Open mindedness –Where’s ones moral compass needle at?

[Anatta]

Kia Ora,

Just to keep things on track [OK I know I'm guilty of taking threads off track too]  

For some people just the thought of others/strangers romping around in their birthday suits[even at nudist beaches] pushes their moral compass to it's limits...Or another example if they see a "same sex" couple holding hands and or kissing[like hetero couples normally do] in public, this makes them feel uncomfortable...Or some might be offended by "mix race" couples...

When it come to your level of open mindedness would any of the examples above cause you any discomfort ? 

Sadly due [no doubt to their upbringing] there are some trans-people who are uncomfortable with homosexuality and the race/ethnicity of  a person can be a sticky point too...

I guess this is what I'm on about when "I" talk of open mindedness...

That is  [if they are not harming others] "LIVE AND LET LIVE !"

I think it's a general trend in the West that young people are becoming more accepting of the differences in others...But I guess there will always be exceptions to this rule...   

Metta Zenda

[Anatta]

I think I'm "pretty" openminded.

Kia Ora Road,
  I think all open minded people are "pretty"...

Metta Zenda

[Pica Pica]

Live and let live is your moral then.

[Anatta]

Kia Ora Pica,

If a person is not knowingly[ "intentionally" ] harming another person or animal or the environment with their actions...Then why should "my" conscience button be pushed ?

However my conscience is stirred when I witness the actions of others that deliberately cause suffering [ compassion or empathy]...But at times I have no means at my disposal to intervene...Only a wish that it never happened and a desire for it to end....

Pica, in the real world there is no "right or wrong" just skilful and unskilful actions...

Where do you stand Pica ? 

Metta Zenda

[Anatta]

• Yes in general I would like to think so, I'm pretty laidback about things
• Yes for the most part but I do have some very strong opinions on certain things for example abortion
• Not really, I find it hard to accept certain things because of my "inherited" beliefs..

Unfortunately, I have a problem with these options. I am open-minded because of my inherited religious beliefs, not the other way around.

Kia Ora Lisbeth,

Bloody hell    ...No seriously, I did mention at the beginning that voting in the poll was optional...

"You can please some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time!" Good old Abe Lincoln, took a bullet for that...I know how you feel Abe 

Metta Zenda  

[Anatta]

"My mind aint so open, that anything can crawl right in." - song by magazine that I get in my head when people are being mumbo jumbo.

It used to be more open and the kid-romantic in me mourns the way the boundaries of my world have stiffened up a little.

However, the poll is built in such a leading way, that it is prejudiced against religious beliefs - which are not the only enemy of open-mindedness (and I'd argue, you'd have to be very open minded to believe the things most religions asked you to.)

Kia Ora Pica,

I can't argue with that...It's an irrefutable truth...

Metta Zenda

[Tammy Hope]

Do we respect their right to their opinion?

I try very hard to RESPECT a person's right to their opinion if it is anywhere in the vicinity of plausible, but there are two major places where I usually fail:

I do NOT respect your view if that view consists of "those who disagree with me are obviously morons" - in other words, if you want my respect, then YOU respect the views of others. If you, for instance, believe conservative christians are toothless illiterate knuckle-dragging hillbillies because they are intolerant of LGBT people, I can't respect that.  Likewise, if you are a Christian and you think all pro-gay people are simply self-serving pervs who will believe anything so long as they get a pass - no respect for you. Kindly acknowledge that people of good-will and reasonable intellect CAN see things differently than you.

2. People who clearly have never reasoned through that which they say they believe, but are obviously parroting what they have been taught. It goes without saying this is somewhat subjective until you plumb the depths but if you have much of an exchange you begin to see that your questions don't get straight answers because you've traveled past the point that your opponent has THOUGHT about the proposition they claim to believe.

although, admittedly it can be kinda fun driving them off that cliff and watching for the Wile E. Coyote moment...

[Taka]

I do NOT respect your view if that view consists of "those who disagree with me are obviously morons" - in other words, if you want my respect, then YOU respect the views of others.

2. People who clearly have never reasoned through that which they say they believe, but are obviously parroting what they have been taught.

i agree with both. i'll respect anyone's view on things as long as they also respect mine if our opinions differ, but i'll still have trouble respecting a view that is used to justify actions that harm other people. and people who blindly belive what their teacher or textbook says without reasoning it through on their own often have problems explaining why it has to be like that

no wonder i don't have much respect for many of my former teachers, they only taught what the text book said but couldn't explain it in depth. "i don't know" is an answer much easier to respect than "that's just how it is", but i know only a very few teachers who'd ever admit not knowing something

[cynthialee]

Why do you mock those with a religous upbringing by placeing the words in quotes? Do you not accept that these peple are being raised in faith?

[Anatta]

Kia Ora Cynthialee,

Not only do I accept the fact that many people have been raised in faith [and in good faith for the most part] I also accept their belief in a god or gods...If a person's mind is capable of creating a world where their concept of a god or gods appears to be real for them and for the most part brings them some form of comfort, why should I not accept this to be "their" truth ?

Now may I ask you a similar question [well I'm going to anyway just for the fun of it]

Do you believe that "all" religions are about control ? and I mean control in a negative[or if you like a mocking=with contempt]  sense....[A little prompter perhaps to jog your memory "QFT"]

I have no wish to make you feel uncomfortable I'm just trying to understand how your mind works...

Thanks for asking this question Cynthialee,

After all  "How can one learn if one does not ask questions !" And as you may have already gathered I tend to ask lots of questions.........many answer these questions directly, whilst some tend to focus more on the messenger 

Metta Zenda

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Kia Ora Lisbeth,

I must apologise for my sense of humour...At times I tend to forget where the other person's mind might be at when reading my responses....It's an old habit of mine not to take life too seriously, for if one does then it will become well... "serious"...and there's no fun in that !

The other reason is "nothing is permanent", happiness-sadness are two side of the same coin and I like to continually flip life's coin and just go with the flow...

I do hope you will continue to post, but if you have made up your mind not to then I respect your decision...

Metta Zenda

[cynthialee]

Once again you dodge my question and insert meaningless platitudes into the conversation.

For once I would like it if you talk to me to drop the pretend 'rightous' nice girl act and just straight out answer it with out the 'proper' salutations and greetings.
Get to the point, stop obfuscating and just comit to a coment. Stop pussyfooting around things and make a point for once.

[Pica Pica]

Pica, in the real world there is no "right or wrong" just skilful and unskilful actions...

Where do you stand Pica ? 

If this were the case, then incidence of murder and such would be higher - people don't murder because it's inconvenient or just because they might get caught, but because it is wrong.

[Anatta]

Why do you mock those with a religous upbringing by placeing the words in quotes? Do you not accept that these peple are being raised in faith?

Kia Ora Cynthialee,

" Not only do I accept the fact that many people have been raised in faith [and in good faith for the most part] I also accept their belief in a god or gods...If a person's mind is capable of creating a world where their concept of a god or gods appears to be real for them and for the most part brings them some form of comfort, why should I not accept this to be "their" truth ?

Now may I ask you a similar question [well I'm going to anyway just for the fun of it]

  Do you believe that "all" religions are about control ? and I mean control in a negative[or if you like a mocking=with contempt]  sense....[A little prompter perhaps to jog your memory "QFT"] !"

It's the same "answer" I gave you before Cynthialee....But for some strange reason you have refused to acknowledge it.....

The "Quotes" is something I often use and for the most part just to  "emphasis"  not necessarily to offend or ridicule others...It would seem that most other readers are "not" put out  by it...But I could be "wrong"...

Do you have problems with people who can't write or spell or use the English language correctly Cynthialee ?

Metta Zenda  

[Anatta]

If this were the case, then incidence of murder and such would be higher - people don't murder because it's inconvenient or just because they might get caught, but because it is wrong "unskillful" ! "Think about it "

Metta Zenda

[Pica Pica]

Nothing to do with skill, people who think morals are not right and wrong do not have a moral compass, they have a moral weathervane.

[Anatta]

Nothing to do with skill, people who think morals are not right and wrong do not have a moral compass, they have a moral weathervane.

Kia Ora Pica,

And thank you for such an interesting view point... Definately some  "Food for thought " .....

The words "skilful" and "unskilful" (kusala and akusala) are how Buddhists talk about the ethical status of ones actions. According to Buddhism actions should not be deemed right or wrong because there is not one single correct path through the obstacles in life; therefore, one should strive to be skilful, [kusala], and stray away from becoming unskilful...And this is where "mindfulness" comes into play...

The practice of ethics in Buddhism, although it obviously has to do with actions in the external world, is fundamentally about internal choices we make about which mental states we are going to exercise. When one is mindful one has a choice about how one's going to respond. Do we react in an angry manner or practice patience? Do we act selfishly or selflessly?

When one has mindfulness one has choice. Without mindful observation of the mind, it's impossible for us to choose to act skilfully rather than unskilfully. It goes without saying that much of the time most people lack the mindfulness to make choices. This doesn't mean that everything one does while on "automatic pilot" is unskilful, just that we will at times inadvertently create suffering for ourselves and others by blindly acting out unskilful impulses, and in doing so will miss opportunities for cultivating greater wellbeing.

So in a nutshell... [a soft one so it's easy to crack]

Quote from Tenzin Palmo [An English Buddhist woman]

"We always have a choice to carry out skilful or unskilful acts. Any action committed under an unwholesome state of mind is negative -- it doesn't matter that the eventual outcome is positive. Likewise, an action may look negative but if it has a positive or wholesome motivation behind it, the action itself is positive !"

Happy Mindfulness Pica

Metta Zenda

[Pica Pica]

Hmmm, interesting.

[AbraCadabra]

Dear Kia Ora Pica,

many thanks, for this thoughtful precis. It meshes perfectly well with my own line of thinking or "mindfulness".

Even if we do not always hit the "bulls-eye" and miss the target, being "unskillful", - so long we accept the concept as our direction to aim, it be so much more then to remain unaware.

Thank you,
Axelle
PS: has it to do that this knowing happens to talk ethics rather then morals? Yes, I do think so IMHO.

[Pica Pica]

The word 'harmartia' meant to miss the mark - and was often translated in the Bible to the word sin.

[AbraCadabra]

Pica Pica,
guess why I used it? :-)

Was just trying not to get to "sinful" (missing the mark)  with my replies. :-)

Cheers,
Axelle