about morality...

In his book "Notes et Contre-Notes", Ionesco (who is one of
my
favorite artists) makes his case for an amoral look at art. He is
mainly angry with the critics who criticize works of art for moral
reason but he also claims that art, the essential part of it, has
nothing to do with morality, not in a direct way. I agree with his
theories 100% so instead of quoting him I'll just explain what I
think.

Ideology, morality and political beliefs are not the essential things
about the "human nature". They cannot be. Nothing proves us that our
morality is any better than anybody else's (unless, of course, you
like to believe that we have been told everything we need to know
about morality by a superior being). Many of us surely have found one
day that the whole system of thoughts we had built up until then were
nothing but an illusion. And I cannot see why that cannot happen
again tomorrow, or maybe even in the next five minutes. For any
skeptic, morality is simply a choice, determined by our "nature" AND
our past.

However, there are things about me that are not choices and that I
KNOW FOR SURE. I know that I have desires; I know that they sometimes
conflict with the universe, and that sometimes they don't. I know I
have problems and insecurities that throw me off-balance when the
life feels like it. I know I look for meaning or purpose (even when I
know there is none). I know the way I experience the world through my
senses is only one way of experiencing the world, and there probably
are infinite number of other ways. And I know some other stuff that I
don't feel comfortable sharing with you. These are things that don't
change with my mood, my age, my experiences, etc. And I believe these
are the things that make us "the same". There is a truth
about us
that is "beyond personality" and "beyond good and evil".

What I like about good/great art is that it captures these truths in
some form.
Obviously, all of my argument falls apart if you do think that there
is a "universal criteria for good and evil". I believe we can
"not
care" about our moral judgments if we really are trying to find
the
essential and I know a few people who achieved that.

Yoel