OH, AND of course, we kept one prisoner, as all citizens are obliged by law. Fitted with a nirvana-type modification, those souls who, for whatever reasons, clashed with society’s doctrines of behavior, lived in blissful stupor, to be forever awed by butterflies and bright colors (plate 49). We knew not his name, nor his crime, but since he was hardly the man he was before it could not matter less.
Of course something must be done with those who insist on harming others, and mind-locking is a more economical and humane alternative to imprisonment. In my thinking, there is a contradiction in punishment between intent and effect. If we take crime to be a rational action, how can we punish somebody for doing something rational? Alternately, we could see committing a crime as irrational, in which case how can we punish an irrational creature, or a moment of irrationality? One could swap the word rational with logical or stupid but the internal contradiction should still show itself. At least we have returned the concepts of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ to their natural habitat of myth and fairy tales.
One man’s abnormality is another’s pride. We can add ‘human nature’ to history’s heap of redundant concepts. Are cruelty and selfi shness ‘natural’ to humanity? It certainly seems so for the majority and yet they are anathemas to others.
It would clear things up to change the terminology. The words ‘nature’ and ‘natural’ are traditional and, I think, incorrect. Instead, call it ‘tendency’. Humanity is like water and follows the path of least resistance, or rather, there will always be a proportion of people who will do the easiest thing.
MAYBE we should scratch the word ‘human’ instead – what good has it done us so far? Such an artificial distinction distracts us from viewing all creation with equal respect and an equal right to exist. Then again, maybe changing the words only changes the sauce and not the sandwich.
These are old ideas, the only thing we can’t seem to change is human tendency, even if we cease to be human.
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