In Your Shoes

With others or against others, but among others...

Ethics main interest has to do with: how to live a good human life ... a good life among humans. We're unique, irrepetible, very different from the rest, with different cultures, languages, likes, customs, etc. but....

WE ARE ALL HUMAN BEINGS!

Friendship and respect are the most beautiful feeling among people.

Even the worst person (is still a human being) can learn to transform himself into a better person, or behave in a different way (better for all of us - humans).

If we sow love and caring, we're going to get love in return. Bad people lack of caring and love. If it's true that we learn by experinece and imitation, then bad people need to experience love before they can love somebody else. Love is paramount in any relation (at least some regard).

WE NEED TO BE TREATED AS HUMAN BEINGS!
(and treat the rest as well)

To be able to treat others as human beings, we need to see from their point of view, we need to be in their shoes, we need to understand them deeply... And from my viewpoint, there is no better way to know the others as getting to know you very well. In that ... we're all humans! To conclude, I think we are again refering to: don't do others what you don't like to be done to you.

Todos los humanos estamos hechos de la sustancia con la que se trenzan los suelos.

Shakespeare

The duty in my life

(Well this chapter was a bit too long for me. In fact I think Savater is retelling some of his previous topics. I will try to avoid repetition by focusing on what I found more interesting and 'new')

The Three Sillies and some more...
For the first silie everything it's ok. The second one wants everything (be in mass and ring the bell at the same time; want to be the winner and the looser at the same time). The third one is the one who doesn't know anything so he is for or against the situations without (personal) reasons.The fourth silly knows what s/he wants but without the necessary strenght. Last but not least, the one who knows what s/he wants fiercely but somehow always misslead the goal. To avoid idiocity: Learn as much as you can!

La imbecilidad acecha y no perdona!
Unlukily, this is true, there are many sillies around...

Just the opposite of being sillie: Having a conscience
1- Desire to live humanly well.
2- Do what we really want to do.
3- Try to do what is good, and like what is good.
4- Be responsable for our facts = Bare in mind that each action will affect the self.


Summing up, from my point of view this has to do with live as well as you can, don't bother your pairs, and do it well!

And avoid using sticks, or excuses to live...

TIME FOR BARDIC TRADITION

I finished this chapter on Savater's book, but I didn't find new things, at least not many (you always learn something anyway). But it rang me some bells, that is why I want to share with you these stories and quotes...

Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But accumulate for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6, 19-21

He then told them a parable: “The land of a certain rich man produced an abundant crop, so he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to myself, “You have plenty of goods stored up for many years; relax, eat, drink, celebrate!”’ will be demanded back from But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ So it is with the one who stores up riches for himself, but is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12, 16-21

VIAJE AL CAMPO

Una vez, un padre de familia bastante acaudalado llevo a su hijo a un viaje con el firme proposito de que su hijo viera como vivian y cuan pobre era la gente del campo. Estuvieron por el espacio de un dia y una noche completa en la granja de una familia muy humilde. Al concluir el viaje y de regreso a casa el padre le pregunta a su hijo:

- ¿Qué te pareció el viaje?
- ¡Muy bonito papá!
- ¿Viste cuan pobre puede ser la gente?
- Si
- ¿Y que aprendiste?
- Vi que nosotros tenemos una piscina que llega de pared a pared a la mitad del jardín, en cambio ellos tienen un riachuelo que no tiene fin. Nosotros tenemos unas lámparas importadas en el patio, ellos tienen estrellas. Nuestro patio llega hasta la pared del vecino, el de ellos termina en el horizonte. Ellos tienen tiempo para conversar y estar en familia. Tú y mamá tienen que trabajar todo el tiempo y casi nunca los veo.

Al terminar el relato, el padre se quedo mudo y el hijo agregó:

- ¡Gracias papá por enseñarme lo ricos que podemos llegar a ser!

WHAT DO I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE?

I think this is a big question and the answer, in my case, is changing very often. I don't like to plan things in long term, of course I have some goals and dreams I want to achieve (perhaps in long term). But sometimes I resign or postpone some dreams for later on, or I simply change my mind on them and replace them with some new dreams.

We are free to dream, and we are free to reach or not each dream, it just depends on us. But, what I think it is also very important is the value we put on each of them. I mean I should make a balance with priorities, necesities and whishes... That is why I should carefully know what is what I want, and reflect on that. And then the answer comes to my mind and seems so simple and easy: LIVE A GOOD LIFE.

But, in fact it's not so easy. Some people seem to be dead on life, they have no goals, no aims, no hope, no nothing... They are dead, because they think that anyway they are going to die... Let me tell you something nobody can scape from that (not yet - and not taking into account religion) but at least we can make our lives and the lives of the ones around us a little better, pleasant, etc.

"I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens."

"La vida puede no ser la fiesta que esperamos, pero mientras estemos aquí, ¡deberíamos bailar!"

DO WHAT EVER YOU WANT!

Why should I have to do the same adults do?
What do we need to be a good man (or woman)?
How can I determine if a person is good or not?
Why all forbiden things are more apealing than the 'legal' ones?
Is it possible to exist such place as Theleme Abby? I think it's utopian.

If you want to act in an ethical way... do what ever you want, whenever you want...
(but stay there to see what comes next)

"Lo mejor que contiene el mundo se encuentra en la cantidad de mundos que el mundo contiene. Está bien que haya tantas contradicciones. Ahí reside la vida activa" Eduardo Galeano

Automatic Pilot

It's true, the majority of acts in our life are done in automatic pilot. We tend to avoid thinking to much about daily routine (don't you think it's a waste of time use hours to decide if we prefer coffee or tea for breackdast?).
can Motives run the automatic pilot for us. Motives are the reasons why we behave this or that way. As for motives, wemention orders (given by an adult, authority, etc.), customs (because we're used to do something and we repetit, and perhaps all the people around us tend to do the same), and caprices (we do what we want, by impulse). But what I think is important here is the weight each motive has, or the weight we give to them. What is more important for me? To follow an order (in order not to be against the authority), a costume (just because it is comfortable and easy) or a caprice (just because).
But sometimes to observe an order, or to follow a costume is not enough, not even to mention caprices.Sometimes in life, we have to take an important decision, and we want this decision to be correct, but it's not that easy. We allways run the risk of making a mistake.
Taking a decision allways imply to reject other options, and who knows...(there is no automatic pilot in this case) you have to take the risk.
=P No pains, no gains!

FREEDOM WAY

We all want to have the ability to distinguish between what is good and what is bad. Animals have a great advantage over human beings, because they seem already programed to live in certain way - the correct way!

But what is amazing is the fact that we - human beings- are FREE to choose the way we live. To be honest, we are always limited by our own possibilities (cultural, economical, physical, etc.), but what is true is the fact that we can choose among many options. There is always another option, another viewpoint, another side of the situations, it depends on where are we standing (or where we choose to stand) at the very moment.
There are many things I can do, because I'm free, but not everything depends on my will. People's necesities and wills restrict my freedom (and the other way about). Anyway it is important to be consciuos of our freedom, because it is a powerful tool through which we can make a difference in the world... How? for example transmiting our values.
To sum up, we are free to choose the way (the good or the bad one) in which we live. But we have to be careful no to mistake what we choose. We have to learn the "art of living," that is learn to live in a good way.