Values the world can live with...

Many of us have been worrying a lot about the threats to the Western world. I think we need to articulate some of the positive elements of this mode of thinking and think about how to get our own youth -and older people to understand how precious these beliefs and modes of thinking are.

In truth many of these ideas are rooted in the Judeao -Christian ethic and I believe that religion has played and will play a vital role in the development of the western world. There are also many people without particular religious beliefs in our societies, so after remarking upon this, I will move on to the aspects I believe we can find broad consensus on. 

I think many of the ideas articulated herein are also relevant to those whose belief systems are drawn from Asian religions. E.g. Hinduism, Buddhism, the Tao etc. 

1. Personal Autonomy: Every one of us has the right to find our own way in life and must. This is the only way to properly develop the talents and full human potential each of us has. This is why the people from other cultures who come to the West blossom in ways those they never would have in their lands of birth –provided they embrace this philosophy. We are hence willing to tolerate a high level of diversity in the way people live and draw the line only at harm to others or society 

2. Freedom of thought, expression and debate: There is vast, messy, fermenting, freedom that produces the fine wine of human knowledge. Our entire scientific, artistic, and social advance is because we a free to think, express, communicate and explore nay and all ideas. You get a lot of garbage, I know –but garbage is the product of the creation of something good. Think of the eggshells in the rubbish that tell us of the existence of a succulent omelet somewhere (I make very good omelets). We get daytime TV, but we also get integrated circuits and MRI devices –they both are part of this. Almost every advance in the human condition comes form this Western mode of thinking –including countries like Japan and Israel that have embraced this mode of thought. All the other societies together have produced less than 1% of scientific and technical advance in the last 200 years

3. Protection of the Vulnerable: We protect people form household abuse and economic exploitation. We also understand that in a culture of great opportunity and mobility, some will not succeed in acquiring their basic needs, or are born with challenges that make it hard to function within society. We do our best to share what which we have with those people and invest great effort into finding cures for physical, mental and social maladies. Although societies do it differently -e.g. government in the EU, more private charity in the USA. We are also aware of the danger of creating a class people dependent on help. 


4. Education: The right of every child and adult to an excellent education that will provide them with the framework to live with the previous three premises, and the tolls to utilize those freedoms to the best of their ability. This cannot be compromised by our desire to make others in our societies comfortable or to make children feel good about them.

5. The Rule of Law: all of the above only works of there is one law for al land it is enforced fairly and without favor. Only when there are clear expectations of consistent behavior on the part of individuals, businesses and governments can prosperity and political stability occur 

6. Democracy: One person one vote, majority rules minorities rights are inviolate – ‘nuff said 


7. Economic Opportunity: Our societies are organized –or should be - to enable good ideas to get to market, wealth to be created and bad ideas and inefficient businesses to die on their own. Wealth is created by what works and this benefits everyone –provided we have our safety nest in place to catch those who will be temporarily the losers In this process

8. Strong Defense: Our way of life and successes created great jealousy and envy in those who want its fruits but refuse to dare to pay for them with aforementioned freedoms. Hence we always will need a strong apparatus to defend ourselves 

A very intelligent friend of mine once asked me this question:Have you ever noticed that the truly classic works of music, film, poetry, literature and theatre - are mostly actually quite sad? They speak of some sorrow like about broken love, death, and about problems that cannot be solved (war, hunger, inequality, etc.)The greatest works of the most creative minds of the world are mostly about pain and suffering and at best, they evoke bittersweet feelings. Normally, the great works put me to tears. The more joyous creative offerings we consume are considered by most critics as less deep and meaningful. Why do you think that it is the case that these artists all seem to belong to the “Cult of suffering”?A possible response - see what you all think: The suffering issue is one that hundreds of essays are written about , so, OK –I am bringing “Coals to Newcastle” but I”ll take a stab at it –why not? In every language and culture the truly gifted writers and poets tend to speak about pain, loss and suffering a great deal.I think there may be four general reasons for this:I. Great writing comes from being deeply moved. We dwell on pain and loss much more, and we feel it much more deeply than happiness. I don't remember almost any of my good presentations, but the one that bombed; it still hurts years later.Human beings -perhaps foolishly- believe that they are entitled to be happy so they don't write poetry and sing songs about"Yahoo! I had breakfast today", "Yippee! I still have a job" "Wunderbar! -my wife is till here!" We expect those things. We don't expect the bad and sad things and they therefore move us far deeper and with far greater emotion than the good we accustom ourselves to, so we make great poetry, and sing sad but beautiful songs when we are hungry, poor or our wife leaves us.The only general exception to this rule, is falling in love, which we do feel deeply, which is why so much poetry and music that are somewhat upbeat positive, tend to be talking about love. Of course - from a literary standpoint, love earlier typically leads to more pain later, so I guess it all works out in the end…II. Joy is its own reward; it doesn’t need to be transformed. To make something purposeful and meaningful out of suffering it needs to be made into art and that somehow helps. Isn't that how most folk music starts? The shepherd has his sheep eaten by the wolves or his love leaves him to go live in the village with the rich, fat baker, so he sits at his campfire, takes out his flute and makes up a mournful song that somehow makes him feel better.III. Great artists see life from very different perspectives than do most of us, hence they are lonely. Also, the same genetic gifts that confer genius almost always seem to confer a certain depression and madness, even.You are right -the happy tra-la-la poetry, literature and songs are almost always produced by second rate artists .This question of the “Cult of suffering” is also about the ambitions and aspirations of the artists themselves: A good artist is never satisfied with herself -she is always pushing to greater heights. If you can never get to where you want to go and are trying so hard, this is a cause of sadness, also IV. The most obvious fact about us is our mortality. If we ever stop to think we realize how random and cruel life can be. We see that life is such a fragile thread, such a tender flower. Every moment we age and move towards mortality, we just try to block out . Life is a gift that needs so much constant care....Anyone who thinks about life -like serious artists do is forced to wrestle with mortality and the randomness of life. I think this may be part of the reason Tolstoy became much more religious towards the end of his life. Most artists express this feeling and need though "artistic suffering".

A very intelligent friend of mine once asked me this question:

Have you ever noticed that the truly classic works of music, film, poetry, literature and theatre - are mostly actually quite sad? They speak of some sorrow like about broken love, death, and about problems that cannot be solved (war, hunger, inequality, etc.)

The greatest works of the most creative minds of the world are mostly about pain and suffering and at  best, they evoke bittersweet feelings. Normally, the great works put me to tears. 
The more joyous creative offerings we consume are considered by most critics as less deep and meaningful. Why do you think that it is the case that these artists all seem to belong to the “Cult of suffering”?

A possible response - see what you all think: 

The suffering issue is one that hundreds of essays are written about , so, OK –I am bringing “Coals to Newcastle”  but I”ll take a stab at it –why not? 

In every language and culture the truly gifted writers and poets tend to speak about pain, loss and suffering a great deal.

I think there may be four general reasons for this:

I. Great writing comes from being deeply moved. We dwell on pain and loss much more, and we feel it much more deeply than happiness. I don't remember almost any of my good presentations, but the one that bombed; it still hurts years later.

Human beings -perhaps foolishly- believe that they are entitled to be happy so they don't write poetry and sing songs about
"Yahoo! I had breakfast today", 
"Yippee! I still have a job" 
"Wunderbar! -my wife is till here!" 

We expect those things. We don't expect the bad and sad things and they therefore move us far deeper and with far greater emotion than the good we accustom ourselves to, so we make great poetry, and sing sad but beautiful songs when we are hungry, poor or our wife leaves us.

The only general exception to this rule, is falling in love, which we do feel deeply, which is why so much poetry and music that are somewhat upbeat positive, tend to be talking about love. Of course - from a literary standpoint, love earlier typically leads to more pain later, so I guess it all works out in the end…

II. Joy is its own reward; it doesn’t need to be transformed.

 

To make something purposeful and meaningful out of suffering it needs to be made into art and that somehow helps. 

Isn't that how most folk music starts? The shepherd has his sheep eaten by the wolves or his love leaves him to go live in the village with the rich, fat baker, so he sits at his campfire, takes out his flute and makes up a mournful song that somehow makes him feel better.

III. Great artists see life from very different perspectives than do most of us, hence they are lonely. Also, the same genetic gifts that confer genius almost always seem to confer a certain depression and madness, even.

You are right -the happy tra-la-la poetry, literature and songs are almost always produced by second rate artists .

This question of the “Cult of suffering” is also about the ambitions and aspirations  of the artists themselves: A good artist is never satisfied with herself -she is always pushing to greater heights. If you can never get to where you want to go and are trying so hard, this is a cause of sadness, also 

IV. The most obvious fact about us is our mortality. If we ever stop to think we realize how random and cruel life can be. We see that life is such a fragile thread, such a tender flower. Every moment we age and move towards mortality, we just try to block out . Life is a gift that needs so much constant care....

Anyone who thinks about life -like serious artists do is forced to wrestle with mortality and the randomness of life. I think this may be part of the reason Tolstoy became much more religious towards the end of his life. Most artists express this feeling and need though "artistic suffering".