Re: Mind's Eye What really lies in simple moral positions?

Yes- it is about harmony- understanding it and finding it.

On Feb 2, 5:44 am, Molly <mollyb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I can see that my sense of morality has changed over the years along
> with my relationship to life.  Yet at the core of it, is a sense of
> self respect that allowed me to walk away from a couple of decent
> incomes and destructive human relationships because of the culture of
> war they brought with them.  Somehow, expressing truth in the moment
> was never enough, the war raged on.  In retrospect, I can see that
> what I was walking to when walking away was far better, but at the
> time, the path was forming as my foot hit the exit doorway in the
> walking away.  I've never been comfortable in that scenario, but I can
> now see it has payed off for me in the long run.  It always starts
> with listening to my gut.
>
> An interesting time we live in, with our education, political and
> financial systems no longer serving us. With eyes blurred from Rome
> burning, it is hard to see what is coming for us.  What I do know is
> we are a resilient lot, and something will.  The education system does
> suck, my youngest is still in University and has always struggled with
> the system.  He will get his BA in May with honors, something he never
> experienced in the younger grades.  Somehow, he made it work out of a
> desire for a good life.
>
> Myself, I found a way to make it work while still doing my own thing
> in the University, but after being told by the English Dept to find a
> different course of study.  I was lucky that there was a more creative
> "alternative" available or I would probably have quit.  I did see
> (what seemed to me) the brightest teachers struggling with the
> bureaucracy of their profession.  But it seems to me we all struggle
> with that, even my husband, the Chiropractor, who is in practice by
> himself.  If we live in community, we adapt to the rules, regs, norms,
> laws, while expressing ourselves the best we can.  Seems to me that
> finding a lasting harmony there is the real trick, no matter the
> details of it.
>
> On Feb 1, 3:54 pm, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > I had a sense of doing what seemed right as a cop Allan - even though
> > most situations were difficult to see a right side in.  The academy
> > stinks as in the State of Denmark and I get to feel the only thing is
> > to retreat to the margins.  My working guess is that it's
> > "meritocracy" that sucks.
>
> > On Feb 1, 8:30 pm, Allan H <allanh1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > not being obnoxious, The that comes to my mind is just what is your
> > > understanding of morality and how  it is applied in ones life.
> > >  Understanding morality on a personal level can be quite difficult,
> > > especially if you want it to make sense.
> > > Allan
>
> > > On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 7:39 PM, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > I hope to spend the next 5 years "not teaching" - a difficult
> > > > financial decision as this is my 'ready-to-hand' income.  Some years
> > > > back I tried to take and stick to a decision not to teach 'ideological
> > > > rot' - broadly the mainstream of business and economic subjects.  This
> > > > might seem a fairly easy personal, moral decision; yet it isn't.
>
> > > > The interesting issues don't concern the easy morality of doing what's
> > > > right.  One can find plenty of material, from Critical Theory through
> > > > to deconstructive approaches to behaviour and critical psychology -
> > > > and once, very critical management books like Peter Anthony's
> > > > 'Foundation of Management' and sort programmes out on the basis of
> > > > these.  Thus one could teach material one might feel credible and
> > > > stretching, broadly aimed at students learning critical reasoning.  I
> > > > do offer modules based around writers like David Graeber, Steve Keen
> > > > and modern blogs at the moment.
>
> > > > What muddies the waters is a combination of streamlining costs in HE
> > > > and more or less the extirpation of syllabus control by academics,
> > > > along with a massive dilution of student brain-power and the
> > > > connection of student success with the numbers we pass.    This
> > > > situation makes moral judgement very difficult and academe has
> > > > collapsed altogether as a moral place.
>
> > > > Economics has long been taught as a science - an utter farce - and
> > > > management theories are only fit for ridicule (excellence, kwality and
> > > > anything with 'strategic' in it).  The world works around power and
> > > > rhetoric, and this is the only real content of such "theories".
>
> > > > The madness that underlies all this is that we never address what the
> > > > real issues might be.  Accumulated wealth is clearly a problem for
> > > > democracy as it inevitably means some will benefit by doing nothing
> > > > while others work and that the wealth will be used to influence
> > > > politics and the very ground of commercial competition.  Yet with no
> > > > consideration of this we leap into "theorising" in a system that
> > > > applauds the creation of excess wealth in few hands as a 'good'.
>
> > > > One can try to teach what one believes is true and in simple morality
> > > > this is what one ought to do.  The actual situation is much more
> > > > complex.  The jobs available in teaching (apart from a few little
> > > > eddies I have occupied) are nearly all to do with teaching the rot,
> > > > because this is the cheapest way universities can devise.  The moral
> > > > choice of not teaching rot changes to a choice not to teach (and get
> > > > paid) - partly because your own students will be examined on the rot
> > > > because you are teaching as part of a 'team' and all students are set
> > > > the same questions as part of standardisation.  If you don't teach the
> > > > muck you put your students at a disadvantage.
>
> > > > I see no answers to the moral conundrum - other than just to walk
> > > > away, putting distance between oneself and the madness.
>
> > > --
> > >  (
> > >   )
> > > |_D Allan
>
> > > Life is for moral, ethical and truthful living.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -