If the "guru" could choose to only have emphaty rather than to change his Religion, then he have to also agree with Cassavetes.
Again, the example you gave about what Cassavetes said was a weak, if not moot, example of empathy vs religion since no one is affected by incest other than the persons involved. in a scientific point of view, it's wrong because if they decide to have a child, chances are the child will be abnormal. But it's not an example of empathy vs religion.
it's also not necessarily nihilism as ALICE GO pointed out. nihilism entails that you believe morality does not exist therefore you can do whatever you want. Cassavetes did not point out that the incest couple have no moral standards. what they're are doing maybe wrong but certainly not evil. does it mean that just because they're an incest couple that they're evil?
I thought that is what we are already doing. I can't speak in behalf of other members of other religions, but I think we definitely would agree: Religion(which entails God is the source of Morals) is better than Empathy as guide in knowing right and wrong.
not exactly. i'll throw you a bone one more time. here is an article from Harper's Magazine's interview with Alex Gibney, a documentary producer, about his upcoming film,
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God. i'll just pull out an excerpt from that article wherein Mr Giney talks about Pope Benedict's involvement, or should i say lack of, in child sex abuse in the Catholic Church:
“As for Rome, starting in 2001, all cases of clerical sex abuse in the church were forwarded to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. So he may be the most knowledgeable man in the world about clerical sex abuse. Yet even though he saw the parade of horrors of child abuse, did Ratzinger as cardinal, or later as Pope Benedict, mandate reporting to civil authorities? No. When he had a chance, as Pope, to defrock Marcial Maciel, one of the world’s most brutally abusive clerics, did he do it? No. He and the curia around him are unwilling to confront the issue in a serious way. In that sense, it’s a systematic global cover-up of crimes.”
now, i ask you again. Does the Pope lack empathy or religion? could you say he has the wrong religion? keep in mind that we're talking about the (current) Pope here. The Holy See. Saint Peter's successor. God's foremost representation here on Earth.
btw, you can read the full interview here:
http://harpers.org/blog/2013/02/mea-maxima-culpa-silence-in-the-house-of-god/THIS Cassavetes you cited is the author of a book that was made into a movie by Martin Scorcese. Both book & film portrayed Jesus Christ as having copulated with Mary Magdalene. Kaya sa pagiisip pa lang ng Cassavetes na ito, his morals are as askewed & crooked. What he's arguing actually is nihilism - the demolition of all dichotomy between and evil.
no he is not arguing nihilism. he's also not certainly giving an example of empathy. what he's just trying to say is, why are you minding other people's lives when you are not affected by what they're doing and no one's getting hurt by it.
When the concept of good and evil is broken down, everything is - by all means - permissible. A poor word really to described it, but nihilism "allows" every act, no matter how monstrous. This means Hitler when he caused (directly & indirectly) the deaths of 80 million souls (6 million of the dead Jews) between 1933 and 1945 - was no criminal, he's not in hell right now, because his atrocities ultimately is neither evil nor good.
that's a good example. only one problem, though. Hitler is no nihilist. he subscribed to the Deutsche Christen belief where his RELIGIOUS MORALS dictated that he should remove the world of Jews.
Morals in every religion off course is not subjective
with my statement above and with yours, are you saying that you share the same moral standards with Hitler?
When Romeo Jaloslos or Chavet Singson would raped your 16-year old daughter, they're just copulators who touched your daughter - not in any way beast, maniacs or violators.
again, that is if you subscribe to nihilism which i believe no decent human being subscribes to.
Kaya anong pinagsasabi nating empathy, you could empathize with your fellow souls, but the compassion would not save you from going to hell, and for every single act of empathy shared to one man, ten others you'll not be moved to empathized ever because people can be evil.....
are you saying that you have given up hope on yourself and to humankind? that nothing else matters? sounds like nihilism to me.