they are doing."
Consciousness just doesn't fit in with ancient or modern versions of mechanical fatalism. If we all functioned solely as machines, we would be unaware of it. Then even if a human said, "I am not a machine" she would be like a computer with a voice-recording in her; she wouldn't actually have the slightest idea what she was saying.
If the whole universe were exclusively mechanical, it would function in completely unconscious darkness.
Good is the conscious determination to work for the benefit of the whole picture, not just a selfish part of it.
Evil is the conscious intent to inflict real harm. It seeks self-gratification at the expense of others. It doesn't care about the good of the whole picture. At its very worst, it is like Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost trying to invert the two extremes, expressed in his famous resolution: 'Evil be thou my good'.
If a person isn't conscious, then doing evil is impossible.
About Me
- John Pine
- I started out reading medicine at Barts, took a degree in English at Trinity Dublin, became an actor in Ireland, performed in the Mousetrap in the West End, taught in Montessori schools in England and the US, married, had five children, lost four of them through the dreadful 'family' courts.
4 comments:
Hi John,
Very interesting reading! I'm just wondering about your interpretation of Jesus' words on the cross; that he meant "Forgive them, because they are not conscious: they are physical machines which function without knowing what they are doing."
I'm wondering how this tallies with the point you made in the post "More on the Living Dead" in which you advocate having nothing to do with such "zombies", when compared with Peter's words to the very people that killed Jesus in Acts 2:38 - "Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Is this, in your thinking, how one moves from unconsciousness to consciousness? Or is there some other method?
And a quick supplementary question - was the crucifixion of Jesus not an evil act, as it was perpetrated by "zombies"? What constitutes evil - the act, or the intent behind the act?
Nice simple questions, obviously :)
Thanks!
Nathan
Thank you, Nathan, and welcome to this blog. I've never known a young child who didn't show every sign of being strongly conscious - so I don't believe those people were born zombies. They were bitten on the neck! Somewhere in them was the faint flickering of an old pilot light (and I almost wrote pilot with a capital p). There is always a chance of waking up; the only hope, in fact. I don't set any limits on the ways it can happen.
As for evil: it certainly depends on the CONSCIOUS intention. An unconscious person is no more evil than a falling rock.
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