The Story: A hierarchy of values – which principle is more important?
There’s an old zen story about two monks travelling. They encounter a young lady who is having trouble crossing a river. One of the monks offers to help the woman, picks her up on his back and carries her across the river. A few miles down the road, the other monk turns to the first and says “Brother, you know we are not supposed to touch women. It is not appropriate for a monk.” The first monk says “I set her down on the river bank miles back – are you still carrying her?”
Most people have values that they try to live by, but most people also have situations in which they’re willing to overlook those values. Maybe it’s a case of them ignoring their principles to do indulge in something which they are tempted by in the moment… Or perhaps they are expressing a deeper need, a deeper value. Is it possible that our moments of perceived weakness, or deviation from our principles, may tell us more about us than we realise?
In this episode, Kurt continues the discussion about moral and ethical codes with Link McElvenny and Mr. J. We discuss the difference between technique and application, and the difference between technique and heart. We talk about being self-aware and empathetic while you’re creating art, and the possible pitfalls of that awareness. Other topics of conversation include the trolley problem, hypothetical philosophical questions in general, the value of abstract thinking, when principles must be ignored in favour of higher principles, reductionism and looking at people in their totality, and of course, the moral question of having consensual sex with dolphins.
Join us on a journey into a hypothetical dolphin-hugging artistic world of ideas in the next episode of … The Paradise Paradox!
The Eps:
A man’s gotta have a code Part 1
The Links:
Do people really screw dolphins
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