Peg, I'm entirely too addled IRL to follow the different lines of discussion. I'll do my best! First of all, thank you for holding it in your journal. It's terribly important to have this kind of interface.
I think a lot of the quibbling is over semantics. Does your metaphor apply to the greater universe? To society? To individual human beings? Does it accept the possibility that someone with a heart of flesh might do something wrong, though they meant well? Does it accept that someone with a heart of stone might do something right because it has to be done? Can people with different hearts do exactly the same thing and mean them in different ways, or cause different outcomes?
The mechanisms that a society uses to uphold the sacred and the just may not be the same as the mechanisms of a human being. Or the one of the guy next to him. Personally? I came into the world sensitive, and built walls as I grew up. I probably do have a heart of stone. I'm an expert at withholding my love and attention, if only to protect myself. I think I'm too young to understand anything beyond that... did I start out with a heart of flesh? Do I actually still have it? I have no idea.
I really think you could consider all of our opinions and strengthen your ideas. I took a course on Indian philosophy a while back, and it struck me that they spent so much energy on defining what was essentially indefinable. That's not something that would be given much credence today. Yet many biologists and sociologists count experience and altruism as necessities for population survival. And part of that experience are the things that cannot be defined in languages already invented, or stories already written, or songs already sung.
I've read your journal for quite a while, and I think you have something important to share. Best of luck and blessings on writing.
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Date: 2004-07-22 11:09 am (UTC)I think a lot of the quibbling is over semantics. Does your metaphor apply to the greater universe? To society? To individual human beings? Does it accept the possibility that someone with a heart of flesh might do something wrong, though they meant well? Does it accept that someone with a heart of stone might do something right because it has to be done? Can people with different hearts do exactly the same thing and mean them in different ways, or cause different outcomes?
The mechanisms that a society uses to uphold the sacred and the just may not be the same as the mechanisms of a human being. Or the one of the guy next to him. Personally? I came into the world sensitive, and built walls as I grew up. I probably do have a heart of stone. I'm an expert at withholding my love and attention, if only to protect myself. I think I'm too young to understand anything beyond that... did I start out with a heart of flesh? Do I actually still have it? I have no idea.
I really think you could consider all of our opinions and strengthen your ideas. I took a course on Indian philosophy a while back, and it struck me that they spent so much energy on defining what was essentially indefinable. That's not something that would be given much credence today. Yet many biologists and sociologists count experience and altruism as necessities for population survival. And part of that experience are the things that cannot be defined in languages already invented, or stories already written, or songs already sung.
I've read your journal for quite a while, and I think you have something important to share. Best of luck and blessings on writing.