In the Cathedral where his dead fiancee lies in state, Dominic Flandry asks her for a sign but does not believe that he receives one. Some might interpret the voice of the priest chanting as a sign. I have just watched a TV episode in which Father Brown's adversary, Hercule Flambeau, narrowly escapes the death penalty. What matters is how we have lived and are living. We imagine hereafters in which we are judged, assessed, condemned etc for how we have lived. What matters now is how we are living now.
In haste. Think about it.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteNo, I believe the hereafter is real, so what we do now matters both in and after our earthly lives.
Ad astra! Sean
I see no reason to accept belief in a hereafter. If you had been brought up as an Evangelical, Muslim, Spiritualist etc, then your conception of a hereafter would have been completely different and entirely based on your upbringing, not on any evidence.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteAnd there is no reason to believe as you do. Moreover, if there is no God then it does not matter how well or badly we live.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteIf there is no God, there is every reason to live well. We have to live with ourselves.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteDisagree, if there is nothing after death, then it doesn't matter how well or badly you live. There are plenty of criminals, monsters, tyrants, etc., who make it plain that is how they think. So I believe you to be in error.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteDisagree. I am not in error. It matters to me and to others how I live now.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteBut not, going by the logic of your mistaken philosophy, after death. There are plenty of people, such as the hopefully soon overthrown Syrian tyrant Assad, who don't care how evilly they live. At most some will restrain how badly they live merely from prudence.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteI find your arguments insensitive. My philosophy is not definitely mistaken. It is just the best that I can come up with at present. I do not deny that there are people who do not care how evilly they live. But, for some of us, it does matter very much how we live here and now. I care whether I have behaved insensitively or uncompassionately, which I have done.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteApologies for the insensitivity. I'll simply say we are going to have to agree to disagree.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteBut you cannot disagree with me about whether I care about how I behave towards others!
Paul.
Sean,
ReplyDeleteIs your attitude to tyrants partly dependent on which of the Great Powers they are allied to?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteNo, Putin is a tyrant (some of the ex-Soviets republics are ruled by tyrants beholden to Moscow), Xi is a tyrant, most of Africa is ruled by tyrants, etc. With some of those African despots virtual clients of China. The US and the alliances it leads is the only really powerful defender of any kind of freedom.
Analogous to the situation faced by the Terran Empire and its allies and clients in the Technic stories.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteYou cannot disagree with me about whether I care about how my actions affect others.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteAnd I do not. Despite me thinking, going by your logic, it would not matter to you after death.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteIt won't matter to me after my death. But it does matter to me now! I would be devastated if I had negligently caused serious harm to someone. There are people who would not care about this but some of us do. Surely this point is obvious?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious to me.
Ad astra! Sean
But you seemed to be disagreeing about something.
ReplyDeleteKaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteYes, but about points already discussed above in this combox. No need to repeat them.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ReplyDeleteYou thought that sceptics could not have a conscience.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
ReplyDeleteNo, not you, or even most who disbelieve in the supernatural.
Ad astra! Sean