Gassebon's Desk --- War against war
Range . . .
What
Gassebon is on about
If life is what you have and happiness is what you seek, what ways do we have to go by? The causes of joy and suffering that we can influence directly are in both the realms of mind and of matter. As seekers of the truth it seems as though everything we know flows from the same original principal. In practice however, our human limitations in powers of observation and of knowledge confine us to applying reason to what we understand to be true.
The concepts / subjects that Gassebon attempts to understand and attempts to bring into a coherent perspective for the sake of peace and prosperity include, in random order : Reason and belief • Boundaries without conflict • Innate qualities of currency • Individualism and community • Inequality as a given • Requirements for fulfilment towards happiness • Trade • Fear & 'Explorativity' • The watershed between Left and Right • 'Countries' and alternatives • Qualities of capital • Land • Phases of human development • Elevating the target • Relating to the present • Are the evils of capitalism the evils of capitalism? • Conservation of qualities and treasures • Modes of the mind • Is war productive? • Relative fortunes • Shifting the focus? • Availability of productive capital • Orientation of the lawmaker's minds • Common denominators • The limits of logic • Crime and fulfilment • Requirements for happiness • A simple perspective • Interim designs • ...
Given the value of individual performance both outside and within the context of our inevitable community of existence, Gassebon values individual freedom as a productive istitution. A quest for happiness is a common denominator for all. Likewise are selfishness and ignorance though, --- only some are less selfish and some less ignorant. So for any relatively free society to work, we need a sound and simple mutual understanding of what goes and what does not.
To cope with selfishness in ignorance in the context of community, the nations of the present world we live in have developed systems of law and of government of various kinds, all basically to regulate the tendency toward selfishness inherent in virtually all of us. For the sake of productive orientation towards ever increasing standards of living, it seems desireable to have the parameters of whatever systems we design to this end adjusted to maximise opportunity for all and to minimise compromise on freedom. At the one extreme a sensible limit of liberty may be seen as the freedom to act within the constraints of not diminishing the quality of life of others. On the other hand effective fulfilment of the needs of the less productive might lessen the burdens of social disparity. Nothing is new : the principles involved have been with us for a number of millenia, only time and again to be overrun by an egocentric fervour in fear of the unknown. Every perspective may reveal a different aspect of the problems we face from day to day
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Just by the way : Gassebon on Guns, Legalise Slavery !
. . . fanciful aspirations, but we'll get there yet!
In time you will find more hidden links to definitions etc. in the text.