I've been looking through Pieris Zarmas' book 'Ethics' this morning. I remember when I got the book and he signed it for me. I am going to give it a good read and do a bit of critical thinking about it because he brings up something that I believe is missing from the discussion of the condition of the world we live in and in the future. That is 'Ethics'.
Ethics goes beyond or goes deeper than religion, philosophy, or certainly politics. It asks the question..."What are we really doing to ourselves?"
He based his book on his concerns around his home of Cyprus. Pieris sang in Bonn full time as a baritone from 1965 through 2002. He studied in Cyprus as well as London and at the Universität Bonn where he earned a Doctorate.
My superficial take on this book so far is that it is "Conservative" in attitude, but if put into today's American context it would be deemed "Liberal" in many ways. This reenforces my opinion that what people consider "Conservative" or "Liberal" today in American society is really focusing on the wrong issues. These have become words to divide and condemn us. At a primary level America, and the world, would do well to revisit the ethics where humans can create a society worth living in...usually known as "Civilization".
It seems that people get caught up in the semantics of how to live and are not focusing on the actual 'thing' that we all want. For instance, what is more important, the literal translation of the words of the Bible or the meaning behind them? What is science actually teaching us? Is it more important to believe in the language used or to understand what it means to act on the concepts they deliver us. No matter which story you read, the story isn't about the story, it is about the lesson we learn from it. It isn't a definition it is a feeling that we should seek. The question is "Is that in line with what I feel deep down is right?"
The first topic in this book is "Love". Love as an issue in ethics is something I hadn't considered before which makes sense because I haven't really thought about the topic of Ethics much in my life. But now I wonder..."Where does love come from?" "What is the source of love?"
My spontaneous response to those questions is that love originates in the feelings that a mother has for her child or children. The mother-child relationship is undeniable throughout history, science, and nature.
The birth of a newborn child is the birthplace of love. It is what binds every human together. The unconditional love of a mother to her child and from her child to its mother is a bond that can never be broken, regardless of what happens in life. This is not to say that those who are adopted don't have this in their lives, they do, but I'm talking about the origin of love altogether. Our empathy for one another in life is due to our shared love of our mothers.
Both male and females are born of a mother and a father. The first education we receive in life is that our need for our mother and father physically is met by the need for the mother and father to nurture their newborn and that is done from the life sustaining spring of love. I have been told that having a child of your own is a life altering experience. I believe it is true. It teaches you the true meaning of love and we have it in us from the beginning because love is not only a spiritual need, it is a visceral need as well. Love is the prime motivator of humans and when we lose sight of that in our lives then our lives deteriorate.
This cycle of life from birth to giving birth is really the very purpose of life itself. It is love that is the essence of life on earth, even when 'dumb' animals don't even know it is a thing. They still do it.
So when I think about the condition of the world and society I believe that one of the pillars of intelligent life on earth is the family. The family is, or should be, a love machine. The family is society down to its lowest common denominator. Without strong families a society will suffer.
The family is the very basis for security and well being in society. No matter where you look, broken families cause broken people. By broken, I don't necessarily mean that only the relationship of the mother and father has been broken, but also that the family is broken, or disfunctional, in other ways as well. This isn't 'ALWAYS' the case, and just because someone may be from a broken family doesn't mean they aren't in a good place mentally, but in most cases it would be hard to deny that the home is where people are made.
I was married twice. We had no children. It just wasn't something that was possible for whatever reason and probably in my case it was good that this was how it turned out. It wasn't something I wanted either. My mother always told me, "When you get older you are going to want to have a family and children of your own." I remember thinking when she said that, "No I'm not!" But why?
Well, in many ways I come from a "Broken Home". No, my parents stayed married till death parted them. However, while they were alive it seemed as if the arguing would never stop. I thought, if this is marriage, I want nothing of it. I'm damaged and if these are my parents then why should I pass this DNA down another generation just to be miserable at home all of the time?
Being a musician I was also never 100% confident that I could support a family. When I look back on it I do see that having a family forces you to make good decisions in life, because it isn't just your life at stake, there are also the lives of those who depend on you for shelter, food, and love.
I was looking at a Facebook photo of a girl I dated back while I was in school. She married 'the guy after me' and they had 4 sons. Now each of them are married and have children, so they have 14 people in that young family already, and it is still early yet. They appear to be very close knit and have at the center of their lives their religion and they seem to know who they are in just about every way. That is a lot of love. That is a lot of caring for each other. That is a lot of support. I can also be a lot of heartache, but in their case it appears that they don't have much of that.
There are so many people who have been damaged by their parents, and vice versa. Love that is broken can lead to great psychological issues and most of it is caused subliminally. When love turns into cruelty it becomes sour and it feels like it can cut you like a knife. Wounds like these aren't easily healed. When the world is dominated by so many broken families then there is no question that the stability of civilization is threatened.
To be continued...