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IFISEEUS
"There are a thousand hacking at the
branches of evil |
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The Special Challenge of Equality I have asked everyone with whom I associate whether they would rather have inferiors, superiors, or equals as their friends. Invariably the latter is clearly preferred. Fellowship with human peers is the acme of social fulfillment. We can love our pets, love our servants or underlings, but our deepest, truest love can only be engendered by those that are equal. The prevailing and most fundamental dogma of the world's major religions is that the Creator is inherently transcendent (read alien) and superior. Challenge this and you will be considered a blasphemer, worthy of scorn and ridicule by those religious elements that are constrained by the civil state, while others not so restrained will consider it a duty as well as a privilege to serve god by killing you. The concept of equality with the Creator gets their attention bigtime. Nevertheless, any Creator worthy of the term "God" must not be alien to us in terms of purpose and values. Given this premise, it is only reasonable that the creator created other beings for his fellowship and not for some other less than noble purpose such as slavery, military minions, or even something even more nefarious. The challenge, of course, was to create equals or peers. Equality cannot be created in or injected into by another being. As soon as you can create or inject equality, you are inherently superior and equality vaporizes. It can be extended to another being, but it must be chosen by them to be other than a farce or facade. When obvious differences exist, equality only comes when the other, created with the potential to be equal, chooses to accept that equality when it is extended. I have asked many red-blooded men what they would create if they were all alone in the universe and if they had godlike creative power. The almost consistent answer was, "A woman." The one exception blurted out with a playful grin, "Trouble." I knew what he meant. But what kind of woman? The next question after the list of fantasy specifications was elicited is the aim of the exercise. So you have this perfect dream of a female creature there looking at you with interest. You have given her every female physical feature, you have endowed her with a beautiful voice, graceful movement, and you have programmed her with intelligence and all the knowledge that you have. Is this anything more than a humanoid? Is this really a woman? No. Can you really be in love with such a thing? No. What is missing? Volition of course, and not just volition but volition used to choose equality. Any aspect of a fulfilling relationship is ignoble if she can't and isn't free to say no. Given the above impossibility and challenge, the potential is there for a new being or new family to NOT choose equality. Yet, it is really not in our makeup to be underlings, and we cannot help but chafe in such a predicament. If a human being cannot be equal, he will in some way try to be superior. Don't we all know that a superiority complex comes from insecurity related to feeling inferior? Are we not made to be equal in value. rights, and privileges with a variety of differences? |
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