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My core moral philosophy is constantly changing. I don't know nearly enough, for now, to be able to be certain of much the following. I will be updating this post often!
I believe:
The mind or soul is not created by the brain or physical matter.
Morality is about creating an intention to protect ourselves and others from moral harm and immorality is about intending to harm ourselves and others, in order to cause moral harm.
Moral harm is the denial of the objective reality of our equal, inherent moral capabilities.
Because the mind is limitless in its ability to create meaning about anything at all, then it is in the mind where we are all capable of anything at all. In a reality where we are capable of anything is a world where morality comes to us naturally because if we are capable of anything, without limits, we couldn't possibly be capable of immorality or intentionally harming ourselves. Morality is about what we are capable of. It asks whether we are capable of not violating our limitless capabilities to create or intend anything at all. To morally injure someone means to question whether a soul is capable of being limitlessness in the mind or not, concerning the creation of meaning. Immorality comes from the idea that the mind can be limited in some way, which is impossible because, in the mind, we are all capable of creating meaning without limitation.
In the mind, alone, we are all capable of morality. In the mind, alone, is where morality is created.
Morality is created by the mind or soul, alone. The mind or soul is the seat of moral knowledge. Morality is 100% meaning, purpose and intention that shouldn't be restricted by physical matter.
Morality is 100% meaning, purpose and intuitive. We all have equal access to it, regardless of our level of intellect. We don't all have equal access to or the moral awareness of how to act on what is moral, due to differing intellectual abilities. This is why it isn't how much intellect we have that matters when making moral decisions; it's what we do with our intellect that makes us moral or immoral.
The mind or soul is limitless in its capabilities, since it doesn't rely on physical matter in order to create meaning or intentions; this includes moral meaning. Meaning is purpose or why we should think or do something. The mind also allows our ability to reason and think logically
So long as we are morally aware, our biology or our environments, instincts, emotions, genetics, female or male biological differences, etc. are not legitimate reasons to explain the cause for our moral behaviors or explain away our immoral behaviors. To say otherwise obviously leads to an extremely dangerous belief that some are inherently more or less or morally capable than others.
The mind is not the product of our brains or our biology (physical matter). This puts strict and inequal limits on our moral capabilities.
Again, our environment (including systems and other people) and our physical brains and bodies (including our animal instincts and emotions) do not cause us to act immorally. Our souls are directly and solely responsible for our moral and immoral behaviors. Other people are responsible for our moral injuries, not our moral character or how we deal with our moral injuries.
The mind of a female is no different than that of a male. The mind or soul is limitless. Our abilities to create meaning is limitless. Our brains, on the other hand, are biologically different, but not that meaningfully so. Furthermore, to say being a female must dictate what kind of mind you have and vice versa only perpetuates the idea that there are excuses, limitations or strict rules (sexist ones at that towards both genders) that govern our abilities to do what is right. The mind is limitless and genderless and there are no excuses for immorality, given we are morally aware, especially as human beings. We ALL need the "feminine" moral idea of compassion just as much as the "masculine" moral idea of certainty when making specific, important moral decisions.
The above supports the important idea that it's not how much intellect we have, it's how we use what we have that creates right moral intentions and behaviors. Children can be more moral than adults. The mentally challenged can also be more moral than intelligent adults. Men or "masculine energies" are not morally different than women or "feminine energies". It's true that the intellectually challenged and young children are not as aware of what is and isn't moral, which is exactly why they aren't as capable of creating bad intentions or being immoral. Same goes for animals. With intelligence comes greater power and a need for more moral responsibility.
There is objective moral truth.
We shouldn't try to escape the physical world, morally speaking, and we shouldn't try to escape the mind, morally speaking. Both are equal in value when creating our souls and right moral action.
I don't believe we should give away our responsibility to be moral to someone else, since morality is intuitive. No expert should tell us what is and isn't moral, as if they know more than us. Biology doesn't dictate morality. That's not to say we don't need help from others learning what is and isn't moral. It is our personal responsibility to figure out what is moral for ourselves, with help, if needed. Of course, for biological problems, we may need a therapist or a doctor, as an expert, to tell us what we don't know, without us needing to figure it out for ourselves. Morality is 100% intention, which isn't dictated by physical matter. It lives solely in the world of ideas. It is acted upon using the physical.
Again, how much intellect we have doesn't determine moral behavior, alone. Furthermore, I can't stress enough how equal in inherent moral value all living things are, including animals, the intellectually challenged and children, compared to fully functioning adults! They are naturally more morally innocent, and we must honor this beautiful and inspiring quality of theirs! Of course, that's not to say the less morally aware are incapable of immorality.
We all have equal inherent moral value concerning our moral potential. We are all equally capable (potential) of doing what is right; however, we are not all equally able (proven skillset) to do what is right, due to a disbelief in our innate moral capabilities. We must learn how to believe in our natural, inherent moral worth.
Our ego self, in the negative sense, is equal in value to our morally enlightened self.
We are not bad when we do what is bad. We are only bad when we deny that we are NOT bad for making mistakes due to bad intentions. Bad intentions are a natural part of learning; not owning up to them isn't.
Negative thinking and negative emotions are of equal importance to positive thinking and positive emotions.
Finding problems is equal in value to finding solutions, morally-speaking.
A group of people (a collective) is just as important in inherent moral value as one person (an individual).
Objective, universal moral principles seem to exist within the balanced duality of giving and receiving, concerning how to act upon them and why they are important. Giving tends to be associated with the masculine and receiving with the feminine. I don't think they should be classified this way when talking about morality, but I can't help but label them this way since most people have. An emphasis on giving ("hyper-masculinity") seems to describe the moral ideology of the political far right and an emphasis on receiving ("hyper-femininity") seems to describe the moral ideology of the far left. Altruism is "hyper-feminine", and egoism is "hyper-masculine". "Hyper-feminine" prioritizes collectivism (group mentality) over individuality and "hyper-masculine" prioritizes individualism over collectivism. I explain this idea below. Scroll down and find my 7 moral principles to learn more.
Our soul or who we are, regardless of our biological sex, has equal "masculine" and "feminine" moral traits. I believe these so called gendered moral traits shouldn't be assigned to males or females. However, both sexes may express more "masculine" or "feminine" personalities that are neither moral nor immoral but simply an expression of their unique styles, regardless of their biological sex, which is on a spectrum across the population.
"Masculine" (give) and "feminine" (receive) moral principles are not subjugated to our biology nor to our personality styles. For example, men don't need more respect than women and women don't need more love than men. Feminine and masculine moral principles need to be in balance for both men and women. In other words, men don't inherently have different moral needs than women and vice versa. Moral needs may include the need to be respected, loved, safe, have purpose, etc. Morally speaking, women need purpose just as much as men. Further, they need just as much freedom as men. Men are not more solutions focused than women. Women are not more problems focused than men. Finding solutions and problems are both necessary in order to take proper moral action. Women don't need to talk out their feelings more than men. Talking out feelings is an important part of learning the truth about what is bothering us so we can fix it and take better care of ourselves and others. This is a moral action. Women are not inherently more empathetic than men. Being empathetic is a moral necessity for our protection. If we don't see things from another's point of view, how do we know them? Inherently, women are not better listeners nor are they more responsible than men. Men are not inherently more reasonable than women. Men don't need more praise than women. Praise or giving credit where it is due is a moral issue. Men aren't inherently prone to being more unjustly violent than women. Any studied brain differences between the sexes can be explained by neuroplasticity. Social programming can absolutely alter the way our brains work.
According to The Guardian, "One major breakthrough in recent years has been the
realisation that, even in adulthood, our brains are continually being changed, not just by the education we receive, but also by the jobs we do, the hobbies we have, the sports we play. The brain of a working London taxi driver will be different from that of a trainee and from that of a retired taxi driver; we can track differences among people who play videogames or are learning origami or to play the violin. Supposing these brain-changing experiences are different for different people, or groups of people? If, for example, being male means that you have much greater experience of constructing things or manipulating complex 3D representations (such as playing with Lego), it is very likely that this will be shown in your brain. Brains reflect the lives they have lived, not just the sex of their owners."
Morality is about having access to knowledge that protects us from moral harm and both sexes have equal access to it as well as the same capabilities to act upon it, otherwise there will be unhealthy moral competition.
Moral differences between men and women exist due to social programming of the sexes.
We can tell if someone is genuinely doing what is right if they consistently do what is right, especially under stress. People can fake or mimic doing what is right to charm and deceive.
What a moral principle is, is equal in importance to how and why it is acted upon.
Morality is the territory of the rational mind or creative mind, which is limitless.
Testosterone or estrogen do not limit my ability to create meaning
Morality exists when we are limitlessly capable of anything, which is a reality within the mind. Our ability to create meaning is never inhibited by physical matter, however our ability to processes meaning is limited by our brains or physical matter.
Babies can create meaning. It's the meaning we assign to the intellect. Our coul is limitless in its amility to craete meaning.
I put together 7 universal moral principles to explain my idea that objective, universal moral principles seem to exist within the balanced duality of giving and receiving, concerning how to act upon them. Please note that how we communicate to ourselves (intrapersonal) and to others (interpersonal) can be morally different. For example, we may listen well to others, but not to ourselves and vice versa.
Principle #1) Listen to yourself (intrapersonal), to your environment, and to the perspectives of others (interpersonal) in order to gather enough information properly perceive reality and make accurate moral judgements.
HOW?
We must neutrally observe (receive) incoming information from ourselves and others when we don't know something. Then, we must form a judgement from our own minds others when we believe it and theirs or give ourselves and others information about what we have learned through using reasoning in order to ask questions or form an accurate a final judgement or conclusion. These two qualities of give and receive must be equalized for proper listening to occur.
When giving and receiving are not balanced, when attempting to listen, we become one or both of the following:
Hyper feminine or over-receptive: if we prioritize observing (receiving) over judging (giving), which is being certain or knowing, we will miss out on fully discerning reality because will have no way of making sense of incoming information.
Hyper masculine or over-giving: if we prioritize judging or being certain over observing (receiving), then we will miss out on pertinent information about reality in order to make sense of it.
2) Validate thoughts, emotions and instincts.
HOW?
We should validate emotions, thoughts and instincts by observing them without judgement (receiving information about them for ourselves and/or others) and we should also judge them (give information to ourselves and/or others about them) as neutral information that helps us figure out what we need to do to live better lives.
When we are imbalanced giving and receiving concerning this principle, we are one or both of the following:
Hyper masculine: we will prioritize judging emotions, thoughts and instincts over neutrally observing them. When we focus on judging these aspects, we will become fixated on thinking they get in the way of our lives when they are distressing and dismiss as invaluable. This leads to us becoming cold and callous.
Hyper feminine: we will prioritize neutrally observing emotions, not judging them as useful information. When we don't judge emotions, we will become engrossed by them. This leads to becoming hypersensitive about every little thing whenever we feel bad.
3) Resist or challenge lies and accept the truth.
HOW?
We must receive the truth and give information to ourselves or others about the truth in order to challenge or resist lies.
When we are imbalanced between giving and receiving, concerning this principle, we become one of the two or both:
hyper masculine: prioritize resisting lies over accepting truth.
hyper feminine: prioritize accepting truth over resisting lies.
4) Admit when you and others make moral mistakes (act on bad intentions) and show compassion for the brokenness in you and others that led to the bad intentions, towards those who admit they are wrong (including yourselves).
I don't believe we are bad when we have bad moral intentions and act on them, alone; however, I do believe we are bad, concerning who (soul) not what (spirit) we are, when we act on our bad moral intentions and don't admit we were wrong and don't show compassion for our brokenness that led to those bad intentions.
hyper-masculine: prioritize admitting fault (judging) over being innocent (receiving grace). Shame and guilt are used as fuel to do what is right.
hyper-feminine: prioritize being innocent (receiving grace) over admitting fault (giving judgement). Shift blame onto systems or the environment.
5) Be upfront and honest about what you already know and believe, when necessary.
retrieve our memories.
HOW?
hyper-masculine: prioritizes being overly upfront and abrasive when not necessary (prioritizes giving beliefs from individual point of view). Abrasive.
hyper-feminine: prioritizes hiding beliefs when it's not necessary (prioritizing receiving beliefs from group). Don't want to rock the boat. Likes censorship.
6) Trust in equal capabilities to learn moral truth.
HOW? ties to principle one
hyper-masculine: morally superior. trust the truth by giving it to others. trust what you know by prioritizing giving knowledge over receiving it.
hyper-feminine: morally inferior. trust the truth by receiving it from others. what you know by prioritizing receiving knowledge over giving knowledge.
7) Commit to taking responsibility for doing what is right. Surrender to innocence (principle 4?)
HOW?
hyper-masculine: prioritizes taking responsibility for changing moral intentions of self and others.
hyper-feminine: prioritizes not taking any responsibility for changing moral intentions for self or others.
A Note About Men and Women
Intrapersonally, men seem to be raised to be hyper-feminine and interpersonally, hypermasculine. In other words, they tend to communicate with themselves in a hyper-feminine way and communicate to others in a hyper-masculine way, concerning the principles.
Intrapersonally, women seem to be raised to communicate with themselves in a hyper masculine way and with others in a hyper feminine way, concerning the principles.
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