Category: philosophy/religion topics
I wish my former friend would have started this himself, he would be a more passionate debater on this issue. I'll try however, I tend to disagree with everything except some forms of honor.
anyway, on topic, so....., what do these term mean? exactly? are these concepts right? why are these things so important or why are they not? so forth. discuss!
I will only discuss one of them: honor.
Nobody talks about it, except to say "your honor" and the majority religions don't really recognize it or they abuse it.
Honor simply means doing what you said, abiding by your internal compass. This isn't some fluffy bunny concept of just do any old thing: the internal compass or conscience of a mature person is thinking about the effects of actions. People overuse the word consequences, which is accurate, but by that they usually mean negative, or disciplinary, or externally imposed - Nanny State or Nanny Church spanked me.
But when I consider bearing myself with honor, which I do consider somewhat regularly, the two Great Nannys have no place. Honor is what creates freedom rather than dependence or brokenness or neediness. I don't think it has anything to do with Victorian romantic notions of chivalry or slaying a dragon, so much as it does owning your own stuff, making the very best of the situation you've been dealt, and where possible, leave places better than you found them.
If you want to read about honor, read Norse and Celtic mythology. There's quite a bit of archetypal constructs there. I don't believe it's got anything to do with romantic or socially-inspired notions, or the will of the two great welfare queens - the Church and the State. It's what you have when nobody's looking and it's what you have to live with when you look inside you with no excuses and no fluffy stuff, and no superimposed dogmas. That's why people have died with honor, not as martyrs hoping for some future reward, but died protecting family and country, or died after ensuring through a lifetime of work that their remaining family will be provided for, or died in the throes of rescuing someone else.
I think people don't talk about honor for two reasons: The Two Wellfare Queens, the Church and the State, are afraid of honorable people because people relying on their honor cannot so easily be controlled by zeal, dogma, or a false sense of victimization. The second reason, there's no place for excuses with one's honor. Sure, there are reasons, but an explanation is not an excuse.
I've said more than once, when apologizing to someone, "Yes, I can provide an explanation, but I have no excuse." This to me is honor because an explanation denotes understanding which can lead to reparation and not doing the same thing again. An excuse is just a way to make the other person pay a second time, and I'm not buying it personally. Also I cannot assume loyalty of others, nor will I simply give it because the other believes they or the organization deserves it. Loyalty although deep, is earned, just like respect. There is no entitlement for it. The one exception is to my daughter who could never have earned it but is my child. Others who have it, earned it.
A personal sense of honor makes control freaks, be they people or infrastructures, very afraid. And that fear makes me very happy.