Right and Wrong

I once saw and argument between a Christian African and a Rastafari Carribean.

The Carribean was arguing that Haile Selassie was God and the Christian was rejecting this.

It suddenly occured to me there was a much more obvious thing to note that the value of their arguments - it was that one was an African and the other Carribean.

It would follow that a child brought up in the Carribean was much more likely to be a Rastafarii than an African, and vice versa an African much more likely to be Christian or Muslim.

The reason these two men were arguing was not so much the value of their arguments, but because of their background.

If there were indeed universal arguments then everyone would believe the same thing. These encounters between people would naturally lead to universal agreement over the centuries. But it hasn't!

The very fact that people have to use force to supress some people and some beliefs only goes to prove further what poor arguments the world has.

If we want to understand what people believe it is best to look at their background, their parents and their identities. We tend to follow the beliefs of the groups to which we feel we belong.

If all our beliefs are indeed caused by our location, if the power behind our arguments simply our own ignorance of the caused nature of what we believe then what are we to make of beliefs?

Looking into my own past... its obvious that Eastern spiritual people become Buddhist monks, it obvious that Western spiritual people become Catholic monks. Its not that Catholic is better then Buddhist, but that peoples backgrounds cause different things.

So how to we make sense of a life built upon only local causes and conditions. What am I to make of myself as a momentary and locally nurtured event and entity?