06 April 2018

Notes - innocence and original sin / definitions / summarized / con't /



      Last night you said that you do not feel human beings are capable of innocence but this morning you want to amend that by adding that within context of the future (time) humans are innocent of what the future will  bring whether it's in moments or eons. - Amorella

       0956 hours. Yes, that is my addition, and by innocence I am not making reference to the biblical original sin because I cannot imagine our evolving into what we naturally are as a species a sin.

      Use innocence and original sin as the lead. Post. - Amorella

       1020 hours. I will have to define both words.

        Later. - Amorella


       Busy day. You had one appointment this morning by a former student who graduated from Mason at the time this house was built. You have three more showing appointments this afternoon and evening. - Amorella

       1305 hours. The online showing by Susie G. is really well done. No sense getting hopes up though -- give it a week or so. I think it will probably sell eventually. Let's get back to innocence and original sin.

       You need to define innocence first, not just the dictionary definition but your own personal definition also.  - Amorella

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innocence - noun - the state, quality, or fact of being innocent of a crime or offense: they must prove their innocence

• lack of guile or corruption; purity: the healthy bloom in her cheeks gave her an aura of innocence

• euphemistic used euphemistically to refer to a person's virginity: they'd avenge assaults on her innocence by others

PHRASES in all innocence without knowledge of something's significance or possible consequences: she knew the gift had been chosen in all innocence

ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French, from Latin innocentia, from innocent- ‘not harming’ (based on nocere ‘injure’).

Selected and edited by Oxford/American software.

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       The points important above: purity and without knowledge of possible consequences, i.e. having no intent to harm. Now go to Wikipedia. - Amorella

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Innocence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience.

In relation to knowledge

Innocence can imply lesser experience in either a relative view to social peers, or by an absolute comparison to a more common normative scale. In contrast to ignorance, it is generally viewed as a positive term, connoting an optimistic view of the world, in particular one where the lack of knowledge stems from a lack of wrongdoing, whereas greater knowledge comes from doing wrong. This connotation may be connected with a popular false etymology explaining "innocent" as meaning "not knowing" (Latin noscere (To know, learn)). The actual etymology is from general negation prefix in- and the Latin nocere, "to harm".
People who lack the mental capacity to understand the nature of their acts may be regarded as innocent regardless of their behavior. From this meaning comes the usage of innocent as a noun to refer to a child under the age of reason, or a person, of any age, who is severely mentally disabled.
Nonetheless, the word, innocence, is used to describe childhood innocence as a notion created and controlled by adults. As Jean-Jacques Rousseau describes 'childhood as a time of innocence' where children are 'not-knowing' and must reach the age of reason to become competent people in society.
However, this is not the case anymore as technology advances, this has given children in the contemporary world a platform where they are referred to as 'digital natives', where they are seen more knowledgeable than adults. Furthermore, because of digital media and internet, young people have become well-informed of the world around and have a better understanding.

Pejorative meaning

In some cases, the term "innocence" has a pejorative meaning, where an assumed level of experience dictates common discourse or baseline qualifications for entry into another, different, social experience. Since experience is a prime factor in determining a person's point of view, innocence is often also used to imply naiveté or lack of personal experience.

Symbolism

The lamb is a commonly used symbol of innocence's nature. In Christianity, for example, Jesus is referred to as the "Lamb of God", thus emphasizing his sinless nature.
Other symbols of innocence include children, virgins, acacia branches (especially in Freemasonry), non-sexual nudity, songbirds and the color white (biblical paintings and Hollywood films depict Jesus wearing a white tunic).

Loss of innocence

A "loss of innocence" is a common theme in fiction, pop culture, and realism. It is often seen as an integral part of coming of age.
It is usually thought of as an experience or period in a person's life that leads to a greater awareness of evil, pain and/or suffering in the world around them.
Examples of this theme include songs like "American Pie", poetry like William Blake's collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience and novels like To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, A Farewell to Arms, and Lord of the Flies.
By contrast the I Ching urges a recovery of innocence - the name given to Hexagram 25 - and "encourages you to actively practice innocence".
Innocence could also be viewed as a Westernized view of childhood, and the "loss" of innocence is simply a social construction, or viewed as dominant ideology.
Thinkers such as Jean-Jaques Rousseau used the romanticism discourse as a way to separate children from adults. Ideas surrounding childhood and childhood innocence stems from this discourse. It was during the 19th century when childhood became synonymous with "innocence", however not all children were considered to be innocent during that time, as it was highly dependent on the colour of one's skin. The term innocence being connected to "white childhood" was a way to racialize childhood and exclude the non-whites not only from "innocence" but from childhood as well.

In psychoanalysis

The psychoanalytic tradition is broadly divided between those (like Fairbairn and Winnicott) who saw the child as initially innocent, but liable to lose its innocence under the impact of stress or psychological trauma; and those (like Freud and Klein) who see the child as developing innocence - maturing into it - as a result of surmounting the Oedipus complex and/or the depressive position.
More eclectically, Eric Berne saw the Child ego state, and its vocabulary, as reflecting three different possibilities: the cliches of conformity; the obscenities of revolt; and "the sweet phrases of charming innocence". 
In a rather different formulation, Christopher Bollas used the term 'Violent Innocence' to describe a fixed and obdurate refusal to acknowledge the existence of an alternative viewpoint - something akin to what he calls "the fascist construction, the outcome is to empty the mind of all opposition".

Selected and edited from Wikipedia

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       This article/definition shows a 'coming of age' theme and concludes innocence exists until it is lost or that innocence continues without a fully conscious sense of the reality in a situation of evil, pain and/or suffering, i.e. without empathy. - Amorella

       1401 hours. This is interesting, I like how you provide a summary of what is in the important context to me. As you are 'showing' me what I already unconsciously understand, this is not a reinforcement or an endorsement of a concept (at least I don't feel it is).

       Yes, this is so. Post. - Amorella


       With a showing in progress you are at McDonalds and had a light late lunch (Carol with an egg McMuffin and you with an oatmeal and drinks). Later, with other showings, you are having dinner at Longhorn. Carol is reading The Enquirer before resuming with her book. You are about to summarize 'Innocence' as you personally define it.

       1522 hours. 'Innocence is having purity with no knowledge of plausible harm to another, and this innocence exists as long as there is no fully conscious sense of evil or inflicting probable pain or suffering to another.' This appears reasonable to me.

       You are still at the McDonalds', Carol is still reading the paper. You have been interrupted by your realtor several times -- all good signs people are interested. So far you have four more showing tomorrow; one from Dayton. Let's defining 'original sin'. - Amorella

       1558 hours. I think I don't really remember what original sin is in definition form. I always think of it contextually. I assume this is going to be theological. The quotation below is from "Different Branches of Philosophy" by Austin Cline.

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Philosophy of Religion

Sometimes confused with theology, the Philosophy of Religion is the philosophical study of religious beliefs, religious doctrines, religious arguments and religious history. The line between theology and the philosophy of religion isn't always sharp because they share so much in common, but the primary difference is that theology tends to be apologetical in nature, committed to the defense of particular religious positions, whereas Philosophy of Religion is committed to the investigation of religion itself rather than the truth of any particular religion.


Selected and edited from - www.thoughtco.com/austin-cline

"The Different Branches of Philosophy"

[The bold above is specific to the context of definition below.]

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Dictionary - original sin - noun
CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY [belief]

1.    The tendency to sin innate in all human beings, held to be inherited from Adam in consequence of the Fall. The concept of original sin was developed in the writings of St. Augustine.

Selected from online dictionary

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          You have been working on cleaning up the Wikipedia article on original sin but it's late and you're tired. Post. - Amorella

          2204 hours. It's a fun read and interesting. I'll finish it tomorrow. 

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