In The Question of God, a PBS program that contrasts C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud's views on religion, a panel discusses the idea of "loving thy neighbor as thyself." There seems to be a consensus among the theists that "loving your neighbor as yourself" is an act of free will. This perspective intrigues me. Certainly, our free will would be necessary to perform the acts associated with loving our neighbors as ourselves, but is the love itself truly an act of volition? I think this an interesting consideration.
Growing up, I always thought that being a good person, in terms of "obeying," was not that weighty of a requirement. It might be difficult to be perfect, but it certainly wasn't difficult in theory. Now I only wish it were that easy. Now I believe it is how we feel that matters more than how we act, although it may be difficult to have actions without feelings (and, perhaps even more so, vice versa). That is why the above discussion intrigues me. Sincerely loving your neighbor may naturally stem from persistently acting as though you love them, but can the love itself be willed? Please discuss.
This is very interesting. I am an alright liar, I am never caught. But I absolutely cannot lie to people I respect. However, just because I don't lie to someone does not necasarily mean I respect them. So which is the cause and which is the effect? Theoretically I could lie to someone I respect, but in practice it does not work. Is this free will? I choose to respect the person, I suppose, but can you choose to respect someone who is rude to you simply on the basis that it's nice? Are emotions choice, and are they directly linked to reactions in others as they are in myself? Or are people like that simply irrational? Do we choose to be rational? Very thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that you can will love. I think what you can will is your response, the actions yes, but also, to some extent, the way you are with people. Attitude really does have a lot to do with things. If I decide to help my students and that I'm there to serve them, it's so much easier to love them. If I decide they drive me nuts, I can't help but be a bit ignorant to them. Then again, sometimes I can't help but be driven completely insane by them. And I don't believe that old addage that someone can only hurt you if you let them. I think you can learn to love someone in the neighborly way by serving them and making your mind up to do so. But I don't think you can learn the deep have you in my life forever kind of love- like that of your spouse, children, siblings, parents, best friends etc. Then again, we are taught to forgive and I think that takes love and brings love. I'm with mom, I'm confused... and apparently she was VERY confused!
ReplyDeleteI know there have been times in my life when I have, somehow, successfully CHOSEN to be happy. It doesn't seem like you can choose your emotions, but there were a couple of times when I felt really good and felt like it was something I just decided to do. And it worked pretty much immediately. So I guess the question is, did I CHOOSE to feel happy? Or was I somehow doing something else? What act of volition did I perform? It seems equally as ridiculous or outlandish to say that, rather than choosing my emotions at that time, I was simply choosing to view life differently. How can you choose something like perspective anymore than you can choose emotion? But then how did it work for me? Hmmm....
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