expansion of idea on charity begins at home
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When people say 'Charity begins at home' they very often mean 'You should look after your own kids, family and own circle first and then be kind to people' which is not the original meaning of the proverb. The original meaning is that charity begins in the home - that is to say kids learn charity in the home."
Hugh MacKay is a guest speaker in the Goulburn Murray region next week. He will deliver a lecture "What makes a life worth living?" at Thurgoona's Charles Sturt University campus.
MacKay says "What makes a life worth living" can be summed up in one answer. "The good life is the life lived for others.
"It's a life lived according to this fundamental moral principal; that we should treat other people the way we would like to be treated ourselves. That we should put other people's happiness ahead of our own and not pursue our own happiness. It is a tradition that I think is in all of us. It has certainly been culturally transmitted and some researchers are now suggesting it might have even been genetically transmitted."
MacKay says respecting others can be ignored if people get swept up in the notion that happiness is a birthright and wealth is the key to a good life.
"You could be a very wealthy person and lead a very good life but the question on whether it is going to be a good life is unrelated to your wealth... We are by nature social creatures, so you can fulfil your human purpose by being engaged with the society, the community, the neighbourhood, the organisation, the group that you work or live with. The extent to which you are engaged is really a very big measure of the extent to which you are living the good life. So that can happen whether you are a high status or a low status person or you are wealthy or poor.
Although if you are dreadfully poor if you are in abject poverty it is of course going to be much harder to engage because you are occupied with survival.
"The point about human nature is that it is a bundle of contradictions we are all selfish and we are all selfless and altruistic. We are all competitive and we are all co-operative. We have a disposition towards kindness but we also have a disposition towards aggression and violence."
Hugh MacKay is a guest speaker in the Goulburn Murray region next week. He will deliver a lecture "What makes a life worth living?" at Thurgoona's Charles Sturt University campus.
MacKay says "What makes a life worth living" can be summed up in one answer. "The good life is the life lived for others.
"It's a life lived according to this fundamental moral principal; that we should treat other people the way we would like to be treated ourselves. That we should put other people's happiness ahead of our own and not pursue our own happiness. It is a tradition that I think is in all of us. It has certainly been culturally transmitted and some researchers are now suggesting it might have even been genetically transmitted."
MacKay says respecting others can be ignored if people get swept up in the notion that happiness is a birthright and wealth is the key to a good life.
"You could be a very wealthy person and lead a very good life but the question on whether it is going to be a good life is unrelated to your wealth... We are by nature social creatures, so you can fulfil your human purpose by being engaged with the society, the community, the neighbourhood, the organisation, the group that you work or live with. The extent to which you are engaged is really a very big measure of the extent to which you are living the good life. So that can happen whether you are a high status or a low status person or you are wealthy or poor.
Although if you are dreadfully poor if you are in abject poverty it is of course going to be much harder to engage because you are occupied with survival.
"The point about human nature is that it is a bundle of contradictions we are all selfish and we are all selfless and altruistic. We are all competitive and we are all co-operative. We have a disposition towards kindness but we also have a disposition towards aggression and violence."
monica2004:
thnx
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