The New (Old) Golden Rule

     There's been an idea floating around inside my head for a long time and today I experienced it for myself so I thought I must share this blessing.  I really feel that this moment right now we are on the verge of a great leap forward in civilization, a sort of new Renaissance.  You hear a lot of gloom and doom in the media and yes, that is the other possibility but we have only gotten to where we are as a species by choosing up, by choosing forward so it's only natural that we continue the same way.  I hope we continue the same way but if insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting a different result than as a society we are stark, raving mad!  Again and again we put material gain as our top priority and again and again we end up wanting.  Even so we keep going back to business as usual, thinking that everything will sort itself out this time.  How many of these depressions do we have to go through before we figure it out?  The answer is so simple.  Like fire, it's always been there we just needed to learn to harness the power of the flame to turn a force of destruction into a source of warmth and light.  So to is humanity's drive.  It is in our nature to conquer and build and seek but just as a raging wildfire desolates the earth our drive has the capacity to make barren what was fruitful and just as fire makes way for new life our drive can encourage new growth, greener and more plentiful then before.  The answer is in every religion and philosophy in some form or another but the Judeo-Christian tradition refers to it as the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Treat others the way you want to be treated.  The words are simple enough but how about the action?

     Hobbes wrote that it is in the nature of man to act in his own interest therefore we need laws to prevent the killing of another to make anther's possessions our own.  Nietzsche wrote that there is no such thing as a selfless act; it is impossible for man not to act in his interest and Locke wrote man, by nature, is inherently good.  The trouble with humanity is that all three exist within ourselves.  The miracle of humanity is that all three exist within ourselves.  What I mean is that if we act in the interest of our fellow man than we are acting in our own interest.  It's not only do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but do unto others as you would have them do unto you because what you do unto others will be done unto you.  If we act for the benefit of our fellow man we will reap the rewards.  That will be the major breakthrough of the 21st century but haven't we known this all along?