Morals, Religion and People
A strange mixture
Only a mile away from the shepherd and his flock was a goatherd and his herd. The merest accident of microgeography had meant that the first man to hear the voice of Om, and who gave Om his view of humans, was a shepherd and not a goatherd. They have quite different ways of looking at the world, and the whole of history might have been different.
For sheep are stupid, and have to be driven. But goats are intelligent, and need to be led.
(From Small Gods by Terry Pratchett)
Some Basics
Certain things are to be taken as read, without much in the way of further explanation.
Imprimis: That we now live in a profoundly unnatural manner.
Item: That the majority of people don’t think often or deeply about anything other than their day-to-day tasks and enjoyments.
Item: That most humans experience, for most of their lives, a deep need to belong to a group or community with shared experiences and values. This is often so powerful that individuals are prepared to suppress or change values not in accord with the available community.
Item: That within every community are those capable of, and prepared to, manipulate or use community values and feelings for their own…
