Carpe Diem

Above all do no harm
     These words can mean a number of things, what I do understand their meaning to be is that while we are free to behave, and do what we like, we are bound by our society to not harm anybody. It is not an imperative to not offend or hurt anyone, as no matter what we do we are bound to hurt someone's feelings or offend someone in some way. No, we are not to harm anyone and that is the fabric of society, that is the basis for morality. If one were to believe that morality comes from anywhere else than this phrase and its societal interpretation, they are sadly mistaken. So why start a blog post with this line? Why attempt to define something as basic as our concept of morality and the relative subjectivity attached to it? My answer can be split into two fundamental ideas: The obvious, that religion has no grounds in morality, has been explained by much smarter men than me, that religion based on the expectation of reward and the fear of punishment is not morality as it essentially is a self preserving idea, the other is in the development of different concepts applied in my life which stem from the motto Carpe Diem.
     This simple phrase allows me to understand an idea that is meant to poke fun at theists, as it is a common belief among believers that this life is simply a dress rehearsal, that our real life begins after death, pushing some to extreme ways of sacrifice, harming others in the process. We see it in extremist terrorist attacks from believers in the Bible who bomb abortion clinics, in believers in Sharia, who suicide bomb schools for their defiance of Sharia law. Terrorism, and harming others is a general pattern we see in religions, but it is not the only area impacted. There are plenty of non believers who have committed atrocities in the name of whatever cause they believe. What happened to live and let live? What happened to the things that truly matter in life? Seize the day and do no harm; this is a recipe for success, a recipe for happiness, and quite possibly the only way the many cultures and nations of the human race can coexist.
     Life itself, the very core of our nature, is an inclination for adventure; that is why anything new is exciting, and we get easily bored with the same routine. Seizing the day may not be doing something so outrageous it could potentially destroy us, but merely enjoying doing the things we enjoy doing, so long as we do not harm anybody (even ourselves) in the process. Judging others is not the way to go in this, everybody has a right to do what they like so long as it does not damage another. My father used to tell me, "Your freedom ends where another's begins." Truer words could not be spoken. My freedom from religion does not entitle me to push my unbeliefs on others, however, this goes both ways. People's freedom of religion does not allow them to push legislation to punish those who do not believe the same.
     Yes, I have been a pretty outspoken unbeliever and advocate of reason, and that is what I will continue doing. However, I will never try to outlaw a belief system because I do not believe in it. That is not what the secularist movement is about; it is about checks and balance, and about the right for everyone to believe, or not believe, what they choose without their rights being taken away. To those christians who don't believe that homosexual marriage should happen I ask this simple question: Do two men or two women getting married take away your freedom in any way? The answer is clearly no; if there is a liberty being infringed upon it is the liberty to bully and demonize certain groups of people. Live and let live. It is not my job to go to your place of worship and attempt to take away your right to worship freely, do not try to come into our homes through legislation so that we are not free to believe something else!
     One last note, if, in order to enjoy your life to the fullest you must take away people's rights or harm people in different ways, be them moral or physical, than you are not a part of a civilized society. Carpe Diem, to me, is the exact opposite; it is the enjoyment of life regardless of what others think or do, it is being myself no matter the consequences, it is acknowledging the path to freedom for everybody and never letting one's actions dictate mine. Yes, it is easier said than done, but so is everything worth doing!