The Grass is Always Greener…
“God is dead.
God remains dead.
And we have killed him.
How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it? There has never been a greater deed; and whoever is born after us – For the sake of this deed he will belong to a higher history than all history hitherto.” - Parable of the Madman by Friedrich Nietzsche
“Every man and every woman is a star. There is no god but man.”(AL.I.3) “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”(AL.I.40) - Alesteir Crowley
Without God, from where comes our morality?
From nature?
Look around at the members of the animal kingdom. Do they, like us, hold tribunal over offenses against the individual? Do they, like us, go to great lengths to establish government to defend the defenseless? What of rape, incest, murder, assault? These things occur daily in the animal realm between creatures of like kind and against creatures of differing kinds. Yet, we do not even find so much as revenge a portion of their world.
The leap from animals to human doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. Some would like to claims mankind’s nature is being assaulted by society, and that it is society that causes men to be greedy, self-satisfying… evil. Yet, studies of human children raised feral show that there is no “human” to their nature. Language, if not taught to a child early, is lost. The idea of humanness as a basic nature does not work in us as it does in other members of the animal realm.
From society?
If our nature or evolution doesn’t provide for the development of morals, then perhaps society demands moral behavior? Is our development of morality nothing more than the “Social Contract,” a secret set of laws which set us apart from the rest of nature? If these laws are laws then to what do we attribute those who break these laws?
What keeps these social laws in place? What demands from anyone the adherence to these structures? If there is no influence for continual practice of moral ideals, then what keeps us from all breaking these rules? Examine one night’s headlines and witness the rampant disregard for the inner “laws” which we are supposed to have developed as ann integral part of our natures. It appears that nothing holds back the willing, not even the laws of men, not event the threats of tyrants.
“Atheistic existentialism… states that if God does not exist… man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself.” – Sartre
The question remains, why bother to create a “definition” in the first place?
Somehow good, real good, transcends both nature, and society, but does it really transcend nature itself? The concepts of morality are grasped by anyone. Those with even a modicum of decency and concern for the well being of others can easily grasp that good moral behavior grants more benefit than the opposite. Even the most “godless” among us recognizes the benefit of “doing good” to one another. This is not the question, nor the concern.
Rather, the question is; where do morals come from? What is their origin?
Examine the properties of Good:
Good simply is. There is Good, and then there is everything else. There is no “sort-of-good.” There is no “gooder.” There is simply good, and not good.
Good is timeless. The elements of good have not changed in the recorded history of mankind.
Good is placeless. These simple truths have been present in every society, in every corner of this world.
Good is wisdom. Being good is always associated with those who seek knowledge, those who express understanding, or those who have good judgement.
Good is peerless. Everyone recognizes that there are those who are more nearly “good” than others. Everyone recognizes those who are “righteous” as those who are to be held in the highest of standing. Yet even the best of us recognizes the ability to get even “better,” closer to the standard known as “good.”
The very character of moral goodness is the very essence of God. The ability to deny or to accept a moral character is indicative of free will. The fact that humans – by nature – are not bound to morality indicates an origin other than ourselves.
The answer is clear.
So, why then the need to deny God and still assert morality? This answer is also clear. When there is no “absolute” morality, one is free to pick and choose which moral behaviors one desires. This is the kind of “freedom” mankind loves, desires, wants above all.
As Fr. Borrajo puts it; “God’s existence would turn our freedom to a mere illusion.”
As Aldous Huxley puts it; “I had motives for not wanting the world to have meaning; consequently assumed that it had none, and was able without any difficulty to find satisfying reasons for this assumption. For myself, as no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument for liberation from a certain political and economic system and a liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom.”
In truth, Sartre said it best; “Life has no meaning the moment you lose the illusion of being eternal.” What a sad, useless and pathetic attitude towards life, simply to have one’s “freedom” from a misconceived set of restrictions. What a momentous cause of despair and destruction in our world. When life has no meaning, then why worry about one’s morality towards another?
Consider the following thought process: Are God’s laws intended to restrict, or protect? Are the freedoms you seek merely pleasures you desire, or liberation against tyranny?
At the heart of all of this is not the question whether or not God exists rather; is God good, or is man?
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