[1024] in Depressing_Thoughts
Re: Above All
hga@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (hga@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Thu Mar 22 11:07:40 1990
There's always synthesis; it doesn't have to be a binary choice between
Rhu and Andrew. You'd be foolish to abandon either honor or initiative
(and caution or hope). Without the former you'd be a cad, and wouldn't
be very good at achieving your objectives. Without the latter you'll
never even start towards your objectives.
(The following is based on some speculation, so apply appropriate
salt): One question I have for you is, why aren't you righteous?
Specificly, if you have confidence in your ethical system, and in your
ability to follow it, why don't you engage in those activities that
fit your system, and not worry about those that don't fit? If you're
like me at that age, it was partially due to a somewhat dysfunctional
ethical system; perhaps it's time for you to do the secular humanist
thing and build your own :-)
And then there's always Skinnerish behaviorism: I had some very
dysfunctional interpersonal stimulus-response patterns which required
difficult reprogramming.
