Morality: Between Pancasila, Religious Doctrines and Other Values

It all began here and then I posted that article on my twitter and my editor began to ask me:

@trugiaz so what's your perspective on the matter? re: moral article.

And I said I couldn't write it in 140 words, nor do I wanted to make a series of lectures, so I suppose Notion is the place to go.

To start, I have no exact idea where the Indonesian's obsession of morality come from; it could come from the last 32 years during the Soeharto era, it could come from the East tradition (respect your elders, your country etc), it could come from religions or it could be learn from the society or cultures. Anyway, as the article mentioned there are increasing number of obsession on morality and unfortunately this uphold of the morality is still pretty much a double standard issue.

Why double standard? because the people who impose such laws, governance or rules are immune of this moral code they passed. They expect people to follow them but they didn't want to follow it by themselves. Take a look at the porn loving legislature, Arifinto. He keep porn in his tablet (that's right sir, I don't buy your so-called email link excuses), get caught watching it in a plenary session, forced to step down from his position and till this date he's still in the parliament (waiting for recess period he said) and no police officer to take him to jail, but a man who make porn for himself (not distributing it) is caught and get 3.5 years in jail time. For more information this Arifinto is a member of the PKS (Justice and Prosperous Party) which pushed the Pornographic Bill (and according to this it's illegal to posses, download and distribute pornographic material but not) to be legalized, then when this kind of incident happen they said that the action that he did (stepping down) is already more than enough.

and let's leave that double standard issue with the infamous saying:

What. The. F**k?

Let's head back and see the questions that my editor is asking:

Is there a standard for morality?

In my opinion yes, there's a standard. I believe that there are raw, unrefined values of morality that all the people in the world could agree regardless of their views or beliefs. As I understand it nowadays we have so many  moral values surrounding us, these come in the form of religious dogma or  logical consequences of our action however the principles behind it are the same. In Indonesia, this standards of morality or the raw, unrefined values of morality came in the form of Pancasila (the five principles) or to be precise it's the 5 principles and its 45 points and I'd say that the best ever values known to mankind. Why? because since its birth it balances between the liberal view and the socialism, it also acknowledged religious values yet at the same time not taking side of one religious dogma.

Can moral virtues be taught in classes?

Again I would say yes, moral virtues can be taught in classes, however it would need more than just classroom to taught about morals. The homes, the parents are the first and foremost place and people responsible for teaching this moral virtues. A classroom, would act as a place for the children to practice their moral understanding by interacting with society (IMHO classroom/school is just a smaller model of society) and at the same time teaching them about the more complex understanding of morality. Returning from my point above I believe the values of Pancasila need to be taken in seriousness by the ministry of education, not only as a main subject to be taught but also a guideline on how to shape the future Indonesians.

In my final words, I would say that we now live in a strange time and age, where Pancasila has been degraded and understood only as a statue of Garuda with a shield on its chest and its values are no longer considered as part of our identity but at the same time there's an increase of nationalism. I believe simply because that Pancasila as a moral guidelines doesn't offer anything like any religious doctrines, it doesn't offer 72 virgins like when you defend your religion nor it would punish you into the depths of hell if you don't follow it. Nationalism on the other hand although it is also a part of one's identity would not have anything to do with moral values.

It must be understood by anyone, not just the government that if we want to live in a country like Indonesia, we can't depend on morality which is based on one religious doctrines or even only the view of the majority. If we want to live in  Indonesia we need to follow that value of morality which respect and acknowledge the differences. Therefore my suggestions regarding this moral issues are simple; reinstate our belief in Pancasila, our standards of morality and apply its values in our everyday life.

To Embrace Changes

ACCOMMODATING POINT,, Paulo Coelho wrote on 11FEB2010,, In one of my books (The Zahir), I try to understand why people are so afraid of changing. When I was right in the middle of writing the text, I came across an odd interview with a woman who had just written a book on – guess what? – love.

The journalist asks whether the only way a human being can become happy is to find their beloved. The woman says no:

“Love changes, and nobody understands that. The idea that love leads to happiness is a modern invention, dating from the late 17th century. From that time on, people have learned to believe that love should last for ever and that marriage is the best way to exercise love. In the past there was not so much optimism about the longevity of passion.

“Romeo and Juliet isn’t a happy story, it’s a tragedy. In the last few decades, expectation has grown a lot regarding marriage being the path towards personal accomplishment. Disappointment and dissatisfaction have also grown at the same time.”

According to the magical practices of the witchdoctors in the North of Mexico, there is always an event in our lives that is responsible for our having stopped making progress. A trauma, a particularly bitter defeat, disappointment in love, even a victory that we fail to quite understand, ends up making us act cowardly and incapable of moving ahead. The witchdoctor finds and gets rid of this “accommodating point”. To do so, he has to review our life and discover where this point lies.

Why?

Because, according to the story that we were told, at a certain moment in our lives “we reach our limit”. There are no more changes to be made. We won’t grow any more. Both professionally and in love, we have reached the ideal point, and it’s best to leave things as they are. But the truth is that we can always go further. Love more, live more, risk more.

Immobility is never the best solution. Because everything around us changes (including love) and we must accompany that rhythm.

I have been married to the same person for 30 years, but methaphorically speaking, the same marriage contains several “new marriages” during our relationship. Our bodies and souls changed, and we are still togeher. If we wanted to keep on as we were in 1979, I don’t think we would have come so far.

In my humble opinion:

I agree with the concept of changes and moving in the the part of our life, especially in the term of marriage or just simply living our life. but then again, but people are sometimes too afraid to move forward and just learn something new. They afraid to leave their comfort zones.

In our life we are controlled by several sets of rules which are given to us in various forms like constitutions, religious dogma and protocols, but it is our decision to break or upkeep those rules and to live our life like we wanted to be.

Why?

Because I believe we live only once and life itself it's a process of trial and errors. We learn something new and we'll discover something due to those changes. This will bring me to my next believe; changes in life are never bad, even though how scary it would be. This is simply because through changes you'll learn new things and by learning those things you'll have the experiences to teach your offspring how life should be lived.

The conclusion that I want to make is I'm all agree with Coelho with his point regarding the changes in life, the big or the small, the significant or non-significant and expected or unexpected. It's just the matter whether we want to embrace it or not.

Breathless

This is not about when I think that 24 hours is no longer enough for me. This is about myself hardly have time for me.

Juggling creativity, responsibility and to put it all into an activity with my company are leaving me often breathless.

When the only time that my sanctity is intact is when I am in the toilet cubicle.

Double edged sword I must say. Last time it’s company and activity that I seek, now it’s the tranquility and the ever rare serenity.

And yet after experiencing both, I still don’t know what I want yet alone what I need.

The Times They Are a Changin'

I have plenty to write but I did not seems to know how to start. But here it goes: The Beginning of The Spiraling Madness

I've always said to myself and to others, that changes whatever the form it would be is always a great thing to do. Not only it allows you to embark and see new stuff, experience new things and learning about all possibilities.

But then again when changes come in rapidly I myself have to struggle and keeping my head above the water.

Would things be better without the rapid changes then? I always ask that question to myself.

Let's start on the beginning the very beginning: the decision to join the workforce, experience the world and have yourself shaped by the mock cruelty of the world are all the words and descriptions that my mother would tell me when I asked that I still want to stay in the fortress. Now after a year almost passed, I think that the words and descriptions have been ringing true. Then again I didn't expect it be like this.

Swift and powerful it may seems but the changes are chronically over and over sweeping me off my feet.

And when the time to breathe come, I hardly believe that things that surround me have been wildly changes without I even allowing or prohibiting it from.

It's  the same feeling that arises when you're getting kidnapped, blindfolded and taken to a place that you did not know existed and getting executed without knowing who or for what matter you're deserve to get such treatment.

Such is life they say, you'll never get what you want or what you deserve. But later on you'll see that those you get are what you'll need.

Now time already passed, but still the past haunts me every  now and then.

Logic and Emotion

Come to think of it, the matters that happen to me are probably because of the everlasting clash between logic and emotion. No matter what the head say it's always the heart that leads.

Such matter caused by this is always wrenching, because no matter what I argument would I say, I always be in the losing side. then again I'm having my argument with emotional being after all.

Tiring as it may seems, it serves me as a reminder from time to time.

Profound New Tiredness

Liberation.yes.  I do feel liberated after all the events surrounding me unfolded.

Betrayed.yes. what can I say? do I imagine that these kind of things will happen to me? not if I am able to know what happens behind my back.

But then again I did feel tired.

I felt that I just want to sleep in the everlasting storms that had come and will come to me.

I wanted to be swept away by those storms, carried over to the calm. waking up in a state of newborn, without memories. Blank as the white paper.

But as I said, that's what I want, not what I need, and it's not me who decide what I need or which one I do not need.

Then I kept my head high and lead my way out. Till to the point that I almost have no time for myself.

Such again tiredness come to me, not as the storm. But as the struggle. Strangely enough I do feel that this will last even longer. I do feel that contentment and fulfillment is merely a concept, an imagination or fatamorgana to be exact.

It is as bleak as my future. Unimaginable beyond the point of age that I have now.

Such these are the words of me. In which I hope peace and grace would've come easily.

But if the struggle it is to be. Then what can I say?

"Protect me from what I want but give me what I need"

Cheers

ALIFEINADAY

WAKEUPS AYTHEPRAYER

EREPEATRAINING

IZMODO

VERHEARDINNEWYORK

OMPAS

IGNTHEACKNOWLEDGEMENT

WITTER

EADSOP

OSTABLOGENTRY

OUTUBE

ARNSOME

NGADGET

ABLETALK

EEPSOMETHINGOFF

ACEBOOK

ATABOLISM

ETABOLISM

ACINTOSH

ACKTHELIFE

COLOGICALMEASURE

ND.

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Such is life

And after all that, the sun would still rises on the east

the world is still keeping its pace.

time is as cruel as ever, crushing many behind.

our mind is still free and wild as it could be

but our body restricted the mind, once and always 

such is life.

Today I See

An act of stupidity combined with self fulfilled ignorance fueled with arrogance. And I wonder, where has humanity been?

Have it not waken up by the reality? in which it does not only bite but also bark

Have it still lost its way in the dark? fooled by many, tempted by others?

Today I see this, and many more on the days to come. Cheers ---------------- Now playing: Spoon - You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb

Exhausting

I'm tired OK, too tired, and I've come to realization that age is not just a number, If people said they could enjoy life in their oldies I doubt that and I doubt it as well when people said that the older they get the wiser they are. Looking back to my life then and now, all I wanted is just to life with people who understand, in a world where our hearts could speak louder than our tongues, in a world where hypocrisy could not be covered by clothing alone, in a world where shallowness is just there as a reading materials and entertainments and none of characteristics possessed by human.

I wish there is someplace like that, so that I wouldn't wish for my eternal rest once in every time now.

Cheers

---------------- Now playing: Klaxons - Magick

Sign of the times?

As we grow older, so does the world around us, and along with it, the walls and boundaries which keeping us apart. Ideas and knowledge are growing exponentially, increasing the number of people who survives on their own, leaving behind many bastions of conservatives which unable to move along with the stream.

The people are the same faces we seen everyday in our life, but somehow, now they're alien to the people around them, leaving everybody questioning about the changes that they've seen but not expected.

Conservative dogma are somehow jewels of the past, which glorious brightness are fading away, not because they have lost theirs but because we set our eyes to another thing that is more important, ourselves.

And how does people deal with their own species? derived from the idea of the glorious past and newfound future, they mixed it, making ways to construct relationships and manage them, but somehow it is not able to replace what have been lost.

Cherishes and laughs are somehow present, but they would go as soon as they have come, because the minds are taking it away. They say it couldn't breed passion, because it's driven from fear and hate. Funny isn't it? we love to hate but we hate to love.

So I asked myself, "is this the sign of the times?" or simply another face of the modern life?

Cheers

---------------- Now playing: The Rakes - The World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect