Friday, September 11, 2020

The Conscience Question


Lee Lawrie's "Atlas" (photo: ThreeOneFive)
What about the old question of happiness? If a person feels particularly disinhibited and actually suffers a deficit in the area of conscience, can his or her expressions of delight in a sybaritic existence be taken seriously? If they're experiencing satisfaction even in the course of the unilateral enjoyment of pleasures which may sometimes bring pain to others, are they superior to say the suffering soul who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. You may remember the sculpture of Atlas in front of one of the Rock Center buildings facing Saks. He looks pretty miserable hefting the world, despite the obvious power he’s been building in his quads over “mythic time.” "Thus, conscience doth make cowards of us all," says Hamlet. It’s a hard case to adjudicate and one wonders how the current conservatively biased Supreme Court would rule, with its with its tilt toward individualism and deregulation? Would the sufferers with their lousy guilt-ridden relations win their suit, on the basis of the legacy left for posterity or would the carpe diem side walk away with all the cash and prizes?



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