Author: SL Lee
Date: 01-11-05 23:50
DMikes,
I would like to open a new thread for this topic, because it is more than a discussion of creationism and evolutionism, or Anthony Flew.
You don't seem to be able to respond to my questions on the age of the earth, the origin of God, and many issue I put in front of you. I hope you are thinking hard. My question is of course not only to you, but to all those out there reading and having similar questions. I also had these questions all my life and continue to seek answers.
Your single line comment entitling me a Materialist without qualification could be compliment or something else.
I am not sure how you define Materialist and Idealist. I hold it that you agree material comes before spirits, i.e. without the materials that constitutes the brain, there can be no thoughts. One has to be born first with flesh and blood, before thoughts come out from the body. That puts material before ideal. But that is not the end of the story nor the priority of the two.
Don't confuse materialist with materialism and materialistic, in contrast to idealism and idealistic. These words come from the same roots but mean very different things, to me at least.
Let me extend further on the materialist and idealist point.
While we cannot have thoughts and thus nothing idealistic about if we don't have a body and a brain, ideals last much longer than materials.
Many historical figures have long died, but we are still reading about them all the time. The material they are made of is gone, but not their ideals.
In Confucianism, a person has to establish three things in different stages of life:
1. Establish oneself to be able to live (Li shen)
2. Establish one's theory, literature, writing (Li Yan)
3. Establish oneself as a model of virtues (Li De)
I include the Chinese here although you might not be able to read it to understand, others may.
Thus, Chinese are both materialists and idealists. One cannot be an idealist before a materialist. A materialist is not the ultimate goal as a perfect person, even though perfectness is something that one can only try to achieve and may not be able to attain.
With this background, you should understand that I am not a materialist nor an idealist alone.
Ethnic Chinese including those living in China and outside are often mistaken to be people without ideals , without moral values for lack of 'religious belief', especially in one God associated with Christianity.
Nothing can be further from the truth.
I do not reject people of the Christian faith (although the reciprocal is not always true). A true God- believing person can be beautiful in the expression of love, equality, sincerity, and kindness. On the other hand, there are also many church-going people who are repulsive, arrogant, and exclusive, not that they don't read the Bible everyday. Why such a difference? My answer may not be correct, but I think it has to do with the fact that this moral restraint is from a third party, that may not be always with the person.
The observance of moral value in Chinese philosophy comes down to a 'self responsibility'. It is easy to establish a third party as a model, as where glory is attributed, and as someone who can pardon you for sins. But one can also take less responsibility for wrongdoing, and ask for forgiveness from this third party. But if the one responsible is the 'self', there can be no escape nor excuse. That is the body, the name, the family, and everything that person represents. This force of moral restraint is constantly within.
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SL Lee
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