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This is something that has been interesting me for a while. The phrase 'All people are created equal' obviously does not mean that people are 'equal in ability.' Selena Gomez is not capable of running the same distance as Usain Bolt with the same physical regime. That kid with ADHD probably won't be able to become a doctor no matter how hard his parents push him as opposed to a normal slacker kid who would be able to achieve more with less effort. Humans have different variations that exclude them from doing certain things. It’s just a fact of life.
What is controversial however is the deeper meaning of ‘equality in value’. Even though humans may not be equal in what they are capable of, they do have an ‘inherent’ value…at least that’s what most people believe, but from societies actions I beg to differ.
Take a scenario in somewhere like Australia. I as a 19yr old Australian woman kill two people in two different and independent scenarios. In the first one, I murder a 19yr old African boy who was born in Australia, lives in a middle class area and has a small circle of friends. In the second scenario, I murder a 19yr old white girl born in Australia who was born in the same middle class area with a similar social circle in terms of numbers and popularity to the African man. Now... think we can be certain which one I would get a longer prison sentence for; the white girl. Not only that, but it’s obvious which story the Australian community will feel more sympathetic towards Even though they had the same social standing in their community and grew up with similar childhoods, people would feel less sympathetic towards the black African boy.
This is just one example and it’s not restricted to my fantasy scenario of two young adults in Australia. Some people are simply not valued in comparison to others. Socioeconomic status, race, gender, age etc. Makes someone of ‘low’ value or ‘high value. From an economic standpoint this isn’t true. Black customers and white customers all need and use money, regardless of how undesirable society may see them as (i.e. slave plantations in South).
But we know that no matter how much Mom and Dad tell little Jim and Jane that working hard, being a person decent, polite and respectful person will overcome prejudices in life, it won’t. Jane will grow up to be more desired and always have a minimum circle of friends simply because she’s a woman whereas Jim will get less help and have a harder time getting things like relationship, intimacy from women or men.
Thoughts?
To break it down, if you're talking about "All men are created equal" from the US's Declaration of Independence, then that's a pretty loaded term.
It doesn't mean everyone is equal, but rather "God" or the creator has given all "men" (humans) the ability to have (a)life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It doesn't say that we are all equal.
Now personally I believe we should strive to be equal in other ways and the Declaration of Independence intimates at that but doesn't explicitly say it.
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Yes there are things we will never be able to do concerning our ability, and yes there are still prejudices regarding race and gender, looks and other things. But it should the the goal of our society to be equitable to groups that aren't us.
And so far Western society has been pretty decent at doing so, though there's obviously a lot work to be done on this front.
In the example of the white girl vs. black boy it's a question of understanding and the ability to relate. It's just that much more difficult to have empathy if you aren't familiar with the "opposite" side. That's not necessarily bad or good it just is, and the end goal would be to cultivate empathy for all. You do this with education, openness and authentic exposure to the other side.
In a way we should have logical empathy, which after a quick Google search seems impossible to do, but I believe sounds like how we should progress as a society.
Here's one to throw a monkey wrench into your premise -
In American Black men were given the right to vote fifty years before any woman was. And we still haven't had a woman President. Yet women are fully half of the population.
I sort of agree with Harhar.
Founding Fathers, officially Christinas, unofficially Masons, knew a thing or two about "human".
From religious and Masonic perspective, all people are created equal. In their essence. Call it "soul" or whatever you want to. God part. Then it is brought into body>family>society and those factors by far are not equal.
Philosophically speaking, I'd suggest to separate notion of spiritual part of a human and notion of body>personality>citizen>physical abilities, etc. They are definitely not same and not equal to everyone.
But, on spiritual side, it is said that everyone already is a buddha. Simply is not aware of this. In that respect - yes, sure, all are CREATED equal.
I sort of agree with Harhar.
Founding Fathers, officially Christinas, unofficially Masons, knew a thing or two about "human".
From religious and Masonic perspective, all people are created equal. In their essence. Call it "soul" or whatever you want to. God part. Then it is brought into body>family>society and those factors by far are not equal.
Philosophically speaking, I'd suggest to separate notion of spiritual part of a human and notion of body>personality>citizen>physical abilities, etc. They are definitely not same and not equal to everyone.
But, on spiritual side, it is said that everyone already is a buddha. Simply is not aware of this. In that respect - yes, sure, all are CREATED equal.
Pretty sure the founding fathers were not Christians...
Everyone is equal, but some people are more equal than others :]
It's a morass of comparison-insanity trying to figure out if one person is more "worthwhile" than another. It's actually sociopathic.
One very high form of morality is a basic Buddhist tenant, wherein we vow that "sentient beings are innumerable, I vow to save them all". This applies to all living beings that are sentient, not just to humans, and save means saved from suffering and delusion, not in any sort of Christian idea of "saved". Of course I can't save everyone, it's an aspiration, but it means never let up, never be complacent, that there is always someone or something in the daily lives of each of us that needs our help.
The whole idea of the practice is to live each moment as if it were our last (as it may very well be) and not cause harm to any other living being if we can possibly help it, AND to actively work towards social justice and liberation for everyone from the bug to the cat to the person, all as one. It's also a formula for reducing the suffering in our own lives and making the world a better place, which brings happiness to others as well as ourselves. Without a higher purpose to our lives, our lives are wasted and w/o meaning. Many Buddhists lineages have gotten far away from this and attach too much importance to scriptures and such, just as many Christian churches are far away from what Jesus taught and have become caught up in words on a page. Words that were specific to that moment in time and directed to specific people. Assuming that any of what is written down is actually what happened anyway. In both instances of Jesus and Buddha, the writing was done long, long after these people died. We can intuit the truths by living them in our lives and seeing if they work w/o attaching to the words themselves. It's helpful to remember that Christ was not a Christian and Buddha was not a Buddhist.
The true teaching is not the teaching that is written down, it is the teaching that is actually lived moment to moment in awareness and put into effect in the world. This is true of all philosophies and all religions. When the dogmatists begin to write things down and attach to that rather than the actual wisdom behind the writings, you can kiss any sort of truth, equality and goodness goodby.
Last edited by smarino; 12-15-2016 at 02:57 PM..
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