Moral responsibility and joy...

[fajrdrako]

I stole a couple of quotations from kikibug13:

I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
— Robert A. Heinlein

Always remember: Joy is not merely incidental to your spiritual quest. It is vital. - Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

The quote about joy ties in nicely to her excellent drabbles slashing Captain Jack Harkness with Giacomo Casanova over on tw100.

Comments

[kikibug13.livejournal.com]

Aw thank you!!
And I don't think I realised they were connected. The quote is something I do believe - I guess the drabbles just reflected it too. *hugs*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I like Heinlein (though I like some of his books) or even if I really approve of him, but some of his quotes really resonate with my own philosophies - which I formulated before reading Heinlein, but at the time in which he was writing some of them, so these ideas were floating free in the air, in a way they do no longer.

As for the echo of the 'joy' theme: I find it sometimes happens to me that I'll write about something, and then realize it ties into something I read or heard or thought or experienced some time earlier - without ever having consciously noticed any connection. But I see it afterwards, and there it is.

You could do far worse than to follow a theme of joy.

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

I was just reading Sara Paretsky's new book of essays, Writing in an Age of Silence (http://www.amazon.ca/Writing-Age-Silence-Sara-Paretsky/dp/1844671224/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/702-1529331-4086437?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182627699&sr=8-1)
last night. She was talking about the extreme individualism in US society -- so individual, for example, that a Silicon Valley city with million-dollar homes has streets so filled with potholes that they destroy the transmissions of their expensive cars. But it would be against individual rights to pay taxes to fix the roads.

Which gets me to the Heinlein quote. In many ways I agree with it. But I have a problem with the individualistic attitude it expresses when it doesn't recognize that we are equally social beings and have an essential interest in preserving and maintaining that society.

OTOH, I completely agree with Rebbe Nachman's sentiments.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an interesting book! Does OPL have a copy?

The thing about individualism is that every action has its consequences, and though I heartily and in every way approve of extreme individualism, it is to the advantage of the individual to make sure that the society is strong, stable, and user-friendly. So that while we must (to my way of thinking) do our best to be the best individuals we are capable of being, and to think for ourselves while doing so, we also have to do what's best for others - and not to sacrifice our future welfare (singly or as a society) for our present desires.

In other words, it's important to fix the potholes so they don't ruin our expensive cars. Should we happen to have expensive cars. Which I don't think are great things to have anyway, but that's just another angle on the picture.

We are all happier if we spread happiness around us.