What is right, and what is wrong?
That simple question seems to have more power than people realize, since arguments over ethical and moral debates of “right” and “wrong” have been going on for centuries, and show no signs of stopping.
To some people, using animals to test vaccines or medications is wrong; to others, it’s a necessary sacrifice and much better than the human alternative; to even more still, they would rather be testing on humans but see themselves as held back by scientific and ethical legal issues. To some, drugs are wrong, and to others they’re fine in moderation. Debates and disagreements like these are a constant – a part of being individual is having your own unique viewpoint on the world, so of course there will be people around you who don’t agree with you.
To try and agree with everyone in the world just to avoid conflict is to abandon your morality and individuality for the impossible ideal of being accepted by everyone. In the philosophy of Existentialism, this is a phenomenon known as “bad faith.”
Despite the theme this blog has taken so far, I’ve only ever discovered existentialism as a philosophy somewhere around a week ago, and even only looking up Wikipedia articles on the subject, I’ve been able to almost immediately draw connections between existentialist beliefs and certain topics on this very blog. (See: An Absence of Reason, On Pursuing Individuality)
However, it’s very important to note that while my personal beliefs (conclusions that I’ve come to on my own accord) line up in many deeper ways with existentialism, I don’t want to label myself as strictly an “existentialist.” To simply provide my own insight on existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre’s viewpoints and lectures, while what I’ve read on the doctrine of “Existence precedes essence” lines up with my own mind, Sartre also described existentialism as “the attempt to draw all the consequences from a position of consistent atheism.”
Anyone who knows me well, or has read through these blog posts in full, would know that I’m not an atheist. So am I purely an existentialist? No. I don’t want to label myself with something before I fully understand it, so for now I’ll just say that a lot of existentialist philosophical beliefs line up with my own philosophy in a shockingly deep and profound way.
Now, back to the matter at hand: Morality.
I’ve talked about it before, but individuality is very important to me. With all of the people I choose to let into my inner circle, one of the baseline standards is both open-mindedness and diversity of thought – meaning that I’d like to hang out with someone who has their own opinions on certain subjects but can also respect that I might have differing opinions on those same subjects. I love nothing more than to hold up a friendly debate with those I trust over philosophical or ethical topics (the exchange of knowledge and perspective is very important to me), so the people I choose to hang out with tend to reflect that.
I have met far too many in my life who are willing to sacrifice individuality for the sake of acceptance, and while it’s something that I can’t bring myself to respect on an intellectual level, it doesn’t mean I avoid them mentally altogether. What I can’t entirely condone in my mind, though, is someone who would sacrifice their own morality for the sake of avoiding ethical disputes.
To sacrifice your moral code is to dull your conscience, and I believe that a conscience and the very existence of a moral code is part of what makes humans so profoundly separate from animals. Human nature holds a disposition to “right” and “wrong” – people tend to feel comfortable in a society or community structured by rule, law, and most universally by moral code. If everyone in the world followed the same principle moral code, I believe conflicts would be much easier to handle.
However, if everyone followed the same principle moral code, it would make individuality at it’s core almost partially redundant.
So, how crucial is morality? How important is it to have ethics to guide your actions?
Well, the more you think about it, the more reasons an anxious mind could give to explain to you why morality is so crucial in the deeper parts of life. There are people in my life who are so terrified of conflict that they’re willing to accept any idea that their friends or peers push towards them, and that is something that I can’t bring myself to respect.
Conflict is a normal part of life – if you agree with everyone in the world, you disagree with everyone at the exact same time – it’s unavoidable. If you believe that a single small difference in belief or ethics is enough to drive friendships apart, you clearly haven’t experienced a deep or emotional bond with someone that transcends petty dispute – friends, lovers, or family.
Personally, and this is all my opinion, I think it’s more important to stay true to yourself and to know exactly what you do believe in. When faced with a hard decision to make, your moral code and ethical, philosophical, or sometimes even religious beliefs will always be there to make it easier on your mind. I think it makes a respectable and introspective person to know what they believe in, it makes an open-minded and pleasant person to be respectful of their own and others’ beliefs, and it makes a strong person to be able to both stand up for their beliefs and hold reasonable flexibility when interacting with others.
You don’t have to agree with everyone in the world, as it’s impossible for everyone in the world to agree with you. The beauty of human nature is the diversity in our emotions, our psychologies, our backgrounds, and our personalities. To sacrifice something as human as a moral code or to reject something as beautiful as diversity in thought over the fear of rejection is to reject the most human side of yourself before anyone else even gets the chance.
And that, I believe, is one of the most tragic ironies I’ve seen in the modern world.
To get things straight, I’m not the type of person to avoid others because of a difference in belief – or else, I try not to be. As with every statement I make, eliminating every possible exception to that statement is impossible, but my point still stands: As long as you can respect what I believe in, I believe that it’s a part of baseline human decency to do the same to you.
(“Exception” as in: I believe that murder is wrong, so if you kill someone, I might not want to spend more than thirty seconds alone in a room with you. These exceptions are so extreme that they’re almost purely hypothetical situations, but I felt the need to clarify regardless. I don’t discriminate between religion, identity, or political standing, but murder? Ehh.)
One of my many guiding principles in my own life is that I treat others the way I want to be treated, or in a deeper sense, if I hope for others to accept the parts of myself that I both cannot change and cannot love (i.e. mental illness), then I see it as a moral obligation to be open-minded towards those around me. Even if they don’t treat me with the same kindness that I treat them, it’s more important for me, personally, to keep any form of “Agape” (that is, universal and unconditional love and respect) alive.
I may consider myself a misanthropic, existential cynic, but I still value goodness in its purest form. While I may not like the world or human society, I can at least act like the people I wish to see in my own friend group. It’s a lonely type of proactivity that leaves me feeling both hollow and accomplished at the same time.
In any case, I hope this hasn’t been too boring for you to read through. I find philosophy to be a very fascinating subject – the aspiring anthropologist within me loves nothing more than to explore the inner machinations of human thought – and so I couldn’t help but write when the thought arose.
Hopefully I’ll be able to express myself further on this blog in the future. Expect some more “profound” entries like this at some point.
As always, thanks for putting up with my odd writing, and I wish you all a very safe and enjoyable end to 2020. It’s been a wild ride so far, but hang in there!
Kindest regards,
Ciel.
Luciel Stardust 