The sickness unto death
We fall into life and are born into ego-consciousness. Looking through the perspective of our eyes, we see the world as if apart from us. Children at first do not take death to be real, but slowly it dawns upon us that there will come a time when this consciousness, this person that I am will be annihilated. Anxious and disgusted, we wish to live forever, and dream of being a substance independent of both nature and spirit - a self-subsisting substance - the author of our own being.
This is the great error. If spirit, then as a spirit we are one among others. If not spirit, but only nature, we cannot make ourselves into that which we are not.
As spirit, I have faith that I am one among all other spirits. I do not know exactly where my spirit leaves off, and where another spirit begins, but I am loved, for I am spirit.
How, then, as a spirit knowing other spirits, as a dependent being in a world of spirit, can I act as if I were the only living substance - how then can I treat all other spirits as mere means to my own ends? For I do not even understand my ends.
I belong to a realm of ends. This is the essence of morality. One is a moral agent just in so far as one's actions take into account all spirit, and transcend one's egocentric concerns. This is love.
Let us be clear. The new revelation that has dawned upon us is that the persecution of the body is not valid. It is a false path. But how could it ever have been a true path? For how do I treat all other living beings as ends-in-themselves, by torturing my own body, by denying my own impulses? What makes one a bad person is using others, treating others as mere things.
Living is a constant battle between love and self-love; between the natural person, who recognises the existence of others, considers others in his deliberations and actions, and "the inferior" person, who is nothing more than a narrow-minded selfish egoist. The essence of all bigotry is a system of rationalisation to justify one's selfish acts.
This is the great error. If spirit, then as a spirit we are one among others. If not spirit, but only nature, we cannot make ourselves into that which we are not.
As spirit, I have faith that I am one among all other spirits. I do not know exactly where my spirit leaves off, and where another spirit begins, but I am loved, for I am spirit.
How, then, as a spirit knowing other spirits, as a dependent being in a world of spirit, can I act as if I were the only living substance - how then can I treat all other spirits as mere means to my own ends? For I do not even understand my ends.
I belong to a realm of ends. This is the essence of morality. One is a moral agent just in so far as one's actions take into account all spirit, and transcend one's egocentric concerns. This is love.
Let us be clear. The new revelation that has dawned upon us is that the persecution of the body is not valid. It is a false path. But how could it ever have been a true path? For how do I treat all other living beings as ends-in-themselves, by torturing my own body, by denying my own impulses? What makes one a bad person is using others, treating others as mere things.
Living is a constant battle between love and self-love; between the natural person, who recognises the existence of others, considers others in his deliberations and actions, and "the inferior" person, who is nothing more than a narrow-minded selfish egoist. The essence of all bigotry is a system of rationalisation to justify one's selfish acts.
From the Ta Chuan
"The inferior man is not ashamed of unkindness and does not shrink from injustice. If no advantage beckons he makes no effort."
(Great Treatise, Chapter 5, 7.)
"If good does not accumulate, it is not enough to make a name for a man. If evil does not accumulate, it is not strong enough to destroy a man. Therefore the inferior man thinks to himself, "Goodness in small things has no value," and so neglects it. He thinks, "Small sins do no harm," and so does not give them up. Thus his sins accumulate until they can no longer be covered up, and his guilt becomes so great that it can no longer be wiped out."
(Great Treatise, Chapter 5, 8.)
(Great Treatise, Chapter 5, 7.)
"If good does not accumulate, it is not enough to make a name for a man. If evil does not accumulate, it is not strong enough to destroy a man. Therefore the inferior man thinks to himself, "Goodness in small things has no value," and so neglects it. He thinks, "Small sins do no harm," and so does not give them up. Thus his sins accumulate until they can no longer be covered up, and his guilt becomes so great that it can no longer be wiped out."
(Great Treatise, Chapter 5, 8.)
Vishnu mutilated, detail from The Kurukshetra War by Peter Paul Fekete