I just wanted to write a quick note on the 'chaotic' part of 'chaotic good'. The term actually refers to a concept in the popular (in the geek world) game Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. In the game a given player controlled one or more characters, each of which had what was called an 'alignment'. The alignment indicated how that character generally acted in the world, and was typically of one of six major types. The types were:
- Lawful and Chaotic Good
- Lawful and Chaotic Neutral
- Lawful and Chaotic Evil
Lawful meant the character would generally obey the law of the land regardless of whether their intentions were good, evil or neutral. Chaotic meant that to some degree the ends justified the means. This blog is about The Good, and not necessarily as constrained by law. That is to say, it is to The Good to assist slaves escape their unjust servitude, though it may be illegal and considered 'theft' according to the standards of the day. The idea itself is admittedly a dangerous one. In some cases, as with slavery, it does seem that the law of man must bend to a natural law. That is, codification of injustice does not remedy its flavor.
I should also point out that though I am speaking about concepts that sound like they are the province and provenance of religion, I am not myself religious. I think man can act ethically in the world without the guidance of the gods simply by consulting his own experience and by thinking about how the world got to be the way it is now. It seems to me that the major prophets and religions seem all to have arrived at the same place anyway.
Hi,
ReplyDeletechaosnet3, is the name I write under, and as you would have surmised, I read, learn and think about chaos. I found your blog, and I find the approach very interesting.
I am not a bad person myself, in fact, I take myself as a good one. However, chaos and chaotic have nothing to do, with either good or bad, they are just states and processes, without any intent within, whatsoever. Yours. Sincerely. Thank you.