Immorality Of Cultures & Rituals
Updated: Mar 7, 2022
My parents have always forced me to touch feet but I have always found it morally compromising. They tell me it shows respect. I tell them it shows respect. That’s a problem. Respect is not to be shown. It is to be had. Compassion is not to be shown. It is to be had. The whole purpose of virtue is to cleanse your mind and purify your thoughts. It is not to make a shit show of virtue.
If you have respect, there is no need to show it, especially when so many are virtue signaling. Anyone can touch feet. There is no virtue in it. It is the thought that accompanies that matters. Very few have the purity of respect. They touch feet, do the formality, and care nothing about their thoughts. They might as well be cursing the person whose feet they are touching.
I noted something similar in the US. People are very quick to ask how you are without any intent to listen. That’s pretty much the same shit. Anyone can ask how you are. The point is whether you invite the person to say what’s up. If you don’t care to listen, don’t even ask how they are. Don’t lie. Don't deceive.
If you have virtue, then be virtuous. Don’t show it. Don’t deceive others if you lack truth. If you have truth, it is futile to show off. Not only you deceive others but you also mislead them. They end up thinking that those who don’t touch feet are disrespectful when they are mere secure, pure in their thought, and don't care to show off and win favors. People become incapable of distinguishing moral from immoral when everyone is showing off.
I will end this with chapter 38 of Tao Te Ching , copy pasted from https://www.taoistic.com/taoteching-laotzu/taoteching-38.htm
The highest virtue is not virtuous. Therefore it has virtue. The lowest virtue holds on to virtue. Therefore it has no virtue. The highest virtue does nothing. Yet, nothing needs to be done. The lowest virtue does everything. Yet, much remains to be done. The highest benevolence acts without purpose. The highest righteousness acts with purpose. The highest ritual acts, but since no one cares, It raises its arms and uses force. Therefore, when the Way is lost there is virtue. When virtue is lost there is benevolence. When benevolence is lost there is righteousness. When righteousness is lost there are rituals. Rituals are the end of fidelity and honesty, And the beginning of confusion. Knowing the future is the flower of the Way, And the beginning of folly. Therefore, The truly great ones rely on substance, And not on surface, Hold on to the fruit, And not to the flower.
They reject the latter and receive the former.
