Skip to main content

Consequence - What counts ???

PART A

My dear blog, I am puzzled as i write this. The only hope i write this is to give a meaning, a form to so many thoughts that are running in my neurons. Especially lately the consequences - reap what you sow.

So often we work in the fear or by reasoning the aftermath of our acts and I have been one too - by trying to reconcile the facts and realities of life in light of the logical 'cause and effect' (i just spared a formal fish bone diagram). But the truth is, I am not the only one who has been puzzled with this. As i did a quick word search i landed upon so much of intellectual debate by the great thinkers and philosophers of the world and after reading their work i could just come to one conclusion - the one thing that i need to know is what I guess is the key and which counts the most or the only one thing that matters.

  • Does the act count?
  • Does the human person who does count?
  • Does the result count? ( 'End justifies the means')
  • Does the virtue count?
  • Any one looking at the 'means' alone is equally flawed as the ones who look at the 'end'.
  • Or should i agree with Kant, who famously argued that we have a moral duty to always tell the truth, even to a murderer who asks where the would-be victim is. Is it the moral duty that matters?

I am more confused than before i started. But one thing i believe is that the "Motive of the human person is what counts" - in the style of a mentor of mine it can be rephrased as "heart of the matter is heart".

A heart that is driven by virtues, love, hope and truth will only do acts that are justifiable irrespective of what the end is - as none have control over the end because end is also influenced by so many other factors such as circumstances, other human persons involved and environment.

What counts is the thought, which caused the action that resulted in a consequence, event or act.

Goodness of heart cannot yield a bad fruit; even if it does the human person involved is not guilty of it. To summarize it - The heart of the matter is heart.

PART B

Dear blog, I thought on the above (Part A), and I think I need more clarity on this.

What do I mean when I say “the heart of the matter is heart”:

a) Heart = Motive = the seat of ‘will’ and ‘emotions’

b) How = act = event = mean

c) Consequence = end = result = effect

If these being the elements in any ‘cause and effect’ which counts the most.

I can only refer to one Guru on this and this is what he says:

“For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come…All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”1

I guess, this is why even the judiciary, when it punishes the accused it looks at the motive than the means. If the motive is wicked, hideous and vile then the judgment is even death.

Given this I guess – and this is only my opinion – Heart meaning the motive means the most.

To summarize in the words of my Guru: “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”2

Footnote - 1: Bible - Mark 7:21-23 (New International Version, ©2010), 2: Bible Mat 7:18 (KJV)

--
Warm regards,
Christus
-----------------------------------

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

apocalyptic ---->> Obama ???

Cardinal Says Future With Obama Is Gethsemane Affirms That Life Cannot be Controlled by Government WASHINGTON , D.C. , NOV. 19, 2008 ( Zenit.org ).- The decline in respect for human life has had “catastrophic effects” on the unity and integrity of the United States, which are evidenced by the presidential election, says a Vatican official. Baltimore-native Cardinal James Stafford, major penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary, affirmed this in a lecture on "Humanae Vitae" last Thursday at the Catholic University of America. His lecture, “Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II: Being True in Body and Soul,” pointed out the need for Catholics to return to the true values of marriage and human dignity faced to the current challenges. “Because man is a sacred ! element of secular life,” the cardinal said, “[…] a person’s life cannot ultimately be controlled by government.” "On Nov. 4, 2008, America suffered ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bioethics and the Myth of Relativism

Interview with Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk By Giovanni Patriarca PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, JUNE 17, 2009 ( Zenit.org ).- A neuroscientist and ethicist is underlining the need to base bioethics in moral principles, and is affirming that even people who profess relativism count on certain absolutes in life. Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk is the director of education at the Philadelphia-based National Catholic Bioethics Center . He writes a monthly column for The Catholic Herald titled "Making Sense out of Bioethics." In this interview with ZENIT, he discusses some of the need to base bioethics in absolute moral principles in light of recent events related to his field. ZENIT: In recent years bioethics seems to have become a battleground where many interest groups try to impose their political views separated from any consideration of the field's moral foundations. The 2005 U.N. Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights could be considered a starting po...
Post a Comment
Read more

FW: Confronting Your Industry Culture

One of the blunders I use to make… I do make sometimes NOW.   But I have to change now…. No room for Situational Ethics….Only Absolute Standards…No relative measures.   Warm Regards, Christus ---------------------------------------------------------------------------         Confronting Your Industry Culture   "Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, 'My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers'" (Matt 21:12-13). Sometimes a corporate culture dictates the way business is conducted because it was established years before. We simply inherit whatever the accepted practice is. Some of these practices violate a biblical principle. For instance, some businesses withhold payment ...
Post a Comment
Read more