Jun 9, 17 / Can 20, 01 18:22 UTC

Symbology, Philosophy, and Societal Moral Standard  

Hey all!  Just reading through everything I can on this site and have a formative suggestion.

As there are currently a number of topics concerning our flag design, insignia, etc.  I am under the impression that it may be beneficial for our symbology as a nation to ensure that we understand our core values first, to ensure that we are able to incorporate those philosophical tenants into the symbols we adopt.

As a self describe moral philosopher, I claim no authority of anyone else on the matter except I believe I may just spend more time looking at it.  As such I have put together an outline of what I have referred to as the 7 pillars of society that I think may be adequately applied to the tenants included in the formation of our space faring nation.

As a result of these 7 pillars, and their tendency to interweave with one another to create a moral structure, I have typically used a 7 pointed star to symbolize the ideology.

As a new member of this society, I hope to contribute and so I submit the following for your review and discussion.

Thank you for your time!

7 Pillars of Asgardian Society

(The seven pointed star)


Pure Honesty

  • Integrity is an essential part of a healthy society.  As an indicator of great character, personal security, self love, and emotional strength, pure and complete honesty may be held as the central moral lynch pin in the sustained health of the Asgardian community.  Any breach of pure honesty for any reason will be treated as an indicator of poor mental health.  Any aversion to the acceptance of and commitment to reality will be understood as a manifestation of an underlying conflict and encouraged to explore and resolve to the extent of the compassion your community has to offer.Honesty should direct you as a compass in your actions, work, growth pursuits, health, and all other areas where it may be possible to apply.  We understand Honesty to consist of the following:
    • We do not say anything that would suggest we know something that we do not.
    • We do not say anything that we know to be false
    • We do not mislead or manipulate language to create false perception
    • We do not leave anyone to their assumptions or allow someone to maintain false impressions if we are aware of any mistaken information
    • When discussing matters of unprovable nature, it is imperative to qualify that your assertions are founded in belief and not fact.


Active Charity

  • Giving is an essential part of a healthy society.  When all citizens are dedicated to the understanding that the function of society is to operate as a cohesive and cooperative system; that our all our failure and success as a community belongs to every member of the community.We understand that the more we work to improve the quality of our society from every perspective, the more prosperous our society will be.
    • -I would propose an Asgardian standard of dedicating 4 hours per week to any manner of improvement project.  This may be an improvement project for your own possessions, understanding that even improving your own circumstances still contributes to the betterment of society as a whole, however this should be understood to be an exception and not a rule.
    • - Monetary giving/taxes are understood to be a matter of patriotic responsibility.  I would recommend a system of taxation that allows for the independent ear-marking of contributions that may be understood to be an act of active and perpetual voting to ensure that citizens are only required to contribute to services they feel comfortable actively supporting.  Standard contributions elections will be suggested and explained in detail to ensure that the basic functions of government and society in Asgardia are properly funded.  Upon official recognition as a sovereign nation, any citizen of Asgardia should be required to submit a minimum contribution to ensure proper funding of basic projects, understanding that the ear-marking option will be available to encourage active understanding and participation in the system of taxation.


Work Dedication

  • As a citizen of any society, we understand that there are certain burdens that are simply unavoidable.  As such it is imperative that any citizen of Asgardia do everything in their power to ensure they are able to maintain a sustained contribution to the society throughout the duration of their citizenship.  As such, it is the supplemental responsibility of the community to ensure that every citizen of Asgardia is afforded the attention and support they require in order to sustain meaningful work through whatever means they are able to contribute.


Growth Pursuit

  • In order to guarantee that Asgardia is built into as beneficial and productive society as is possible, our citizens are dedicated to the unending pursuit of personal betterment.  With as much information as is available there is simply no reason any person should ever feel their education and personal development is complete.  This may take on any form that can be understood to be an act of personal development:  Education, Language learning, Physical exercise, mental exercise; as long as you are engaged in some manner of productive personal growth, this tenant will stand as fulfilled.

Active Responsibility

  • In compliment to the tenant of pure honesty, responsibility stands alone as an entirely separate act of moral necessity.  This tenant emphasizes the need for honesty with ones self, understanding that the ability to understand and accept your role in the mistakes you make is a matter of mental health.  Additionally, committing yourself to the satisfaction of any damage done by your actions goes above and beyond what may constitute honesty, and so it is necessary to outline as a separate tenant, that all citizens of Asgardia are dedicated to understanding, accepting and mitigating any impact they may have on our society or any others.


Sustained Health

  • As you are an inseparable part of Asgardia, your health as a person is just as inseparable from the health of Asgardia as a nation.  Health is broken down into Physical and Mental Health.  These two are broken down further into Muscular Health, Cardiovascular Health, Skeletal Health, Nervous System Health, etc. then Emotional Health, Psychological Health, etc.  As a matter of national health, you understand that your health will either have a positive or negative impact on Asgardia as a whole and are so dedicated to the preservation and maintenance of your own health as well as avoiding any action that may negatively impact the health of anyone else.


Basic Compassion

  • This means that compassion acts as the basis for your perception.  You understand that everyone is just doing their best; that if someone hurts you, that it was likely not the intended purpose of their actions, but simply a result.  This understanding of helps guide your reaction from one of anger to one based on compassion.  This also requires an understanding that we all have an equal propensity to cause hurt, as much as anyone else and are so dedicated to learning to responsibly manage our emotional and psychological health through the growth pursuit of actively engaging in mental health exercises such as Meditation, Side Breathing, Professional Therapy, Creative writing, etc, or any combination you choose as a free Asgardian



Jun 9, 17 / Can 20, 01 18:35 UTC

Pure Honesty is actually quite a bad idea and can cause a horrible deleterious degradation of social norms.

Perhaps you mean more along the original biblical description of "Bearing True Witness", meaning that you must speak honestly about things you have witnessed. Opinions are not things you have witnessed, and are therefore not required to be 'honest', especially if such honesty might damage a relationship or psyche. Opinions are not factual, and as such may be withheld if they may cause more harm than good in the long run.

WPB

Jun 10, 17 / Can 21, 01 00:33 UTC

I appreciate the response but in all honesty I don't.

I feel that the social norms that are currently in place are the result of unchecked insecurity.  In combination with the tenant of compassion, honesty should can be conducted with love and delivered in a way that should be able to be taken constructively.

Additionally, there is the need to qualify opinions as just that as a matter of compassion.  This also lessens the blow.

For context, it needs to be understood that these aren't laws.  These are goals and I truly believe that pure honesty is achievable, realistic and ultimately necessary for any society seeking to truly adopt a consistently peaceful culture.

Jun 10, 17 / Can 21, 01 16:36 UTC

Opinions are not honesty.

Opinions are a highly subjective viewpoint which may or may not represent the truth. 

WNO

Jun 12, 17 / Can 23, 01 21:46 UTC

I did anticipate that this would be the one part that makes people the most uncomfortable, but again I stand behind it.

Peoples aversion to honest feedback, criticism, etc, is evident of a culture of insecurity.  There are plenty of cultures where honest feedback, including, "that dress makes you look fat" is perfectly acceptable and encouraged because it is understood that you don't want to look fat and it's better to hear it from a friend than be ridiculed in public by a stranger.

Aside from the specific example, it is my understanding that Asgardian society would endeavor toward a higher ideal than what represents the standard anywhere else on earth.  I believe that if we are to become a truly great society, we will have to hold ourselves to a higher standard and that will require that we understand that enabling one another's insecurities to the point of sacrificing our integrity is not going to help us get there.  Unfortunately western culture, especially American culture are hypersensitive to insecurity as though they represent some sacred untouchable.  Not the case.  Accept yourself for who you are and qualify your opinions with compassion and honesty.

Jun 19, 17 / Leo 02, 01 17:11 UTC

Idealism often fails in comparison to reality.

In an idealistic society, no one would ever know pain, suffering, or want. Their entire life could be dedicated towards perfecting one or more aspects of themselves, and sharing that perfection towards others.

Reality is that we are barely more evolved than animals and still have those same desires and needs. We harm those we see as a threat and we use words and actions do that harm.

In an idealistic society, everyone will have access to all information at all times, rendering opinions moot.

In reality, opinions are the collective responses we have made to a history of reaction to a given observation and are not 'the truth' any more than a blind man feeling up an elephant's tail and saying it feels like a broom, thereby calling it a broom.

So, no, honestly is good in that you should always be honest about things you have witnessed. When it comes to opinions, people should be considerate of the fragility in others, lest they cause more pain and harm in your supposed 'brutal honesty' scenario.

Any 'good idea' taken to its extreme, becomes a bad idea again. Honesty is a good idea, but not taken too far.

PSK

Jun 22, 17 / Leo 05, 01 17:38 UTC

In regards to the flag design, and insignia, I'm actually working on a modern, and attractive, yet simple, more fitting design that doesn't fit the norms of earth nation flags. This flag will be my unique take on Asgardia's flag that symbolises a human effort embodied in Asgardian aspiration.