Steven,
I think some of the logic still falls short.
Two related observations are that a spiritual absolute would necessarily be the essence of sentience, from which we rise, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement, from which we fell. The fact we are aware, than the many details of which we are aware.
It's that we naturally try to give some definition to this essence which seems to create problems, since we naturally project our ideals on what is an element of being. Ideals are aspirational, while the sense of awreness is foundational.
Think of all the ideologies that have tried to replace theism, in which the same assumption is being made, from the Terrors oof the French Revolution, to the current cancel culture, that one's ideals and aspirations should be universal and beyond question. Even materialism. Which we still try distilling down to the ideal forms of mathematics.
How much of what we assume to be material is simply the tension and friction of opposing forces? Isn't it really energy all the way through?
Consider a wave; The energy is what drives it, yet what we take away are the forms being expressed, the fluctuations and undulations that give us frequencies and amplitudes.
The energy, being conserved and thus present, goes past to future, while the forms generated rise and fall, future to past. Consequently going opposite directions of time.
Energy radiating toward infinity, while form coalesces toward equilibrium, both entropic.
Thus galaxies, as cosmic convection cycles.
Consider a factory, where the product goes start to finish, while the process goes the other way, consuming material and expelling product.
As lives go birth to death, while life goes onto the next generation, shedding the old.
Or consciousness goes past to future, while the patterns it generates, perceptions, thoughts, emotions, come and go, future to past.
Suggesting consciousness functions as a form of energy. While it might seem to be a neutral observer, tell that to the mind, when you want to go to sleep and it insists on shuffling through the list of things to think about. Or teenagers, pushing back against the walls of adulthood pushing in.
Basically the heart and the head,. The anarchy of desire versus the tyranny of judgement. Transcedence and order.
The other pont is that good and bad really are not some cosmic duel between righteousness and evil, even if they seem that way to us mortal beings, but the basic biological binary of beneficial and detrimental. The 1/0 of life. Even bacteria are governed by it.
It is that all the higher order social, ethical and emotional constructs, such as respect, responsibility, honor, trust, love, empathy, are all complex feedback and evolution of this element of cognizance, as it bounces against the other forces, energies and forms of its existance.
Consequently, when we treat good as aspirational rather than elemental, conflicts quickly become a zero sum race to the bottom, of us versus them, good versus bad, rather than each side being able to assume the other will hold to higher civilizational standards and potentially using such obstacles as opportunities to evolve further.
I guess this is getting a bit long, but I do get the strong sense society needs to do more soul searching, as the future we have been borrowing against has arrived.
