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Alone, this code is insufficient. You need an ideal to strive for beyond yourself. First and foremost, strive to be better than you are (according to some ideal
by arcbyte 4y ago
Alone, this code is insufficient. You need an ideal to strive for beyond yourself. First and foremost, strive to be better than you are (according to some ideal - for me as a Christian it is God). Then secondly, you should love your neighbor as yourself - or do unto others as you would have done to yourself as you put it.
People are not perfect and every single person alive has areas where they would choose to have pain inflicted on themselves because of lies they believe about themselves. They would visit those lies on other people as well under your single code.
We therefore need the appeal to a higher ideal to break free of those false beliefs. We are learning creatures and life is a journey of knowledge. We should always be learning better ways to treat each other as the first rule. Then as a second rule is the Golden Rule to never treat anyone less than than the very best way that you have learned until now.
And this matches nicely with Jesus's teachings in Mark 12:28-31
- jqpabc123 4y agoYou need an ideal to strive for beyond yourself. Working for the collective good of yourself *and* others is all about striving beyond just youself. I'm sorry you missed that.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- verdverm 4y agoWhat if I would accept maleficence if I could do harm to others? (because I believe I am better at harming and self-protection, so in the long run, my self interest will help me reach the top)
- jqpabc123 4y agoWhat if I would accept maleficence Lack of enlightenment exists in any system or moral code ever put forth. my self interest will help me reach the top Self interest may also prevent you from "reaching the top" ... or it may remove you from any "top" you do attain. "Enlightenment" is about viewing things from more than one solitary perspective. All of human history pretty clearly demonstrates the superior power and strength of collective effort and achievement. Narcissism doesn't naturally lend itself to this and is generally viewed as an aberrant, short sighted approach that is rarely tolerated or rewarded by the test of time. Prisons are full of extremely self focused individuals who tried to get ahead at other's expense and failed.