deepbrainfarts

[deepbrainfarts]

Religion and Morality

Abstract

This essay aims to challenge religious beliefs rather than existence of supernatural omnipotent beings themselves. It aims to warp readers head around concepts rather philosophical and academic than spiritual.

Introduction

I was inspired by a conversation with a certain man, who, after a month of our common interaction managed to profoundly impact my inner core belief system with the justification of his arguments by a religious writing. While his citations from the religious piece of writing were spotless, the thoughts expressed and supported by this religious piece came across as they would warp the reality rather than critically explain the nature of human realm. An example of such argument would be the one of morality. The man was claiming that morality, as such, comes from Christianity or rather, Christian god. While this argument is true to some extent, there are gaps, and one of which I find particularly interesting in this thinking. That gap being, that there is no recognition of other possible roots of morality. It therefore would not be inapt to call this man inflexible of thought in his devotion to this omnipotent existence. Inflexible of thought, or rather closed to the thought of presence of other fashion in which one can express their moral values than through christianity.

Christianity and Morality

To develop the argument of morality in relation to Christianity further - it is true, as a matter of fact. Christian faith works with a template of morals which are imbued on its followers and therefore establishes a reminder framework of these principles. However, this doesn't imply christian faith and inherently god as an introducer of moral values. Reminder framework in this context could be explained as the idea of "by serving your fellow men you serve God; furthermore God is watching you, so you had better behave to others as you would to Him." (Spectator.co.uk, Matthew Parris) — which serves as a reminder to followers of religion to act upon their faith, because the omnipotent existence always keeps them at check. Though this concept may sound as a overly simplistic idea, it serves its purpose magnificently in explaining the nature of morality in christian religion.

Morality motivated by such oppression however is simply subsidiary compared to the inner motivation towards morality human species have inbuilt in their biology (Edward O. Wilson on The Biological Basis of Morality, 1998). To find true moral motivators, we do not ought look too far. We could perhaps find the answer to internally motivated morality in widely known aspect of human life - loneliness. (Loneliness Matters: A Theoretical and Empirical Review of Consequences and Mechanisms, 2010)

Loneliness and Morality

To understand relationship between loneliness and morality, explanation of the term loneliness in this context is needed to proceed further investigations. Loneliness, suggests a feeling of sadness caused by lack of companions. (Loneliness, Lexico, 2019) It is not to be confused with being alone. Studies suggest, that those who are alone can be enjoying themselves and on the contrary hate the company of their friends. (Country roads, take me home… to my friends: How intelligence, population density, and friendship affect modern happiness, 2016)

Humans are social beings and feeling of loneliness makes us pay attention to our social needs. (How Loneliness Begets Loneliness, 2017). Social parts of human brain developed millions of years ago sustained their function to this very day and it is that very brain which makes us feel the responsibility for our fellows. Loneliness is the very reason for why we have intuition "that we must not behave in an antisocial manner; that we should help and support our fellow members of society and act, not for ourselves alone, but for family, friends and the whole community"(Spectator.co.uk, Matthew Parris). Our body cares about social needs because millions of years ago it was a great indicator of how likely we as individuals were to survive. (Loneliness Matters: A Theoretical and Empirical Review of Consequences and Mechanisms, 2010) While being marginalised means danger to us, to increase our chances of survival, our body came up with social pain. (Loneliness. Human nature and the need for Social Connection, 2008) It is exactly this social pain that becomes an inner motivator for morality, because we don't want to be marginalised regardless of religion we inhibit.

Non-human species and Morality

Humans are not the only social species though. Some people may argue, that morality is unique trait to humans. However studies show otherwise. Morality at its core is based on two pillars. Those being reciprocity and empathy. (Bottom-up morality: The basis of human morality in our primate nature, 2018) In his TEDx Conference talk, Frans de Waal a doctor who researches non-human primate interaction confirmed, that Chimpanzee and Bonobo primates have a sense of reciprocity and empathy and they co-work towards common goal for the sake of community. Such behaviour is shown after fight, when monkeys reconcile with each other via embracement or copulation. Furthermore, these animals have a sense of inequality. In an experiment, chimpanzee given cucumber as a reward for the same task as the other chimpanzee who would get rewarded with grapes would conclude in chimpanzee rewarded with cucumber enraged as for it longs for equal reward to its mate. Without morality, this behaviour would make no sense. Why would a primate reconcile with the other party after fight, if it feels no remorse for the damage done on the relationship? Why would chimpanzee get angry for getting different reward, if it would have no sense for fairness? As to why this behaviour makes such difference in this essay is, that while morality can be found in various species, religion can be found only in one - humans. (Chimanzees: Spiritual But Not Religious - The Atlantic, 2016)

Religion and Morality

Religion certainly does provide a certain framework for morality. A study by Harvard University professor Robert Putnam found that religious people were more charitable than their irreligious counterparts. The study revealed that forty percent of worship service attending Americans volunteered regularly to help the poor and elderly as opposed to 15% of Americans who never attend services. (Putnam, 2019) It at the same time allows for space to twist morality, while "most people confuse ethics with behaving in accordance with social conventions, religious beliefs, and the law" (Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2019) The problems that could arise from seeing ethics as religion would be religious practices like "torturing unbelievers or burning them alive" potentially being labeled "ethical" and the lack of a common religious baseline across humanity because religions provide different theological definitions for the idea of sin. (Foundation for Critical Thinking, 2019) To avoid such misconceptions, United Nations introduced UN Declaration of Human Rights. A document in which "transcultural" and "trans-religious" ethical principles and concepts — such as slavery, genocide, torture, sexism, racism, murder, assault, fraud, deceit, and intimidation—which require no reliance on religion (or social convention) for us to understand they are "ethically wrong" are laid out. (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 2019)

Conclusion

Religion and Morality are two separate things. While religion provides a framework for the morality, morality is based on concepts that can exist without a thought of religion. Therefore calling the man who established a binding relationship between morality and religion inflexible of thought, is indeed not inapt. Morality can be found in our biological makeup and is motivated by social pain we experience in form of loneliness. It is also not only exquisite to humans, but also other primates and species of animals. Religion can sometimes feel as a basis of morality, but it can be a centre of maelstrom in which morals are perverted. The significance of this essay may be highlighted in the area of elevating the critical thinking of believers and non-believers towards a thin common ground called morality in which we all can consort.

Works Cited

Day, F.R., Ong, K.K. & Perry, J.R.B. Elucidating the genetic basis of social interaction and isolation. Nat Commun 9, 2457 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04930-1

Hawkley, Louise C, and John T Cacioppo. “Loneliness matters: a theoretical and empirical review of consequences and mechanisms.” Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine vol. 40,2 (2010): 218-27. doi:10.1007/s12160-010-9210-8

Darwin, Charles. “Moral Nature.” Darwin Correspondence Project, 23 June 2015, www.darwinproject.ac.uk/learning/universities/darwin-and-human-nature/moral-nature.

Khazan, Olga. “How Loneliness Makes You Worse at Social Interaction.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 7 Apr. 2017, www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/04/how-loneliness-begets-loneliness/521841/.

Li, Norman P., and Satoshi Kanazawa. “Country Roads, Take Me Home... to My Friends: How Intelligence, Population Density, and Friendship Affect Modern Happiness.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 4 Feb. 2016, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjop.12181.

Oxford Dictionary, Lexico. “Loneliness: Definition of Loneliness by Lexico.” Lexico Dictionaries | English, Lexico Dictionaries, 2019, www.lexico.com/en/definition/loneliness.

Parris, Matthew. “Why It's Obvious That Morality Precedes Religion.” The Spectator, 2017, www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-it-s-obvious-that-morality-precedes-religion.

Stiffler, Lisa. “Understanding Orca Culture.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Aug. 2011, www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/understanding-orca-culture-12494696/.

Wilson, Edward O. “The Biological Basis of Morality.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 30 Nov. 2015, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1998/04/the-biological-basis-of-morality/377087/.

Frans de Waal & Stephen A. Sherblom (2018) Bottom-up morality: The basis of human morality in our primate nature, Journal of Moral Education, 47:2, 248-258, DOI: 10.1080/03057240.2018.1440701

Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. Black Swan, 2016.

King, Barbara J. “Chimpanzees: Spiritual But Not Religious?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 5 Apr. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/03/chimpanzee-spirituality/475731/.

“Morality without Religion | Frans De Waal | TEDxPeachtree.” Performance by Frans de Waal, Morality without Religion | Frans De Waal | TEDxPeachtree, 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=le-74R9C6Bc.

Olson, Laura R., et al. “Religion and American Public Life: A Discussion of Robert Putnam and David Campbell's ‘Saving Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.’” Perspectives on Politics, vol. 10, no. 1, 2012, pp. 103–117., www.jstor.org/stable/23327066. Accessed 13 2020.Robe

Elder, Linda. “Ethical Reasoning Essential to Education.” Ethical Reasoning Essential to Education, 2006, www.criticalthinking.org/pages/ethical-reasoning-essential-to-education/1036.

UN General Assembly. "Universal Declaration of Human Rights." United Nations, 217 (III) A, 1948, Paris, art. 1, http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/. 2019.

[deepbrainfarts]

Všetci sme iní a rovnakí

Mnohí z nás si neuvedomujú aktuálnu sociálnu situáciu Slovenska ktorá ho sužuje s obojkom diskriminácie. Často odvraciame zrak od vecí, ktoré sa nás netýkajú. Máme tendenciu apatie k témam akými sú napríklad národnostné menšiny a marginalizované skupiny ľudí, pokiaľ sa nás tieto témy priamo nedotýkajú. Jedna z tém ktorá sa aktuálne na našom území rozoberá, je diverzita, multikulturalizmus a jeho vplyv na našu kultúru. Otázkou však je, či je Slovensko pripravené na príliv multikultúrneho vplyvu západných krajín a prisťahovalcov. ked' stále aj po mnohých rokoch snahy o integrovanie skupinovej menšiny ktorá Slovensko obýva už niekoľko storočí - Rómov, zlyháva a diskriminácia sa nachádza v školských laviciach ako aj na trhu práce. Rómovia prišli na územie Európy zo vzdialeného kontinentu už pred 1500 rokmi (TASR). Aj napriek tomu že na adaptáciu Rómov na spoločnosť a ich integrovanie prešiel značný čas, veľa sa na sociálnom statuse ľudí s tmavšou pokožkou na území Slovenska nezmenilo, a diskriminácia pretrváva v rôznych formách. 

Diskriminácia začína už v školskom veku. Rómovia pociťujú svoju inakosť od svojich spolužiakov už v školských laviciach. Kamila nespomína na školské časy s úsmevom na tvári  „Keď sme v škole písali písomku, neraz sa mi smiali,“ spomína si. Kamila o sebe začala pochybovať. Jedného dňa prišla domov a predávkovala sa liekmi. Nepríjemná skúsenosť v nej ostala a dodnes má strach, že by sa mohla prihodiť opäť.” (Kamila Mitrášová, Príbehmi k poznaniu Úspešní Rómovia) Táto forma šikanovania sa neskôr odrazí na psychickom stave človeka, ako to bohužiaľ bolo aj v prípade Kamilky. Prečo však táto šikana vôbec vzniká, aj napriek tomu, že sme mali dostatok času si na našich Rómov zvyknúť a integrovať ich do našej komunity?

Stereotypy živia nenávisť voči skupine. A práve táto nenávisť živená stereotypmi je jedným z dôvodov prečo sú Rómovia na Slovensku stále diskriminovaní. Jeden zo stereotypov nám uviedla Petra zo šiesteho ročníka ZŠ Juraja Fándlyho v Seredi, ktorá popisuje rómov nasledovne: “Väčšina nepracuje, žijú z našich peňazí.” A pri opýtaní sa aké prídavné mená si Petra spája so slovom Róm, Petra odpovedá: “RÓM - klamstvo alebo krádež” (ZŠ Sered' - Mapovanie na školách) Tieto výroky však nemali žiadne logické opodstatnenie založené na skúsenosti z Petrinej strany. Jedná sa o jednoduché stereotypy ktoré počúvame aj my každodenne a tie sú hlboko zakorené v našich hlavách. Ved' predsa Cigán cigáni, no nie? Pokiaľ však tieto stereotypy budeme upevňovať a súdiť celú skupinu ľudí podľa skutkov menšiny zo skupiny, nešťastné prípady diskriminácie, ako bol ten Kamilkin sa budú len stupňovať. Ako teda môžeme zabrániť šíreniu negatívnych stereotypov?

Jedna z vecí akými môžeme prispieť boju proti predsudkom a lámaniu sociálnych bariér je aj šírenie pozitívnych správ o marginalizovaných skupinách a nepoddávanie sa trendu obviňovania týchto skupín. Dobrým príkladom pozitívneho katalyzátoru pre zmenu sú aj šiestaci zo školy v Lučenci, ktorí reagovali na otázku “Máte rómov na škole?” takto: “Áno, ale nevnímame to nijako tak. Veľa ľudí ich odsudzuje za to, že sú to Rómovia, ale sú to oveľa srdečnejší ľudia ako niektorí bieli. Veľakrát.” (Eduma, ZŠ Lučenec - Mapovanie na školách) Šírením takýchto pozitívnych správ, vedome alebo nevedome búrame predsudky ktoré máme hlboko v hlavách zakorené.

Rómovia, ako marginalizované etnikum obývajú Slovenskú pôdu už dostatočne dlho, aby nastala zmena v ich integrácii do spoločnosti a akceptovania diverzity, akú na Slovensku máme. Avšak ak stále budeme pokračovať v živení negatívnych stereotypov, taktáto zmena nikdy nenastane. Preto je veľmi dôležité nemlčať ak počujeme nenávistné výroky a prispieť do konverzácie aj s pozitívnym príkladom. Ak tak budeme robiť, pevne verím, že sa ďalšie rómske dieťa nebude musieť brodiť tmavými uličkami tak, ako Kamilka.

Bibliografia

Od emócii k poznaniu, n.o. - EDUMA, “Kamila Mitrášová (16)”, Príbehmi k poznaniu Úspešní Rómovia, October 2016, Accessed 27 September 2018. Kamilka, ako jedna z úspešných rómov spomenutých v ebooku spomína na časy v triede kedy sa k nej spolužiaci správali nepriaznivo. Nadávali jej a cítila sa ponížená. Všetko kvôli farbe pleti a pôvodu. Tento príbeh chcem použiť v práci na poukázanie na fakt, že rómovia, ako marginalizovaná skupina sú diskriminovaní svojimi rovesníkmi v sociálnom prostredí. 

TASR. “Vedci spresnili, odkiaľ prišli Rómovia” SME, https://romovia.sme.sk/c/6630025/vedci-spresnili-odkial-prisli-romovia.html. Accessed 27 September 2018. Článok zo zdroja SME rozoberá základné informácie o rómoch, vrátane pôvodu Rómov ako tak aj rôzne názvy tejto etnickej skupiny podľa ktorých boli Rómovia pomenovaní po celom svete na základe dômyslov ľudí. Informácie sú vhodné na úvod práce pri vysvetľovaní kto rómovia sú, ako etnická skupina a odkiaľ pochádzajú.

Od emócii k poznaniu, n.o. - EDUMA, “ZŠ Sereď - Mapovanie na školách”, 2018. Microsoft Word file. Word dokument od neziskovej organizácie EDUMA  obsahuje údaje z mapovania škôl za účelom zistiť názory mladých ľudí na marginalizované skupiny. Toto mapovanie sa viedlo po celom slovensku, no tento určitý dokument zobrazuje názory mladých ľudí zo základnej školy v meste Sereď. V dokumente žiačka 6. Ročníka popisuje slovo róm s negatívnou konotáciou a priraďuje mi tmavú farbu ako podľa zadania bolo potrebné. Ďalej žiačka vysvetľuje, prečo je pre ňu slovo Róm negatívne a poukazuje na jej zážitky s rómami. Táto výpoveď žiačky je pre prácu o rómoch ako o marginalizovanej skupine hodnotná, pretože poukazuje na reálne názory mladých ľudí na túto skupinu. Pri rozoberaní negatívnych domienok na skupinu, sa tieto názory dajú použiť ako príklad.

Od emócii k poznaniu, n.o. - EDUMA, “ZŠ Lučenec - Mapovanie na školách”, 2018. Microsoft Word file. Word dokument od neziskovej organizácie EDUMA obsahuje údaje z mapovania škôl za účelom zistiť názory mladých ľudí na marginalizované skupiny. Toto mapovanie sa viedlo po celom slovensku, no tento určitý dokument zobrazuje názory mladých ľudí zo základnej školy v meste Lučenec. V dokumente žiaci 8. Ročníka popisujú slovo róm s pozitívnou konotáciou. Žiaci vysvetľujú, že byť Róm nemusí znamenať byť zlý, niekedy je to práve naopak. Táto výpoveď žiakov je pre prácu o rómoch ako o marginalizovanej skupine hodnotná, pretože poukazuje na reálne názory mladých ľudí na túto skupinu. Pri rozoberaní pozitívnych domienok na skupinu, sa tieto názory dajú použiť ako príklad.

[deepbrainfarts]

Are you asking yourself, am I a dick?

Am I a dick?

I am a dick

There have been few events in my LIFE that changed it drastically. Moving from a poor family to a bigger city, starting dorm life at high school for “future leaders of Central Europe”, talking on TV about discrimination, visiting Japan thanks to a controversial crowdfunding campaign and talking in United Nations plenary about inclusion and education system in Slovakia as a representative.

These events shaped my whole being into a total asshole.

You ask me why?

Because I started viewing the world as a small place.

Because suddenly, when I talked, people started feeling inferior to me.

Because when I was seen on a campaign on facebook, opinions were coming and I had to develop a defense mechanism.

Because of all of these, so-called “achievements”, people who never knew I existed, started to notice me and entered my life.

And because of these people, I’ve got hurt many times, and developed a gangsta bitch complex and over-the-top confidence.

I hate this. I used to be so goddamn humble, I wouldn’t share almost anything in my life and I would keep low and down to earth. I would never boast about anything I did to anyone, because I well understood, how it feels to be uneducated, poor and left out. I was all those things.

You see, as a Romani (gypsy) from Slovakia, you get to live through hell. Thorns and spikes on your way. If you would scale the “starting point in life”, Romani kids would get -10 starting point the moment they are born.

Why you ask me? Well, because that’s how the world works, bitch. You get hated because of your skin color because that color indicates, you are a Roma, that indicates, that you are potentially a threat because you might steal, you might be violent, you might be dirty or smelly or you might be all those things altogether.

Now, you see. I know how it feels to be uneducated because I didn’t know how to speak and write Slovak properly. When we would have writing test, my paper would be all red from the errors in my written language and the teacher would read all those errors out loud, so classmates could notice how dumb I am.

I know how it feels to be poor because I would wear the same clothes for a couple of days and never could afford to go and buy my lunch at the cafeteria or local grocery shop. And I would never understand the people that talked about holiday trips with their parents to Italy or Spain because we never traveled.

I know how it feels to be left out when people talk in a group and you come and suddenly, everybody is quiet. When you hear the topic and you don’t have anything to say, because you never experienced London metro or you never saw the local Zoo.

I know how it feels. Yet I managed to become a complete dick.

And you wanna know how it feels to be a dick?

From the very beginning, it feels awesome.

You feel powerful, no one and nothing can put you down. You feel that you are surrounded with your folks and that’s everything you need and everybody else is just your regular “whatever” person you don’t even care to know the name of. But of course, you picked up the social skills, so you remember the names because you want people to like you. You learned that shit from the book from the bookstore and you read it because you like when people stick to you.

It feels like you don’t need to, instead, you want to prove yourself to the others. When meeting new people, you are pulling out the heavy weapons and change your language to the fancy and cool, like “I am working with the topic of marginalized groups and I talk with people to tear down the social barriers” and similar shit. You start talking about your great trips to Tokyo or NYC and before you know it, you are a complete dick in front of other people.

But it doesn’t end there. No. You even make the other person feel like their existence is meaningless. You make them notice their faults because you point at those. Things like “you know, you don’t say it like that, mind your grammar, the right thing to say is..” or “Oh gosh, you are so quiet, say something” or “you really don’t know this song? Man, you miss out on so much..”

How do you feel? Yeah... no words needed.

So, what now that you’ve noticed you are a dick?

I’ve noticed there is this thing where people create acronyms to make it easier for other people to pick up habits or techniques, so I will create one as well.

And I will name it the “DICK” technique, because why not.

Am I a

Dominate

Do I try to dominate the situation? To stick out of the crowd and shine way too brilliant? Am I trying to make people notice, how educated, how smart and how amazing I am?

Inferior

Am I making people feel, like they’ve accomplished nothing in their life compared to me? Do I get those quiet faces that stare at me and then look down and have close to nothing to say back to that? Do I get “oh, I need to go back home, because my mom called me” thing? Are people taking a distance from you or avoiding you?

Criticize

Did I just point to the fault in the other person I am talking to? Am I being a grammar nazi? Am I being a fashion police?

Kick

Did I metaphorically kick to the other person that’s feeling low, to feel even worse?

If you answered yes, to any of those, you are a dick and you should re-think what are you doing and get feedback from other people as soon as possible.

All the achievements in your life are there for you, nobody cares what you did in US or in Denmark or wherever. Keep it low and down to earth. Don’t talk way too much unless people ask you about things specifically.

Nobody is perfect and nobody will be. If you feel you are better than someone else, please, give yourself a look in a mirror and say that again. If you can say that even in the mirror, then give yourself a slap, because bitch, you’ve got some complex going on in your mind.

If you start noticing faults in other people, why start do you start there? Why don’t you start with yourself?

And lastly: If you feel good right now, it doesn’t mean everybody feels that way. Develop some empathy and feel the atmosphere. If you start boasting about your awesome life when people feel sad, again, give yourself a slap. If you cannot read the atmosphere, then it means you lack empathy and you should check if you are not a sociopath. I would need to write another blog on that topic though.

In the end, I would like to share some quotes from Lao Tzu.

When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.

He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty