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What Keeps You on the Straight and Narrow?

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
It's been suggested that without the fear of consequence for one's choices (such as an eternity in Hell) that nothing would matter (people would make choices outside of axiom of moral goodness), which leads me to believe that the moral goodness of many is a result of fear of consequence for their actions.

Is fear the only reason many choose to be good?

Assuming your moral compass points in the direction of benevolence, what specifically keeps you on that path?
 

YmirGF

Bodhisattva in Recovery
Interesting question. I'm not sure how to answer but am swerving towards @George-ananda take on this. As you mature, you simply find the path of least resistance. Lying and cheating takes a lot of energy to maintain. Being mindful and truthful only takes practice.
 

Devaki

Member
I don't think morality is dependent on religion or any deities.
If you've ever observed teenagers, peer pressure works just fine without religion.
So what I'm saying that while beyond a certain level of innate empathy and compassion, most humans would probably "stray", any type of punishment works to deter that, religious or otherwise.
The fear of being rejected and abandoned by one's peer group or tribe should be sufficient for most.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Does fear of hell deter people? Well, here's an example of where it did. Back in the days when everyone believed in god, there were absolutely no blood thirsty pirates running around raping and stealing from people. It's actually an atheist plot to say there were. The truth is, people were so scared of hell, no one ever broke the law. They didn't even jaywalk back then, in truth.
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
I think maturity teaches you that being good is the only way to actually feel good, hell or no hell.

Interesting question. I'm not sure how to answer but am swerving towards @George-ananda take on this. As you mature, you simply find the path of least resistance. Lying and cheating takes a lot of energy to maintain. Being mindful and truthful only takes practice.

While I agree to a point, I have had an inherent compulsion to help those who struggled to help themselves since childhood (for example, I've always been an animal rights activist since I can remember). Maturity had little to do with my predisposition to be good. For me, it was knowing that I was making someone's or something's else's life better.
 

Infinitum

Possessed Bookworm
Life's less problematic when you don't **** people off :p Social sanctions are very real and made to be more inconvenient than doing what's "right" (whatever the norms are in your given society), so in a way it's always easier to be good than bad.

The more interesting bit is personal values. Every individual has a slightly differently tuned compass depending on what they deem important, and that in turn affects what they deem to be moral. To me personally it seems an irredeemable sin to toss any book away: books are too valuable to be destroyed or meddled with in any way. Seriously, a part of me labels people as "good" or "bad" depending on what their relationship to books and attaining knowledge is. Someone else would have those same strong emotions about sex, or obesity, or teaching children there is a God.

It's not exactly voluntary, so I guess one could say I think everyone are moral, but that morals are a constant push and pull between society and the individual.
 

beenherebeforeagain

Rogue Animist
Premium Member
It's been suggested that without the fear of consequence for one's choices (such as an eternity in Hell) that nothing would matter (people would make choices outside of axiom of moral goodness), which leads me to believe that the moral goodness of many is a result of fear of consequence for their actions.

Is fear the only reason many choose to be good?

Assuming your moral compass points in the direction of benevolence, what specifically keeps you on that path?
I can't answer for everyone else, but for me, I stay on the "straight and narrow" as it were because I am most comfortable with myself and my dealings with others if I attempt to treat others as I wish to be treated by them.

It's a good rule. I think it's how a moral person would and should behave. And I think the consequences--whether just in this life, or in another; and whether we're talking consequences for me, or for those I'm dealing with--justify it as a course of action.
 

YmirGF

Bodhisattva in Recovery
While I agree to a point, I have had an inherent compulsion to help those who struggled to help themselves since childhood (for example, I've always been an animal rights activist since I can remember). Maturity had little to do with my predisposition to be good. For me, it was knowing that I was making someone's or something's else's life better.
I have no such compulsions, but certainly help when and where I can.
 

David1967

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I don't think morality is dependent on religion or any deities.
If you've ever observed teenagers, peer pressure works just fine without religion.
So what I'm saying that while beyond a certain level of innate empathy and compassion, most humans would probably "stray", any type of punishment works to deter that, religious or otherwise.
The fear of being rejected and abandoned by one's peer group or tribe should be sufficient for most.

I know some rotten people who are very religious, and some wonderful people who are not, and vice versa. I believe that a persons religion can certainly shape them to a point, but from what I have seen some people seem to be hardwired to be good or bad regardless of outside influence.
 

osgart

Nothing my eye, Something for sure
I actually like the straight and narrow path. Im into it. I see the joy of living is the love of truthfulness, and compassion. That takes virtues. If there is an everlasting life, that would be how to build it; self and others.

Unfortunately alotta people dont think so. But some do. Maybe a few more than i think.

I see all the other ways, and i dread those ways.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
It's been suggested that without the fear of consequence for one's choices (such as an eternity in Hell) that nothing would matter (people would make choices outside of axiom of moral goodness), which leads me to believe that the moral goodness of many is a result of fear of consequence for their actions.

Is fear the only reason many choose to be good?

Assuming your moral compass points in the direction of benevolence, what specifically keeps you on that path?

My core values keep me on the right path. Without my values, I loose my freedom and freedom of expression. Having both lets me reflect and know myself more. I do good not because of consequences just I found it benefitial to live my values and doing good acheives that. The experience not the consequence.
 
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