Really, Really, REALLY Deep Thoughts

A question.

Where do we get our morals? As humans? Where do they come from? I sure as hell know it's not from religion, even though every religious person will argue that with me. Religious people choose morals the same way as the rest of us--they pick and choose, albeit from a divine list they read in scriptures, and then they use their own reasoning.

I watched Finley when I took away a toy--not just to be a bitch, I was getting her dressed, okay? She was FURIOUS. She wailed and screamed and her eyebrows furrowed. She knew what I did was unfair, injust, and plain old mean. She's ten months old. She hasn't been indoctrinated in any religion. She hasn't been taught right from wrong, because she doesn't respond to "go ahead" and "no no." Her mind is still stock--a little smarter than when she first emerged into the world, but wired on the same settings. Even she understands the morals of fair and unfair--and taking a toy from a baby to get her dressed in cute PJs, that's just unfair.

Our brains all have the potential to compute 2+2=4. In this same fashion, I think we can compute morality. We can make judgments with the same ease that you eventually learn to walk--it's instinctual and natural. Thinking about this through an evolutionary standard, it's always going to be in humanity's interest to cooperate peacefully--this way our ancestors could hunt, gather, create civilizations. The source of what we call "morals" is just the vast body of human experience trying to live with each other.

Learning is an evolutionary process, even when it comes to morals. As we become more educated and more socially experienced, so our moral judgment becomes more refined--like our taste in food or movies.

"Do unto others as you would be done by." The golden rule. It appears, in some form, in every major religious scripture, and it is biologically the rule to live by if you wish to survive. We are a social animal. No man is an island. Sure, there's the occasional bozo who decides to break against this code and pillage and plunder, and for the most part, those people crash hard, thus proving that morality is key to success.

But at what point does basic morality cross the line and become overzealous, obnoxious, micromanaging standards on every point of life? And what right do we have to impose those on one another? As far as Finley is concerned, the last thing I want to do is strip her of her basic reasoning skills, because I have another theory about morals.

People who are indoctrinated or brought up under strict moral authority lose their ability to fully judge situations with their own minds, and they eventually will just fall back on what they were told was right or wrong. I want Fin to learn to decide what is right and wrong. I never want her to doubt what her instincts tell her regarding a moral decision. I want her to feel my confidence in her being the best person to navigate her life. Sure, I have my own opinions regarding moral situations. I will certainly share them with her. I'll never impose them on her. I want her to explore.

I do, however, draw the line at exploring her own poop.