What is Innocence? How Innocent Can Each of Us Be?

A very powerful voice, Şebnem Ferah!

She is an important rock artist of our country.

I was listening to one of her songs recently, the first track of her album "od" released in 2013, a track called "there is someone".

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"Od" means "fire" in Turkish, odun comes from this root, Ocak is a word from the same root. The original is "ot-çak". A place where fire is lit.

For some reason we have decided to abandon this word in our own language and use the Persian word "ateş".

In fact, "fire" is also an Avestan word, a dialect of Middle Persian.

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Anyway, I actually want to talk about something else today. So I won't dwell on fire.

In this song by Şebnem Ferah says:

/ Don't be afraid

Don't be ashamed

Be what you are

Don't give up

Don't sulk

Stay so innocent

There is someone

There is someone

The nail of the world

Back to the present

Owned by

There is someone

There is someone

The breath of the innocent

There's someone protecting

As long as you stay like this /

The lyrics of the rest of the song are also very beautiful, but I think that's enough.

Yes, the video also features a newborn child.

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Today our topic is innocence!

How innocent we are when we come into the world, right?

But then whatever happens to us happens to us.

We start scheming. I don't know, we start deceiving each other.

Some of us do much worse things. We slander one another, for example.

We lose our innocence over time!

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For what purpose?

For example, to gain some benefit for ourselves.

Or to add more money to the money we have, to add strength to our power.

We don't hesitate to unfairly malign someone else whom we see as a rival, just to get them out of our way.

Even the belief in God does not prevent us from doing this; on the contrary, we can even use religious beliefs for our purposes.

What an evil creature this human being is!

Especially if we feel powerful enough, we do these evil deeds openly!

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Not everyone is like this!

There are good people in this life!

At least not me!

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Are you sure? Haven't you ever wronged any of them? 

Please be sincere, at least with yourself.

You are reading this article on your own, don't worry, no one else will understand what you are thinking, the technology to read thoughts has not yet been developed.

You can at least be sincere with yourself.

You are not innocent either, at least not as innocent as the day you were born!

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I think everyone has done something in their life that could be considered unfair to someone else, at least none of us are as innocent as a newborn child!

Am I right?

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So what is it that corrupts us? 

What makes us lose our innocence?

Is it our ambition?

Our desire to live better?

Is it the devil inside us?

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It's a bit utopian, it's a bit specific to our world of faith, according to our faith, even our expulsion from paradise, even eating that forbidden apple, is a good metaphor for the inherent sinfulness of human beings.

But the devil was instrumental for Adam to eat the forbidden apple! Eve was also instrumental!

Yes, always an excuse!

He started it!

He started what? Does it matter who started it? He's a human being!

I mean, no matter who it is, it's human beings who do wrong, I'm saying the same thing, human nature, maybe for the sake of their ambitions, maybe because they can't control their ego, they always tend to do things they shouldn't do, or things they are forbidden to do.

As time progresses, people lose the innocence they had when they were first born.

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I always do the right thing!

Right for who? To you? To him?

Maybe to someone else what you're doing is wrong, isn't it?

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I believe in divine justice!

Yes, and man has invented this excuse to justify his actions!

Divine justice! The justice of the gods. Because he fails to control his own desires and ambitions. He throws the responsibility to the gods.

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This is a struggle for life, if you want to live well you have to, you have to rise on someone's back.

The strong survive! An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!

Yes, this has been our philosophy of life for centuries. For the sake of power, we didn't look the weak in the eye. We put anyone in front of us to the sword.

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This is mine, don't touch it! Touch it and I'll burn it!

Yes, we have also been ruled by possessiveness. Most of the time, if we want something, we look for a thousand ways to get it, no matter if we need it or not.

Let him have it, right?

But no, I want it, it must be mine!

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Who knows how people cope with their evil deeds. He goes on living, all the while knowing that one day he will have to pay for what he has done.

Will he really pay for it? 

He doesn't really know that either.

Yes, on the one hand, there is a fear inside him, what if he really pays for what he has done!

I'd better do something good!

There are some people, especially when they reach a certain age, who give themselves to religion. They spend all their time begging to God to compensate for their sins!

And do these efforts work?

I don't know, maybe.

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What's done is done, we're not going to commit hara-kiri like the Japanese!

Look, the way we live changes from culture to culture. Our efforts for forgiveness also change.

Some say that geography is our destiny, if you don't agree with your destiny, then change the geography you live in.

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What is the essence of this saying? Does anyone know?

It is the culture, the society into which we are born. 

What shapes the way of life of societies is the environment they live in.  Of course, geography also plays a role in this, but more often it is the society and the conditions that life in that society brings us.

No matter how differently we think as individuals, in the end the society we live in has a great influence on the formation of our character.

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Look, this is another excuse that people make for the bad things they do.

That's what I would do, but it's custom, but it's tradition!

Habits and social pressure can sometimes cause us to make mistakes.

Sometimes you cannot act beyond the general morality and point of view of the society!

At best you are criticized, at worse you are punished.

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Can innocence also be a virtue for societies?

Is society always innocent?

Or do the criteria of innocence sometimes change according to the society you live in?

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For example, do the rules that apply to one society always apply to another society?

There are universal rules!

These rules must apply to every society!

Or might this view not always be true?

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Yes, I think the truths of each society may vary.

Why else would they say that geography is destiny?

But still, there are universal rules on some issues that concern humanity!

For example, no one, no rule of society can accept another human being as a slave!

Yes, that is the case today, but until yesterday people used other people as slaves! What do you say to that?

That's different, yes, once upon a time, but is there no more slavery today?

Yes, I think modern slavery is still going on!

People are now slaves in a sense, either by choice or because they have to be! Am I wrong?

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It's their fate!

You're right, some people are destined for this. Some can't avoid their fate.

Let them resent their fate!

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If we lose our innocence over time, this is also a matter of fate. Whatever we do is already predestined, we are destined to do evil even if we don't want to!

Are you sure?

Isn't this also a way of escape to cover up what we do ourselves?

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I think all these excuses that we hide behind are fallacies to convince ourselves.

We need to be sincere with ourselves first.

We are all conscious beings.

We are the only ones responsible for losing the innocence of the first day we were born!

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Yes, none of us are innocent if we are alive.

Sezen Aksu sang beautifully:

/ Hug your inner child

He'll tell you about man

Hands are sinful

Tongues are sinful

It's a fire of the ages

The world is sinful

Hands are sinful

Tongues are sinful

It's a fire of the ages

The world is sinful

None of us are innocent

None of us are innocent /

Love and regards to everyone from Moscow