For Heaven and Utopia

There are two paths to self-destruction. Neither is the proverbial “road less traveled.” Study history or watch the news and know that the paths to self-destruction are by far the more beaten paths. But how can this be? How is it that so many people across the globe willing walk to their own destruction, sacrificing their top-tier values for lesser values?

These poor souls are convinced by religionists and/or secular altruists that their top shelf is not actually the top shelf. Religionists are told that the actual top shelf is not even of this Earth. That God and God’s will is tops, that others somehow know God’s will, and that God demands sacrifices. Secular altruists argue also that your top shelf is not the actual top shelf. That the collective, that society, that what is good for all of mankind is tops. Sacrificing individual rights for the good of the community is moral and just.

Both substitute dogma and duty for reason and choice.

Both believe that moral perfection is measured by the degree to which you are 1. able to ignore your rational self and 2. willing to act selflessly, i.e. against your own self interest. Your willingness to reverse your hierarchy, to place the needs of others before your own, is called virtuous. Guilt and fear of divine retribution are the tools of the religionist to keep the flock in line. Guilt, fear, and duty are the tools of the secular altruists.

For both, feeling trumps thinking.

Religionists promise Heaven after you’re dead in exchange for sacrificing your life on Earth. Heroes are called martyrs. The two things all religious martyrs have in common whether we’re talking about Jesus or a Muslim suicide bomber? Altruism and the fact that they’re all dead. Christians have one; Muslims have many martyrs. No difference here, really. Both faiths glorify death, awarding special status to individuals who willingly walk to their deaths in the name of faith in their un-provable, un-testable God.

Secular altruist promise Utopias right here on Earth in exchange for human sacrifice. They bleed you through your wallet, immorally taxing your productivity in order to sustain others, the unproductive. They call them “the less fortunate” as if wealth is a finite quantity and productivity, creativity, ability and ambition are doled out at birth by chance. “It’s all about the hand you are dealt.” Secular heroes are called public servants. They get a lot of coverage in the media. Sometimes statues and monuments are dedicated to them. The monuments serve to encourage the public at large to follow the altruist path. Egoists are painted in the media and in Hollywood movies as uncaring, selfish, evil capitalists…people who kick other people in the face while they climb the ladder of success [as if that’s the only way to achieve success in America].

The road less traveled? Well, now, that's the whole point of this exercise.