[MD] Moral Responsibility without free will

[X Acto]

Marsha had said:
Hi Ron,

What I actually presented to dmb, which he chose to ignore, was the following:


*** ON AN ETHICAL CODE:

"Dharma, like rta, means 'what holds together.' It is the basis of all order. It equals righteousness. It is the ethical code. It is the stable condition which gives man perfect satisfaction.

"Dharma is duty. It is not external duty which is arbitrarily imposed by others.  It is not any artificial set of conventions which can be amended or repealed by legislation. Neither is it internal duty which is arbitrarily decided by one's own conscience. Dharma is beyond all questions of what is internal and what is external. Dharma is Quality itself, the principle of 'rightness' which gives structure and purpose to the evolution of all life and to the evolving understanding of the universe which life has created."  -  (RMP, LILA: Chapter 30)



"When early Western investigators first read the Buddhist texts they too interpreted nirvana as some kind of suicide. There's a famous poem that goes:

    While living,
    Be a dead man.
    Be completely dead,
    And then do as you please.
    And all will be well.

"It sounds like something from a Hollywood horror-film but it's about nirvana. The Metaphysics of Quality translates it:

    While sustaining biological and social patterns
    Kill all intellectual patterns.
    Kill them completely
    And then follow Dynamic Quality
    And morality will be served.
...

"The Metaphysics of Quality translated karma as 'evolutionary garbage.' That's why it sounded so funny as the name of a boat. It seemed to suggest she had arrived in Kingston on a garbage scow. Karma is the pain, the suffering that results from clinging to the static patterns of the world. The only exit from the suffering is to detach yourself from these static patterns, that is, to 'kill' them."  -  (RMP, LILA: Chapter 32)




Ron replies:
Hello Marsha, I think the difficulty in understanding arises from how you yourself resolve Dharma with killing all static patterns
it would seem to be contrary notions in conflict. Perhaps you can explain how you resolve the two.




thnx