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Help[Facts] Re: OT: Salve to Phyllis cont'd & Opinion Poll for All on "Evil"
in reply to a message by Nanaea
6. Stick deodorant -- if you've used it on a cold morning, you damn well know why.
5. That not a real enough answer? Try the original: "LOVE of
money". True then, true now.
5. That not a real enough answer? Try the original: "LOVE of
money". True then, true now.
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Replies
"Stick deodorant" is a highly plausible choice, I'll give you that. :) And, yes, I was aware of the original quote.
But, honestly, Daividh. Do you *truly* believe that love of money is *evil*? Were it not for our love of money, would most of us have been motivated to attain the careers we now enjoy? Were it not for our love of money, would we be able to provide ourselves (and our families) with the lifestyles which many of us enjoy?
What, exactly, is so evil about loving money? Or with success? Or with any of the lifestyle perks that go with money and success? "Money" represents "independence" to most of us. Freedom from want. Freedom to do as we please. There's nothing "evil" in loving that. :)
So long as we *earn* that money, why feel any accompanying guilt over it?
No, I'm afraid I don't agree with you on this one. Love of money is not the root of all evil. Although, I will grant you that a love of money (as with a perverted love of practically *anything*) can be a dark thing for nuturing genuine evil -- but not all people who love money turn that into a dark thing. Many times, love of money can be a positive thing.
-- Nanaea
But, honestly, Daividh. Do you *truly* believe that love of money is *evil*? Were it not for our love of money, would most of us have been motivated to attain the careers we now enjoy? Were it not for our love of money, would we be able to provide ourselves (and our families) with the lifestyles which many of us enjoy?
What, exactly, is so evil about loving money? Or with success? Or with any of the lifestyle perks that go with money and success? "Money" represents "independence" to most of us. Freedom from want. Freedom to do as we please. There's nothing "evil" in loving that. :)
So long as we *earn* that money, why feel any accompanying guilt over it?
No, I'm afraid I don't agree with you on this one. Love of money is not the root of all evil. Although, I will grant you that a love of money (as with a perverted love of practically *anything*) can be a dark thing for nuturing genuine evil -- but not all people who love money turn that into a dark thing. Many times, love of money can be a positive thing.
-- Nanaea
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It's important to differentiate between the *need* for money and the *love* of money, i.e., greed.
As I often tell my hordes of admiring minions, we ain't there because we love to build forktrucks, we're basically there to provide for our families, and what we're doing is a legit means to that end.
Ambition and a desire for success are about more than money, fortunately. But all too often we've seen wars fought over the desire for economic gain, and decisions in business motivated entirely to increase the personal bottom line, far beyond what's needed to live comfortably or even to prosper.
In the latter case, the result is otherwise-sound companies ruined by merger or takeover, careers and lives turned out to pasture to maximize someone's stock return, and the shift of jobs overseas to further line someone's pockets. If that's not evil, I don't know what is. Maybe not the root of ALL evil, but bad enough.
As I often tell my hordes of admiring minions, we ain't there because we love to build forktrucks, we're basically there to provide for our families, and what we're doing is a legit means to that end.
Ambition and a desire for success are about more than money, fortunately. But all too often we've seen wars fought over the desire for economic gain, and decisions in business motivated entirely to increase the personal bottom line, far beyond what's needed to live comfortably or even to prosper.
In the latter case, the result is otherwise-sound companies ruined by merger or takeover, careers and lives turned out to pasture to maximize someone's stock return, and the shift of jobs overseas to further line someone's pockets. If that's not evil, I don't know what is. Maybe not the root of ALL evil, but bad enough.
1
Yes, you're absolutely right on that account. "Maybe not the root of ALL evil, but bad enough."
Okay, I'll tell you now how I would have answered my own question. While "ignorance" is way up there in my estimation of what truly encompasses the root of all evil, there is something else which is far more insidious...
And that is: Excess.
"Excess" is the genuine root of all evil. Excess in love, excess in ambition, excess in religion, excess even in ignorance.
When human beings neglect to maintain a sane balance in their lives, in their desires, in their ethics, in their *everything*, the evil of excess is what results.
*Anything* can lead to genuine evil, when taken to excess.
-- Nanaea
Okay, I'll tell you now how I would have answered my own question. While "ignorance" is way up there in my estimation of what truly encompasses the root of all evil, there is something else which is far more insidious...
And that is: Excess.
"Excess" is the genuine root of all evil. Excess in love, excess in ambition, excess in religion, excess even in ignorance.
When human beings neglect to maintain a sane balance in their lives, in their desires, in their ethics, in their *everything*, the evil of excess is what results.
*Anything* can lead to genuine evil, when taken to excess.
-- Nanaea
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