THE INNER MORALITY PART 2

Please note that while the article below is self-contained, it does assume some familiarity with the ideas developed in "THE INNER MORALITY" article which is posted right after this one in my folder.

 

 

THE INNER MORALITY - ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS

Just imagine for a moment if someone were to suddenly attack you viciously, without any reason or provocation and to continue doing so day after day. You would never stand for it and you would certainly have the backing of the society in your defence. Yet it is perfectly acceptable for your own mind to treat you this way.

So we can clearly see that there are no standards of behaviour as applied to our relationship with ourselves. We have no reference point with which to guide our inner behaviour towards ourselves, we cannot tell what the limits are, where the boundaries lie because there are no outer laws which deal with the inner realm.

Also not only do we have outer laws that prescribe our conduct in the outer world, but also an inner sense of conscience which guides us in our interactions with other people and lets us know whether the way that we are treating others is morally right or wrong.

But do we have just as strongly developed inner sense which tells us what is right and what is wrong in our interactions with ourselves? Do we ever feel pangs of guilt, stings of shame after we hurt or abuse ourselves? Does our conscience ever punish us for our self-abuse or does it too, just like the outer society, not care about the inner attacks?

Whereas in the outer world we are born into a sophisticated and highly developed philosophical and legal system which has taken millennia to develop and which provides for our rights within the community and maintains law and order in our society , in the inner world we are entirely on our own and have to develop from scratch a defence system against the attacks of the mind.

Whereas in the outer world you can get help from community and the law if you are attacked ( indeed an attack upon you is seen as an attack against the whole orderly working of society and that's why in Criminal Law, it is The People vs The Defendant as a crime against one person is deemed to be a crime against all of the society ), in the inner world you are entirely on your own and it is wholly up to you and you alone to develop and set up your defence systems, to find ways to protect yourself against the mind's attacks and to maintain some sort of order in your inner world.

Also, with the inner world, we can never see how others are treating themselves inwardly and how others deal with inner self-abuse and so consequently, as children, we can never learn by example, by observing our role models, as to how to deal with one's mind.



THE INNER MORALITY - A CONTINUATION

The natural and obvious follow-up to the topic of inner morality is the question as to why indeed does society not consider emotional and mental self-abuse to be as serious an issue as the mistreatment of others.

Is it because the society assumes that it is your responsibility and your responsibility alone to look after and deal with your inner world?

Is it because a person's inner world and his intrapersonal relationship are seen to be exclusively private areas which only concern that person and that person alone and consequently are beyond the jurisdiction of any universal law?

Is it because inner self-abuse is directed against oneself on the mental level and so doesn't really affect other people and therefore arouses no concern or reaction in them and consequently society has no incentive to apply any laws to inner violence?

Is it because the society believes that while any person is a potential threat to other members of society and therefore laws have to be established to protect the public against possible violence or mistreatment that people may inflict upon one another, in the situation of a person's relationship with himself, a person can be expected and trusted to not inflict wanton pain upon himself?

So is society's neglect of inner self-abuse due to its diverging underlying beliefs about interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships?

Another factor to take into consideration is the fact that inner self-abuse does not seem to have the same potency, the same "punch" to it as does physical abuse of oneself or others. Mental self-abuse is much more indefinite, amorphous, nebulous, vague and intangible. The mental states of a person are invisible to everyone else, cannot be measured or recorded and consequently there seems to be no objective way to gauge or judge inner self-abuse and that rules out applying universal and absolute laws to them.

One also has to ask whether indeed we ourselves take the inner self-violence that we commit seriously? Or do we ourselves dismiss this inner self-abuse as trivial and non-consequential as it happens in the inner world rather than in the real outer world?

This last question leads us to another possible reason as to why a double standard exists in regards to inner and outer abuse. Consider the way that we view the importance of inner and outer worlds and the events that take place therein.

Inner well-being, inner climate, inner state of events and their evolution all rate much less in significance and consequence than outer well-being, outer situations, outer state of events and their evolution. The inner accomplishments that we have achieved, the inner assets that we have gained, the inner hurdles that we have overcome, the inner losses that we have sustained - none of that matters very much to society. Consequently the fact that inner self-abuse is dismissed as trivial is just a small subclass of the general attitude that society holds towards the inner world.

As far as the society is concerned one might as well be a robot with no inner life at all or a vicious maniac who unceasingly and unsparingly inflicts constant abuse upon his inner self - as long as you are a law-abiding, contributing member of society you are accepted within the community and treated as an equal member with full rights. As long as your inner world and the things that go on there do not affect adversely other members of community, all is well and society is happy with you.

 

 

Reviews

[Siddartha Beth Pierce]

This writing brings up a myriad of interesting notions. No wonder the world of psychiatry, self-help, and therapy have become so prevalant because these very areas have gone unnoticed and under-nourished. This to me is a very spiritual write in that it contains a deep seated care for the inner workings of the mind, heart and soul. Thank you for sharing this with the Cafe. It contains many important considerations.
Light,
SIddartha

[An owl on the moon]

Excellent continuation! Thank you for sending the notice of this additional piece!!! Hard to govern the inner mind (and soul)... So interesting to grasp at the benefits of this powerful notion! What is deep within the well will surely flow out of the well spring (be it pure or poluted)...

[Gandré]

you made me think. nicely done.
I like when people have such thoughts
about serious issues of the western
society. this was an excellent observation.

[J. Marc]

I think this second part deals more with personal education and morality and what people call "aesthetic education" in general. It takes a long time for someone to develop awareness about himself and the human being in general. "Know yourself" is indeed something that is vague without any precise guidance. Would I make sense to you if I say that only reading all those great authors can provide with enough interactions to your self? Reading, for it is the exercise where you try to mirror their analysis and findings into your own self.

Interesting stuff, really!!!

[robin]

Inner and outer truth began their divisive war with Galen a contemporary of Hippocrates. When the Greeks determined the order of society, they deemed Man the physical be taken care of by the state, and Man the spiritual by the church...from there it is acceptable for us to judge each other, even encouraged, but God forbids gazing at your own Junk...the reason is the falsehood of the separation of Church and state. What business is not conducted at Church. What morality struggles are not resolved at Tee off? Religion and education are societal controls and Morality forms a neat box of concepts for the mid and bottom dwellers to ponder and argue about without end...the devil who convinced you that He never exists is language! People of highest society are Amoral and don't waste precious time worrying over right and wrong...IMHO

You are a rare creature and printing these kinds of ideas brings the "Men in Black" and many others who would make of you the new Prophet or new Pariah. These words of the self proclaimed publicly are the territory of others accusation that you have violated some unspoken agreement, to hve the right to remain ignorant...
Superb multi-level stimulating write! Excellent in its breadth and detail. The "real" pith is toughest to grasp, isn't it?

[Ron B]

The vast majority of internal abuse is secretive, denied and by its nature, personal. The lack of subjective filters prohibits insight and encourages negative rumination.