The beginning and foundation of morality -- of how to be individually and collectively happy -- consists of two fundamental principles which are understood by everybody. These two basic precepts are so common and present in people's day-to-day lives that they're continually being rediscovered and confirmed. The individual student of morality happens upon them and then teaches them anew to himself and his community -- and vice-versa -- no matter what culture or era he and his people belong to.
Even neolithics,
neanderthals, and probably homo erectus grasped these two basic concepts in a
fairly sophisticated and somewhat nuanced kind of way. And even animals know and practice some crude rudimentary version of this baseline, primitive, and
ineluctable moral code.
These two fundamental beliefs, truisms, laws,
institutions, ideas, and ideals are: A) A short-term loss is usually the best
way to a long-term gain, and B) It's usually more profitable to cooperate than compete. These two simple premises -- obvious as they are -- yield a
considerable amount of individual happiness if employed constantly,
intelligently, and wisely.
The first creed is the bedrock of personal
morality, mostly; the second creed is the bedrock of social morality,
mostly. These principles are known in a myriad of forms including: A) "work
hard", "plan ahead", "nothing ventured, nothing gained," "no pain, no gain,"
etc., and B) "gung ho," "you can gather more flies with honey than vinegar," "what goes around, comes around" the Golden Rule etc.
Morality as a discipline is probably best divided into
four categories:
1) the personal mental (and psycho-spiritual) 2) the personal
physical (and financial) 3) the social mental (and psycho-spiritual) and 4) the social physical (and financial).
Examples of these four categories are as follows:
1) the ideals of: reason, concentration, cognitive celerity,
cognitive profundity, perspicacity, logicality, good sense, common sense,
self-knowledge, introspection, rational 'exercise,' great prose, great
literature, great poetry and song, education, purpose, meaning, optimism,
confidence, peace of mind, open mind, pure heart, good humor, gentle nature,
sweet soul, high spirits, strong character, moral courage, intellectual honesty, integrity, nobility, saintliness, genius, greatness, heroicism, physical courage, adaptability, flexibility, ingenuity, creativity, inventiveness, imagination, dreams, fantasy, dance, humor, fun, entertainment, enthusiasm, energy, personal honesty, sanity, sobriety, self-discipline, non-self-delusion, non-tribalism, meditation, great art,
great minds, bracing soaring spirits, sublime ethereal empyreal transcendence, etc.
2) the ideals of: sports, exercise, vitamins, wide variety of food
and drink, fresh air, sunshine, moderate R and R, adequate sleep, yearly
physicals, avoiding death, avoiding injury and disease, avoiding pain, avoiding predators and parasites, avoiding and minimizing enemies, general security, longevity, mental ease, industry, frugality, vocational specialization, talent cultivation, ambition, networking, cooperation, leadership, loyal obedience, free market study, securities and investment study, material discovery and innovation, product and service and idea creativity, sex, etc.
3) the ideals of: loving the lovely and lovable, loving and admiring and respecting the good and great, being loyal to and aiding the prosperity of your friends and allies, showing hostility to and abetting the destruction of your enemies and opponents, keeping promises, privately excoriating and messing with the minds of evil, verbally teasing and torturing evil, speaking truth to power, intellectual leadership, eschewing a mindless mob mentality, verbally taking a stand, avoiding letting down and breaking the hearts of lovers and relatives and kids and intelligent animals especially pets, diminishing jealousy and competition, minimizing pity and pathos, general social honesty, general social respect and courtesy, tolerance, non-bigotry, magnanimity, friendliness, neighborliness, enthusiasm, energy, human decency, denouncing and fighting social evil publicly and seriously, assuming and carrying an easy triple-load or so of social responsibility and moral weight, opportunistically occasionally doing far more than this and being heroic by verbally pummeling social evil in a savage counterattack, etc.
4) the ideals of: liberty, justice, individual
rights, property rights, rights of man, rule of law and not men, freedom of
thought and emotion, freedom of philosophy and spirituality, freedom of
expression, freedom of movement, civil rights, political rights, privacy rights, republicanism, democracy, avoiding cult-of-personality and charismatic demagogic political leaders, avoiding slavery and torture and murder, avoiding beatings and theft, avoiding beating kids and intelligent animals, helping out in emergencies, physically standing up for what's right, getting revenge, avoiding criminals, avoiding borrowers and beggars, avoiding charity and mercy, opportunistically justly annihilating political illiberals, etc.
Many of these moral ideals naturally overlap and coincide. None truly contradict each other.
Of course, one can't help but notice that nowadays relatively few
of the examples and ideals cited above are dealt with in popular culture or taught in schools. Indeed, moral academies don't really exist; and religious houses are almost invariably highly counterproductive. Instead, a toweringly illiberal moral code of altruism and self-sacrifice -- as taught by the religious right and welfarist left -- practically sweeps the field of contemporary morality. Thus the serious and important topics mentioned above are mostly shunned or unknown. Morality today focuses on such usually false and deleterious ideals as: service, sharing, humility, acceptance, submission, patience, brotherhood, unanimity, unity, egality, etc. When several or more of these values are applied together it tends to cause immense unhappiness in the individual and his derivetive society.
The grand grim result of today's 200 year retreat and decline from liberal ethics is a modern credo of self-repudiation and societal destruction. This evil is heavily animated by a fierce and foolish opposition to primitively-conceived notions of "selfishness" and "greed." These beliefs, in turn, function in odd combination with a kind of loose and sloppy anything-goes amoralism which is heavily animated by primitively-conceived notions of "brotherhood" and "love." All of this is a giant perversion and betrayal of what morality is supposed to do and be.
Morality nowadays doesn't embrace the desiderata of
self-discipline, self-control, experience, maturity, and wisdom -- as in
Principle A above -- but rather something close to self-torture and suicide. Nor does morality today embrace the desiderata of social cooperation, peace, harmony, and a true brotherhood of man -- as in Principal B above -- but rather something close to that of social-servitude and slavery. The contemporary moral code -- which is virtually universal, unchallenged, and unquestioned -- badly warps and mostly negates both fundamental principles listed above. This constitutes a catastrophe for humanity.
It's worth noting that the most important and difficult part of
ethical theory -- category #1 or personal mental morality -- is also the part which is currently the least known, respected, studied, and understood. The result is a predictable, but nevertheless spectacular, near-universal unhappiness.
It's also worth noting that over the past 150 years or so -- courtesy of the invention of socialism and pure tyranny -- that whenever people think of "being moral" and "doing good," they focus the overwhelming majority of their attention on the least important and difficult part of ethical theory -- category #4 or social physical morality. And they do so quite badly. Everyone tries to "do the right thing" by promoting or even expanding government charity and the welfare state -- which nowadays supposedly constitutes "the end of history" political perfection. But in fact such welfarism is essentially governmental pure evil. It never works and it always hurts. The welfare state always destroys the welfare of the people. So when people today try to be virtuous politically, it's usually disastrous for mankind.
It's finally worth noting that over the past 2200 years or so --
courtesy of the invention of religion and pure irrationality -- that whenever
people think of "being moral" and "doing good," they also focus on unconditional love, universal tolerance, blanket forgiveness, charity, mercy, etc. Or at least they do so toward wicked people and acts. But in fact such amoralism is essentially societal pure evil. It never works and it always hurts. So when people today try to be virtuous socially, it's usually disastrous for mankind.
Whether conservative or progressive, in politics or philosophy, today's monopoly morality of altruism -- of servitude to "the other"-- is a kind of utter depravity and hyper-aggressive nihilism. It obliterates and sacrifices the self, which is the only thing that really even exists. It trashes the only thing in the world which is truly priceless and holy, invaluable and sacrosanct. Altruism is essentially the destruction of
everything in the universe -- or at least of everything good.
What today's world desperately needs is a modern and liberal morality with idealistic, realistic, and true ethical theories which promote long-term
socially-cooperative individualism, self-interest, and personal happiness. What this world has, instead, is a hideously illiberal morality of singular ineptitude and stunning evil which damns the individual and his society while flagitiously promoting the near infinite horrors of religion and the welfare
state.