nonlocal

There is a moral push and pull between conservative and liberal values. The pendulum swings back and forth so consequences for behviors change. The choices have mostly been personal. People/societies seem to evolve from strict moral guidelines to behaviors that push the envelope of acceptability. At some point the envelope is exceeded by too much and societies then fall back (often not all the way back) to more conservative views. More often than not God's laws or scriptural guidelines are the basis of conservative moral views.

I have been intrugued by the idea of non-God/scriptural moral guidelines. What would they be? What would be the basis philosophy of conservative moral ideas? Would nihilism be the liberal extreme?

Moral Compass other than God:

The Soviets failed because the state was the moral compass. But the state is not something bigger than humankind as it is our invention. It seems that a moral compass needs to be something bigger than we; rather it needs to be thrust upon us or at the least, something we discover.

For us to be our own moral compass can work marginally well until you throw in more people. All have foibles, weaknesses and are misguided at times. Being your own moral compass is a sure way to being ostracized from more than a few groups.

So what is bigger than we are? What can create hope and even faith? What gives us a reason to reject evil and strive for good? It could be a simple as the fact that good generally works better than evil. Perhaps the idea of a moral compass is big enough.