John Adams recognized this dilemma when he wrote, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." Meaning that people must recognize a higher authority than themselves and be willing to submit to it in order to maintain a sense of order. The weakness, unfortunately, is that we all have our own perception of what that order and authority should be.
Institutional failure occurs when a system that cannot maintain the full grounding of authority under load descends into procedural continuation, then misrepresents that continuation as lawful authority.
As I walked through each layer to explore and understand, I couldn't not vicariously consider each idea through a lens of my own experience. The doer of behavior; the decider of happenings; the governor of what's allowed; the worshiper of what binds covenant. Each layer requires an agent, and in my experience, the agent is only ever me. Who am I?
This is a question that came to mind over and again: "Who am I?". Is it true that, "Who I am determines what I do?" Does addiction define me or is it somehow separate? These are questions I ask of my self.
Thank you! The model is brilliant and thought-provoking! While I've read each essay, I'm still digesting Layer 2
Hmmm. Interesting point, but it's possibly unresolvable. All humans, even the most committed saints, can still re-debate a principle they have committed to if the pressure becomes intense enough. And of course, many situations can have legitimate gray areas or have less than perfect information.
It seems likely that even someone who worships God and is committed to the principle that Life is sacred might still consider suicide or assisted suicide if in unremitting pain.
In reality, is there anything that a human truly cannot renegotiate if pressed hard enough? We have free will, which means we must continually choose, and sticking to even the highest principle is still an ongoing choice. That's what free will *means*. Even our commitment to love and worship God is always an ongoing choice that we could (and sometimes do) reverse in the exigency of a difficult moment.
John Adams recognized this dilemma when he wrote, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." Meaning that people must recognize a higher authority than themselves and be willing to submit to it in order to maintain a sense of order. The weakness, unfortunately, is that we all have our own perception of what that order and authority should be.
Institutional failure occurs when a system that cannot maintain the full grounding of authority under load descends into procedural continuation, then misrepresents that continuation as lawful authority.
As I walked through each layer to explore and understand, I couldn't not vicariously consider each idea through a lens of my own experience. The doer of behavior; the decider of happenings; the governor of what's allowed; the worshiper of what binds covenant. Each layer requires an agent, and in my experience, the agent is only ever me. Who am I?
This is a question that came to mind over and again: "Who am I?". Is it true that, "Who I am determines what I do?" Does addiction define me or is it somehow separate? These are questions I ask of my self.
Thank you! The model is brilliant and thought-provoking! While I've read each essay, I'm still digesting Layer 2
Hmmm. Interesting point, but it's possibly unresolvable. All humans, even the most committed saints, can still re-debate a principle they have committed to if the pressure becomes intense enough. And of course, many situations can have legitimate gray areas or have less than perfect information.
It seems likely that even someone who worships God and is committed to the principle that Life is sacred might still consider suicide or assisted suicide if in unremitting pain.
In reality, is there anything that a human truly cannot renegotiate if pressed hard enough? We have free will, which means we must continually choose, and sticking to even the highest principle is still an ongoing choice. That's what free will *means*. Even our commitment to love and worship God is always an ongoing choice that we could (and sometimes do) reverse in the exigency of a difficult moment.