In contemporary society, there are many approaches to making decisions about ethics, life plans, and anticipation for future events. These approaches range from utilitarianism to deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics, contractualism, and more.
What if these perspectives can be expanded upon by considering queer temporalities? Queer temporalities refers to an understanding that time is not linear but rather cyclical, nonlinear, or recursive. In this framework, one does not have control over their own destiny but instead must navigate various cycles and repetitions. This paper will explore how queer temporalities can provide insight into decision-making regarding morality, planning for life's challenges, and preparing for future changes.
Ethical Decision-Making
The conventional wisdom is that people should consider consequences when making moral choices.
If someone steals something from you, it might lead to bad consequences such as retaliation or imprisonment. But what if those consequences are already built into the cycle of karma? What if stealing leads to reincarnation in which you become the person who has been wronged? If so, then your current choice would affect your next life. In queer temporality, one must contend with past lives, present lives, and future lives. Moral choices may seem clear cut in the moment, but they take on different meanings across multiple lifetimes.
A Buddhist monk could see their actions as having no immediate effect but potentially long-term effects on their karma. As such, they might make decisions differently than someone who believes in only the here and now. The same applies to deciding whether to tell a white lie or not - it may seem insignificant at first glance, but its impact could reverberate through many lifetimes. By considering these complexities, we gain greater clarity about ethics and its implications beyond our immediate environment.
Life Planning
In traditional approaches to life planning, individuals focus on short-term goals such as job security, financial stability, and family well-being.
Under queer temporalities, these priorities shift towards cultivating relationships and spiritual growth over material successes. This is because relationships and spiritual development can have lasting effects beyond physical possessions.
An individual might choose to invest time and energy into developing meaningful friendships rather than pursuing wealth or status. They might also engage in practices that connect them to something larger than themselves, such as meditation, mindfulness exercises, or prayer. These activities can create deep intimacy and connection which outlasts any material acquisition.
Queer temporalities suggest that individuals should be prepared for unexpected changes by building resilience instead of focusing solely on accumulating resources. Resilience comes from within oneself rather than external circumstances. It is developed through practicing self-reflection and cultivating internal strength. By embracing these perspectives, one can plan for life's challenges more effectively by preparing mentally and spiritually.
Anticipatory Morality
Anticipatory morality refers to making choices based on potential future consequences. Under this approach, one considers how their actions will affect others in the present and future. Queer temporality provides a different perspective here too - it suggests that all decisions are interconnected across lifetimes. If someone makes a moral choice today, it may influence their karmic cycle later on. This means they must consider not only immediate consequences but also long-term implications.
A person who cheats on their partner now could cause significant repercussions down the road if karma dictates they become victims of infidelity in another lifetime. Similarly, someone who saves money now could experience greater financial security later due to the ripple effect of good deeds. In other words, every decision has far-reaching effects that cannot be fully understood until after the fact. By acknowledging this complexity, we gain insight into anticipatory morality and its nuances.
Queer temporalities provide unique insights into ethical decision-making, life planning, and anticipatory morality. Instead of linear time, these approaches understand time as cyclical or recursive. This perspective emphasizes relationships over material successes and encourages building resilience instead of accumulating resources.
It is about recognizing the connectedness between past lives, present lives, and future lives.
What insights emerge from queer temporalities regarding ethical decision-making, life planning, and anticipatory morality?
The concept of queer temporalities encompasses various approaches that challenge traditional linear timeframes and highlight the non-linearity of human experience. These perspectives suggest that people may experience time in unique ways, such as by focusing on past memories, present experiences, or future possibilities. From this perspective, the act of making decisions can be understood not only as an individual process but also as a social one shaped by cultural expectations and collective values.