I just don't do things that I don't want to do. Like, in general.
If I can't understand why something is a good idea I don't do it.
This isn't some selfish thing, if I think something will on balance help more people than it hurts, I'll probably want to do it and probably will do it.
It's that simple to be honest. I find it weird that other people don't seem to work this way. Maybe I'm autistic, innit.
If you take the extreme position that literally everything I ever do fits in this framework given information I don't even have, sure, maybe not. If I buy a tin of beans at the supermarket I don't know if like, bean #2129's harvesting resulted in a homicide because the farmer got mad or whatever.
And in interpersonal relationships, tempers flare, people get mad, perhaps we take actions that aren't ideal.
But I mean, generally, if we're not being silly, you know when things are on the boundaries, and you can spend time then to figure them out. For example if you want to work for a bank, you can work out if you feel like loans are morally justifiable, and if so you do it, if not you can try and do something else.
I get the sense a _lot_ of the time that people I'm interacting with just enter "bureaucrat mode" and it's like they have this whole other personality that doesn't do that thinking bit. The best explanation I have is that a lot of people are just under stress most of the time and so their brain doesn't really have the "ON" switch flicked. They just robot through work.
I gotta concur. It's also really easy to rationalize/ justify in either direction, of not doing something because you don't feel like it (and thereby attach reason to your desire), or on the flipside, doing something you actually don't believe in, but excusing yourself for why it's good for you to do so and rationalizing some guilt so you don't have to deal with the inner tension.
I heard in general, it's fantastic to be aware of your feelings, but they need to be managed, rather than given the reigns for decision-making. Like, you need an executive functioning overseer that fields, filters, guides, challenges, and at times even overrides your feelings, without denying or snuffing them out.
With some combination of good luck and planning, these factors can all get easier with age.
-You may amass some wealth and have an affordable mortgage or paid-off house.
-The need to obey/conform may diminish with age, and you may find peers with values more compatible with your own.
-You may be able to cultivate relationships with peers whose morals are reasonably compatible with your own.
I'm around middle-age, and so far these things have been getting easier and easier.
Unless your core emotional desires just happen to flawlessly, without a single exception, line up with a comprehensive and consistent ethical worldview, then at least every once and awhile you’ll not want to do something when you ethically should do it, and want to do something that will cause more than nominal harm to someone else.
Also every now and again you’ll have to realize that your ability to predict the outcome of your actions is imperfect.
If you happen to be like every other person that has ever existed on this planet, possibly excepting Siddhartha Gautama and Jesus H. Christ, you’ll have to sort out the places where your instincts and desires depart from what’s ethical and make value judgments.
Well sure, sometimes I'll do things that, without me realising, are net negative.
I'm human, so sometimes I'll even do things that _I_ know are net negative just because that day I've kind of been like, fuck it, eat three bowls of cornflakes and fuck the indigestion.
If I can't understand why something is a good idea I don't do it.
This isn't some selfish thing, if I think something will on balance help more people than it hurts, I'll probably want to do it and probably will do it.
It's that simple to be honest. I find it weird that other people don't seem to work this way. Maybe I'm autistic, innit.
It's worked for me so far.