The context in which this was written is not clear from the text, itself. I'd recently read a section of Darwin's Dangerous Idea that raised the possiblity that since the number of potential universes is a finite (though VAST) number taking place in infinite time, all possible combinations will eventually be played out. This struck me as strange since it means also that this scenerio will also be played again...

10 October 2003

We live in a delusional world. Whereas once our visions were holy or evil, now they are mundane. We feel so safe that now we project our morality & sentiment onto tigers & bears. In time, we'll learn different.


Since all men will get their
shot at being Hitler or Stalin,
the Buddha or Christ
what does it say
about being?


Whereas now I write shit
I will someday be Shakespeare
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It matters not a whit because it's here & now, & then won't be until all this is gone. Does anything ever change, does anything remain? Will you still seem as fresh, or the fruit as sweet? & if it isn't, will I not eat it? Or would other treats be found? Does this change the moral dynamic?

What good is choice when someday this house will burn down again? What good is right & wrong when nothing will stop a future you being bad? When universes cycle through again & again...

All that matters in the end are the direct consequences of those actions. I try to choose right because my conscience demands it. Whereas now I partake of beer & wine purely, there was a time I did it impurely, contrarily to the principles of right & wrong I was raised with. It was not until I'd freed myself from those bonds that I could do the same action, in the same way, but without fault. A deadened conscience? An altered understanding? Future generations will marvel at my daily malice, no doubt, as they develop new, untold, sensibilities that I now don't possess. Perhaps PETA is already an example of this, if their ideas become mainstream...

Can I make a timeless code of ethical behavior?

Can I make one to last even my lifetime? Certainly not on a microlevel, unless my sensiblilities & mind numb & I cease growing. But on a macrolevel we still live with codes that are hundreds or even thousands of years old. For all I know, some may stem from evolutionary processes millions of years ago.

I like, for instance, Hillel's version of the Golden Rule:

"That which is despicable to you, do not do to your fellow, this is the whole Torah, and the rest is commentary, go and learn it."


But my interpretation of it changes over time.