Whitaker's Current Articles February 21, 2004
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February 21, 2004 --
There is Nothing
Simple About the Golden Rule
February 21, 2004 --
The Golden Rule in the
Orient
February 21, 2004 --
Theology Requires
Knowledge, the Golden Rule Requires a Conscience
Fun Quote:
"You're ugly, your feet stink, and you don't love Jesus."
--North Carolina saying
There
is Nothing Simple About the Golden Rule
I was a discussant at an economics convention, and I was standing in
front of a blackboard filled with highly complex calculus
equations. As I looked at that board full of advanced math, it
occurred to me once again that that entire mass of math was based on
three words: "supply and demand."
Supply and demand is
all that microeconomics is based on.
This computer I am
working with does miracles. But the entire computer language is
based on two things, the number 0 and the number 1.
The Wisdom of the
Orient consists of Wise Men saying silly things that sound obscure
but are actually meaningless. They sit around spouting Great Wisdom
while children are dying a hundred feet away of worms and
malnutrition.
In the West, we take
simple truths and follow them like a bloodhound. We don't sit
around trying to impress people by saying silly ass things. We
impress the world by DOING things that no one else has ever imagined
doing.
There is nothing
simple about computer science, though it is based on 0 and 1.
There is nothing simple about microeconomics, though it is just
supply and demand.
And there is nothing
simple about the Golden Rule. If you follow it ruthlessly, it is as
complicated as a moon rocket.
The Golden Rule in the
Orient
Our Golden Rule says, "Do
unto other as you would have them do unto you."
Confucius said, "Do
not do unto another what you would not have him do unto you."
Political Correctness
uses this to prove that the Orient is just like the West.
Actually, these two
statements are worlds apart.
I gave the example of
an Oriental Wise Man sitting and saying obscure things while
children around him were hungry and had worms in their guts. But
from the point of view of Confucius, that is all right. The
Oriental Wise Man is not doing anything TO those children. So he is
doing nothing to them that he would not have them do unto him, as
Confucius said.
But the Western
version of the Golden Rule is entirely different. You must stop
talking crap and use your mind to do something FOR those children.
You must DO something.
This is a very
practical matter. In Japan in earlier times, no one was required to save the life of
someone in danger. The Japanese rule was that if you saved a
person's life, you were responsible for what they did after that.
Throughout the very different cultures of Asia, this attitude is
very common.
In the West, you have to take action.
The Orient is
passive. The West is active.
Please see
Theology Requires Knowledge, the Golden
Rule Requires a Conscience
Theologians never mention the fact that Jesus
never condemned anybody for not reading the Bible enough.
He condemned many who were Biblical experts,
like the scribes and the prideful high priests of the Temple.
There have always been many who substituted
theology for a conscience.
At the end of the
eighteenth century, Doctor Jenner came up with a means of ending
the deadly scourge of smallpox. He found that if you gave a
person a shot of cowpox, it would make them immune to the deadly
smallpox.
Practically every
preacher in London started screaming about how evil this man
Jenner was. They quoted the Old Testament about how the human body
was the temple of the soul. They said putting cow germs into
humans was something no Christian would do.
As a direct result
of that campaign against vaccinations by the preachers, thousands
of people died of smallpox. Thousands more were horribly
disfigured for life.
There is no record
of any preacher ever feeling the slightest bit guilty for this.
If you've got your nose stuck in the Old Testament, you don't need
a conscience.
So theologians find
everything easy. There are millions of people in wheelchairs for
life. Maybe developing embryos and using them to replace cells
could put those on their feet. If I were the embryo, I wouldn't
mind at all. But if you can just quote the right theology, you
can block it, and if you are a good theologian, the real people in
the real wheelchairs won't bother you a bit.
No matter what
happens no theologian will ever feel guilty about mere human
beings. But if you are stuck with the Golden Rule, the world is a
very complicated place. You can't stick your nose in the Old
Testament and forget that people exist.
If you are stuck
with the Golden Rule, you can't ignore anybody. If you are stuck
with the Golden Rule, you have to try to realize exactly how others
think and what other people want.
Life is much
simpler if you can ignore the Golden Rule and look for a good
quote in the Old Testament that saves you from having to think and
feel.
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