Vol. 3 Chap. 118 The Cost of Giving A Damn

Vol. 3 Chap. 118 The Cost of Giving A Damn

Truth gave the Abbot a hard look. Then another. The Abbot couldnt see him, of course, but that didnt stop the alarming chuckles coming from the giant deer head.

I really thought I was the only one who imagined humanity as rats. Truth grumbled.

No chance of that. The metaphor has been around as long as humans.

I developed a whole system of understanding the world based on the concept of rats and slums. It has layers to it.

Well done! The Abbot smiled. Truth felt just a smidgen patronized.

Well?

Yes? The Abbot asked.

Do you have any suggestions?

First, frame your problem. You have two basic angles to examine, I think.

I do? Truth just nodded along.

First is a question of identity- is a human someone who lives as a human, or is possessed of some biological traits of humanity, or what, exactly? The Abbot nodded towards a window. The lay brothers and sisters, the pilgrims, they would consider themselves human. They believe they live as humans and are biologically human.

They are wrong?

About one of those things, yes. They are, I believe, biologically human. But do they live as humans? I believe not. So we can exclude that part of the identity question and focus on the issue of humans as a way of thinking and living.

Which leads us directly back to the rats. They are living like rats.

Actually, and I say this as someone who has observed hundreds of thousands of rats over tens or hundreds of millenia, no, they dont. They live like rats forced into unnatural and stressful conditions. The demon spoke slowly and firmly. The rats you are thinking of, the urban rats, the slum rats they eat poison, are constantly in fear, constantly under stress. They therefore react in ways they would be unlikely to in the wild.

Really? There is that much of a difference?

Oh yes. Take cannibalism. A rat will eat another rat, certainly. There is no such thing as a pure herbivore, and rats are omnivores in the first place. The deer head showed its teeth. Truth could vividly imagine the Abbot tearing strips of flesh off someone.

But usually it will be a rat that already died. In the unlikely event that two rats fought over something, it would usually be limited to fairly minor injuries, before one or the other ran off. There would be no benefit to pushing it to the death. Generally plenty of food or mates to go around, and you can make a nest anywhere there is dirt. No pressure to fight with your fellows.

Ah. But put them in a situation of bad food, bad shelter, and intense competition for everything, including mates-

You have violence. You have rats eating each other. The abbot nodded. And do you know what happens to humans in the same conditions?

Truth nodded. I know. Very well.

So we can either define this behavior as Human, under given circumstances, or Inhuman, as it only occurs under artificially created circumstances. And before you point out natural disasters or something that might trigger the same conditions, yes, that is true, but it is also transitory. The plague, the fire, the famine, passes eventually. The conditions we are looking at here are both human created and generational. This is a disaster that has been engineered to persist.

The Abbots big hand gestured gently. Strong hand, Truth noticed, and callused. He didnt know demons could get calluses. Must be an aesthetic choice.

So what is the solution? Level society, unmake every bit of hierarchy, destroy the cities, destroy the factories, send everyone back to farming their own land? Let natural humanity reassert itself? Truth asked.

Well, if the stresses have been removed-

Then will you still be a sadist?

There was a pause. Pardon?

Will you still be a sadist? I get the feeling that you have lived a very violent life. Will you continue to do so? If you live a peaceful life, will you still be cruel to others to make yourself feel good?

Truth sat with that for a moment. I dont know. I dont know that I would even want to change that part of myself. I know that I would kill someone who tried to do to me what I have done to others. In fact, I am in the process of doing exactly that now.

Ah. Then, how about this- would you remain a sadist, but not act on your sadism? Or perhaps only act on it in socially acceptable ways like victory in sports?

Truth didnt answer. He didnt know. The demon continued.

This is what is called morals, and is distinct from ethics. Ethics is how people behave amongst each other, based on an external set of rules. Everyone agrees not to steal, to murder, to slander, that kind of thing. Morals is when you look into yourself and say I should not steal, murder or slander.

Related, but different.

Yes. So you ask how humans should live as humans? By creating a world where humans agree to remove the artificial stressors, and develop internal moralities consistent with the ethical code needed to create and maintain that world.

Truth nodded. He would have to think on that. It was the first time he had ever heard someone lay it out like that. In fact, he had never heard a single person suggest such a world. He jolted.

He had never heard a single human suggest it. But those two seniors in the hot springs, those demons suggested it, didn't they?

If you can prevent a harm without sacrificing something of morally equivalent value, you ought to do it. Truth whispered. The demons head jerked around.

Where did you hear that?

From two seniors in a hot spring attached to a fine old hotel in the mountains.

The demon sucked a long breath through their blocky teeth. Lucky. Ah, you are lucky! I only got to hear their lectures twice in my long life.

Abbot is this knowledge forbidden for everyone on the planet, or just humans?

The Abbot grinned. An unsettling sight on a giant deer head. Why, is there something forbidden for you to know? How could that be? You didnt sign something forbidding you to know it, did you? Or any of the other humans you have met?

You know perfectly well that there is.

Yes, I do. Im shocked that you do too. But there is something worth considering. I dont know that its the whole answer, but its part of it, I think. The demon drummed his heavy fingers on his thigh.

This is not my original form. I was once a stag. I took this form largely for public relations reasons.

Makes sense. Truth nodded.

But I am native to this world. All the animals are. All my fellow demons are. This is, quite literally, a world for demons. Then angels came, adjusted it, and a few short centuries later, humans turned up on your black ships. Upending things. Generally we demons didnt mind. Some of us very much did mind. The consequences for our kind have been catastrophic in terms of population numbers, ranges, freedoms. Though only some of us care about those things.

Truth nodded awkwardly. It was all true, but what was he supposed to say about it? Or do about it, for that matter.

Every human on this planet is being driven to torture themselves, lead degraded lives, and die sickly and young, never reaching their full potential. Not one human born on this world has ever escaped the Initiate realm, as you term your cultivation arts. As though the whole planet wants you to suffer at every level. Strange, eh?