tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1950282101785558588.post7633255593694103834..comments2024-02-25T22:00:41.197-08:00Comments on Notes from Freyashawk: Self-Determination and the Nature of AidFreyashawkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00379748386863454385noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1950282101785558588.post-65331195687829052442007-06-17T08:37:00.000-07:002007-06-17T08:37:00.000-07:00A well thought-out essay. Your unusual ability to...A well thought-out essay. Your unusual ability to refer to varied sources, with quotations, is most impressive. <BR/><BR/>While I agree that aid on any level should not be used to interfere with another person's self-determination, it seems understandable that when one gives financial aid on a personal level -- as to a friend or a beggar -- that the giver often feels (often accurately) that there is something faulty in the receiver's behaviour which has put him in need of aid in the first place. Thus the giver's desire to attach conditions which will help put the recipient on a better path, a path of self-sufficiency. On the other hand, when a beggar in England approached me and said, "I'm an alcoholic; would you please give me some money to buy a drink?" I was so impressed with his honesty that I gave him enough for a bottle and told him to enjoy it.<BR/><BR/>You wrote, "The human desire to control others and the universe itself is at the foundation of most of our 'interference' in the lives of others." Excellent. I had just about decided that greed is at the root of most problems which we put in the broad category "political", but now you've brought back "control" as a major contender for that honour.<BR/>There is a natural innate human desire to control in order to enhance one's possibilities of survival and growth. But beyond that is the lust for power, a desire to control for control's sake, which inexcusably interferes with the lives of others.<BR/><BR/>I recall that Nietzsche wrote something like, "Each atom aspires to rule the universe." I wish I had your skill at recalling quotations and where they came from!Fleminghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11134828658060646685noreply@blogger.com