When we buy a car or a computer we look for the latest model. Because we know that with each passing year, technology and quality improves. In contrast when it comes to popular philosophy, ethics and morals we cite ancient philosophies as if they were better than present ways of thinking. This is absurd.
Just as technology improves with each day, year and century, our concepts of good and bad, moral and immoral evolve for the better with the passage of time. What is more our philosophy or perspectives on life change with new scientific discoveries. Thus Kepler's theory of a heliocentric world, the theory of evolution and other modern concepts have turned our philosophies and perspectives upside down. Thus our ancestors thought that man is a super-special case of creation. However, Darwin shows that we are mere evolutionary forms of animals starting with the lowly faggot. So why do we still hold on to the superiority of man when we know that we evolved from faggots.
Ancient philosophies and philosophers were great for those times. But that does not mean that they were infallible. Thus most of the ancient philosophers such as Jesus, Krishna and Plato attested to slavery and other practices which we consider obnoxious now. What is more, they often contradicted themselves.
Thus in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus exhorts us to love one another and to turn the left cheek when smitten on the right. But in another part of the same gospels Jesus says (Matthew 10:34-36); "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "...a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law- a man's enemies will be the members of his own household."
Similarly in the old testament we see great characters like Moses, David and Joshua enganging in violence, genocide, fornication, slavery and so forth. When this is pointed out intrepid Christians counter this saying that it is all in the Old Testament and that in the New Testament Jesus sets it aright. But this blind loyalty to Jesus and his parasitical priests is unwarranted. Thus in Matthew 5:17 Jesus says "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." This means that Jesus endorsed slavery, genocide, fornication and other evils which are glorified in the Old Testament.
Similarly in the Bhagavath Gita, Krishna talks high Philosophies such as Karma Yoga which is that action is important and results do not matter. However, in breach of his own philosophy, he resorts to all kinds of questionable tactics to win the war.
All these great men were proponents of great morals and philosophies. But that does not mean they were infallible - no one is.
I do not see why we have to hark back to ancient morals and philosophies when we are far more knowledgeable than they were.
The Bible has over 600 commandments to regulate the lives of the Jews who lived about 2500 years ago. Some of them are ridiculous such as men should not lie with men, a field should not be cultivated with two kinds of crops, clothes would not be woven with different kinds of materials, those who do not observe the sabbath should be stoned to death, sons/daughters who speak against their parents should be stoned to death and so also those who commit adultery and so forth. What is more, these laws, including the ridiculous ones, were immutable and not amenable to rectifications and amendments with the compulsions of changing times.
In contrast we now have hundreds of thousands of laws and enactments, governing every aspect of life. Thus we have traffic laws, cyber laws, banking laws, environmental laws and a horde of other laws as well as directions on how to take cognisance of infringements of such laws and how to try them in court and so forth. What is even more significant is the fact that our laws are not immutable. Instead our laws are amended to suit changing circumstances.
Resorting to ancient ethics, morals and philosophies when we have modern ethics, morals and philosophies is like using a bullock cart when a Rolls Royce is there for the taking, or like eating bread with mold on them when fresh baked bread is on offer for free.
Posted by: Xavier William <varekatx@gmail.com>
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