There is no Tao

 

Yes, human, you´re jinxed! 

It seems that there is no “objective morality”, not at our level of reality at any rate. Down here, everything is just a struggle between different individual centers of Will-to-Power. “Morality” either means that your Will to Power dominates everyone else around you, that somebody else´s Will to Power dominate you, or that you and others have to strike a pragmatic compromise since none of you can defeat the other. That´s all “morality” is: a temporary truce between individuals who are (in most cases) forced to live together regardless of whether such a truce is reached or not. And “society” is nothing else than a necessary community for (hopefully mutual) survival. Everything else is just idealistic idealization.

But aren´t humans talking about something real, when they appeal to objective rules for conduct? That is, when they appeal to objective rules of morality? No, why should that be the case? Nobody thinks the ancient Egyptians were referring to anything “objective” when they claimed that their morality came from their gods. Everyone seems to agree that they were just making shit up. The Egyptian gods were non-existent or really demons. Yet, we are supposed to believe that the Jewish god is real and offered us something objective. Why? So no, nobody is referring to something real when they claim that morality is objective, or even hyper-cosmic. It´s just a game, an (ig)noble lie of the kind called out (and supported by) Plato already 2,400 years ago in “Republic”. Do some people believe it? Of course, just as some people believed in the ancient Egyptian gods. Or perhaps in confidence scams.

And no, there is no “Tao”. Different cultures have strikingly different moral codes (some of them bizarre). Sure, there is in-group solidarity, but that goes for both the Waffen-SS and the Society of Friends. And where does the border of the in-group go anyway?

For the record, I don´t rule out the existence of an objective morality…somewhere. Maybe it really is hyper-cosmic (indeed, it must be if it´s “objective”) but presently unknown, since we lack the sixth sense to perceive it. Some esoteric schools have suggested this. But if so, we won´t get the ability to perceive moral values until perhaps millions of years into the future! Meanwhile, the people can only be restrained by sticks or bribed by carrots (and games…and perhaps a ham sandwich?), so they won´t start killing each other like mad apes. Or people can create a seemingly utopian community, isolated from other communities, in which there is a permanent balance or truce between everyone´s Will to Power. Good luck!

A buddha will always be misunderstood. He/she/it has reached such a high elevation that nobody understands what he/she/it is doing…or becoming. Communication with the multitude becomes impossible. Thus, no moral guidance can come from such a source. We can only gasp in wonder at his actions (or pick up a rock and try to stone him).

Such is the human predicament.