Conditioned Immorality

[rgav]

From the outset of adolescent development, our youth are conditioned, drilled, and programmed to acknowledge and accept the immorality of their desires. The medium of such conditioning primarily comes from lessons on living a “moral” life. In all aspects of the youth’s education, the moral man is presented as the one that is able to resist his desires. In doing so, he is able to live an ethical and up-standing life. The underlying assumption, accepted and never challenged, is that man’s desires are inevitably evil. Enthusiastic and naïve, the youth sets out to discover the elements of socially defined morality and the method of living a moral life. In so doing, he necessarily learns that which is immoral. Recalling his teachings, he deduces that his innermost desires must be immoral, as those are the things that he must suppress to become moral. Without introspection, the youth has already determined that his personal desires, that he now believes to be evil and immoral, must seek those things that society states are immoral, whether it be lust, greed, or selfishness. He decides that these desires must be suppressed, and certainly never examined, for he risks succumbing to such immorality. Over time, he actually comes to desire these depravities, having convinced himself of their presence. He now suffers through endless torment, as he wages daily battle with his own body and mind. The suppression of these desires, he remembers, is the mark of a good and upright man, and yet he cannot fully understand, in his moments of despair, how that in which he finds pleasure could be inherently evil.

The results are disastrous. Those with enough fortitude will completely deprive themselves of pleasure, leading to an emotionless, hollow life whose only consolation is the occasional approval of the passer-by. The favorite refrain of this group, and their impostors, is the promise of “pleasure” in the after-life, as a reward for denying any satisfaction or gratification during their pitiful time on earth. Those too weak to follow this chastity give in to the depths of these depravities, justifying it in the perversion that has become the hedonistic lifestyle. The usual justification given, that the pleasures of the body have nothing to do with the emotions or values of the mind, removes the possibility of any true connection and turns them into nothing more than animals, driven by physical reaction without reason or cause. More frequently, this battle between what a man actually values with his mind and that which he has been conditioned to desire creates a break in his psyche. Understanding that his estimation of value deems the objects of his desire valueless, he nevertheless is drawn to them through the overpowering physical need. Unable to rationalize this dichotomy in his mind, he creates a break, where he can cease thinking and allow his physical reactions to take over. Witness the man who can spend an afternoon with his mistress, then return home to his wife and child, showering them with the love and affection expected in a healthy relationship. Or the man who undresses with his eyes every woman that walks by, then proudly proclaims that he has never cheated on his wife. His rational mind values the love and affection that he finds in the relationship that he is in, and yet in his darkest hours, facing the desires that he has conditioned within himself, he cannot understand or reconcile the two, so he separates them and succumbs to them.

It is the heroic man, with exceptional strength, that from the outset rejects the lessons taught, the conditioned response, and seeks within himself the truth of desire and morality. Contrary to the apologists’ excuses, a man is not born lusting after every woman on earth. Neither is he born genetically disposed to pursuing the deepest depths of depravity. Instead, man’s natural desires follow from an estimation of value, which is formed in his mind. Those aspects that an individual finds value in, when combined, create a desire in a man to pursue that object. It is only through the conditioning of our religious and educational institutions, started from the earliest of ages, that man’s mind is twisted, creating the conflict that will torture him for the remainder of his life. The link between value and desire must instead be emphasized and reinforced during the formative years of childhood and adolescence. The morality of combining the two, not separating one from the other, must be stressed. Only then will these young men and women have the tools and the courage to chart rewarding, meaningful, moral lives.

[Olex]

I like it, but it needs some structure. Clear beginning (a short paragram) will improve it.

[jwoolcutt]

It is only through the conditioning of our religious and educational institutions, started from the earliest of ages, that man’s mind is twisted, creating the conflict that will torture him for the remainder of his life...

There are other institutions of course. In fact the uncritical acceptance of _any_ dogma is an evasion of the mind and leads ultimately to the inner conflict you speak of.

[DragonMaci]

Indeed, rgav. It's depressing really. or at least it would be if I hadn't long ago given up on those that refuse to see the light of reason. I'm just glad my mother, while not an Oblectivist, taught me that all of that stuff was rubbish. Note: I only say mother because my father was never in my life.

However, I have something I think should be added: it is not just the institutions that try to teach us this rubbish. It is, in most people's cases, our parents as well, as they have become indoctrinated.