We’re all born to this world with individual wonderment of the same universe. Life is an individual journey and sharing gives life to that wonderment. And, how we mature gives wonder to that wonderment.
"Even children have an innate sense of morality, knowing right from wrong," from his story of children playing game of marbles, a game of simple rules
- "The Righteous Mind" Jonathan Haidt
James Madison, fourth President of the United States, in his Federalist Papers No. 10 explained that factions, alliances, were the natural state of man, that the like minded would form in groups. But he warned of the inherent danger when these Factions turned political to the detriment of the public interest.
I found this book "The Righteous Mind" by Jonathan Haidt profound. He broke down these Factions into Six Moral Foundations, and obviously they are not mutually exclusive:
- Care
- Liberty
- Fairness
- Loyalty
- Authority
- Sanctity
Some people cleave strongly to one of the foundations which can define that person. For example, within the Sanctity Foundation is Religiosity which is the state of intense, excessive devotion of being religious.
An example of combined Care, Fairness, Authority: "One morning he discovered his young child was allergic to "must".You "must "get up for school, you must eat your breakfast, you must etc... but the child reacted differently, positively, with "can you get up for school, would you like breakfast, can you ..."
We can deduce the hazards of falling heavily into one over the other Foundations. “Racism is a grown-up disease and we must stop using our children to spread it.” said Ruby Bridges "A child does not question the wrongs of adults, he suffers them" said Chief Dan George
Jonathan Haidt explains the downside of the Six Foundations when they become political, or filled with adverse thoughts and actions. Religiosity is fine when living in a way that shows to be good or moral and sincere. But when displayed with disparaging remarks about Jews, and others including me is ugly.
The author explains the political side of the 6 Moral Foundations. I'm reminded of James Madison warning of the inherent danger of Factions. Like-minded groups, when standing alone are benign, but when aligned with other factions are dangerous when the uniting cancer is hate, coupled with fear and prejudice.
I highly recommend "The Righteous Mind" by Jonathan Haidt. It gave me valuable insight as to why people act the way they do.