Quote:
Originally Posted by pdamoc  Religions are timewarps. Imagine a guy traveling from the future and trying to describe a society based on law where you are protected by police to a bunch of savages. He has to get the message across... how does it do it? How can he be compelling? The most efficient way would be to transplant his ideas on the religion of those savages. He will use the Gods those people FEAR and tell them, God is no longer angry  he wants you to live together in peace under his commandments. And proceeds in implementing a system of LAWS giving them under the mystic form of God's commandments.
Some will still break the law but most will see the benefits of it and adopt the law in an inner, intimate way. Generation by generation, the LAW will enter the group's conscience so deeply that it will be respected almost without effort and will not be perceived as something reducing their freedom but rather as something that frees them from the fear they use to feel (daily fear for their life or possessions) Of course some will abuse the law, some will deliver it, some will have to enforce it... and you will have the corruption that it is characteristic to this system.
Now.... after the system of LAWS is implemented, imagine another timewarp and a person from an even distant future arrives. In his future corruptions and abuses have been eradicated, everybody lives in peace. There is mutual respect and support on a planetary scale. He will again use the God this people fear and obey and will tell them God loves them and wants them to become the manifestation of his love on this earth. He tells them that they no longer need to live in FEAR, they no longer need to fear tomorrow and the should just start enjoying life. Some will consider him nuts. Some will start to listen. The old corrupted authorities will try to do anything in order to pervert the message to the point that it will become impotent BUT the message will survive. People will discover that they are happier living like that and will just start living like that. Some will discover that even in conflict Love is more potent than Fear and will start winning with non-violent tactics.
And little by little... as Hendrix put it, the power of love will overcome the love of power the world will know peace. |
Whatever you're on, I'd like some
I see the progression of ideas of law in the opposite way, gradually growing over time from both common sense and fear of punishment/banishment/death. Here's a little fable on the beginnings of what we call "morality":
In a time before recorded history, Ug and Grog live in the same little village. One day while Ug is out hunting, Grog decides it will be fun to go and have his way with Ug's woman, whether she likes it or not, so he does and has a great time! Ug returns home that night to a horrified and angry wife, who tells him what happened. Then Ug, Ug's brothers, and Ug's wife's father and brothers all go and drag Grog into the middle of the village, where they brutally kill him in front of everyone. After seeing this display, even the most sociopathic, homicidal members of the same tribe then realize "Hey, if I go killing or raping for fun around here, that's going to happen to ME!", and so for the most part, they keep themselves in line.
Just about every law system that's ever existed has those "universal laws" of not murdering others, having sex with someone else's wife, stealing, lying, etc- most of which likely came to be by seeing enough people who did these things being killed or banished into the wilderness, to where people realized they weren't such a good idea, and would have been detrimental to keeping your society under control, which the leaders wouldn't have liked. Those tend to remain constants, and then you start getting the culturally influenced stuff mixed in as well.
For example, in both the USA and France, it is illegal to murder someone. At the same time, in France (IIRC), violence in popular media tends to be disallowed and even censored (such as in video games), while naked human beings, from what I understand, generally aren't seen as such a big deal. Here in the US, we love violence like nothing else on television, even the "Family Channel" shows tend to be good and violent. Something like an exposed human female nipple, however, is seen as a nasty evil tool of Satan that will "scar the children!" and bring about the "downfall of morality" if such a nasty thing is even seen on TV. The "Violence = ok, Sex = Evil!" attitude of this society truly annoys me.