Changing Moralities

'The only constant in life is change'!!....

The above phrase which has been sourced from the writings of the ancient Greek Philosopher Heraclites very accurately describes the nature of the world which we inhabit. Every, aspect of the human experience has been characterized by change. Technology, Medicine, Communication, Human Etiquette's, you name it and they have all been influenced by this ruthless process.

Another crucial element that has been affected is the nature of human morality. The lines which divide the good and the bad, the pure and the evil, the right and the wrong have shifted in directions that people lets say five hundred years ago would never have imagined. What used to constitute as wrong in one generation becomes perfectly acceptable behavior in the next. Various examples of this can be found by simply glancing at human history. The trend in western society of further liberalization with each generation is a perfect exemplification of this process. The West's view on a variety of issues such as homosexuality, gender segregation, public censorship etc have become more progressive and liberal with the passage of time.

In my opinion the process behind the change is something as follows: A certain act is classified as taboo or sin by society, some people tend to indulge themselves a little while still maintains that the act in which they are engaging is wrong. With the passage of time the indulgence slowly transforms into a habit and when by the time it becomes a habit for an acceptable number of individuals the aforementioned sin has been transformed into as i have said before perfectly acceptable behavior.

The question which arises in my mind is that is it okay to have standards of morality which are flexible? Should we try to adhere to one set of morals and stick by them for all time or should we constantly try to find new standards of right and wrong on which we base our lives? Should religious texts like the Quran and Bible be interpreted in their literal senses or should we try to re-interpret them every time in light of changing circumstances?