It is rather hard to get people to do onto others as they would do onto themselves.
Instead, do onto your friends as you would do onto yourself.
Or, do onto your pets as you would do onto yourself.
I am sure we can make a better society, if we do onto thoses close to us as we would do onto ourselves first. And expand our circle gradually to include the entire human race.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Finally, a fellow Aussie!
If we did do unto others what we would have done to us, how could the human race ever progress? Living in today’s society is, whether we like it or not, a competition. Let’s face it, humans are inherently selfish. That’s not to say that we should use this as an excuse, but can you honestly say that society would progress at the rate it is in any field if we all did what we would do to ourselves? Much as I hate to say it, if a person wants to succeed in today’s world we have to do some prey selfish things. Or do you think that it’s better to try to set an example and be trampled as a result? It would be great to think that this could ever work, but you’re looking for some kind of hand-in-hand world-wide love fest. All right, maybe that’s a bit harsh, but what we all have to realise is that while there are always going to be people who want to bring humanity together by acting in the way you suggest, there are always going to be an equal number or more who want to do the exact opposite. If such a society was created, although it would be wonderful for a time, it would soon be destroyed by reality
The problem is, that everyone has a different take on how to be treated. And also, who some people figure ‘worthy’ enough to be considered at all. Neo-natzis think african americans arent even worthy of treatment as a fellow human being.
And as Yasmin said, society grows from conflict. Is it right? No…is it going to change? Not even. It can improve, but we would become stagnant as a race if we stopped all conflict.
Unless you are a masochist.
aw how adorable…
…sounds familiar…
nice idea por!
If you ask me, personally, I would NOT make the golden rule my rule in life because we all have different tastes, choices, temperaments, fears, loves, hates, prejudices, feelings, etc. I would simply let my intuition or that inner voice be my guide instead of, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
It is a system which works- but only if youo have a perfectly virtuous populace.
One example illustrates this point:
Imagine I am a boss and a guy applies for a promotion to me. Imagine an average guy: how would he treat himself if HE was boss?
He would promote himself!
Unless he was perfectly virtuous and respected the fact that I might have better candidates.
The imperfect boss would end up promoting everyone- even if they werent good for the post beciase this is hwo he would want to be treated himself.
Thus the system runs into trouble.
I think gavtmcc might have a good point – or this is at least a similar point. How do you do to everyone as you would to yourself in a situation where you can only be good to one person, not many? As another said, how do we do to others when we may all want to be treated somewhat differently?
I think there is a better phrasing: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” You can promote the best candidate as long as you had no unfair prejudice against the others – becasue you love them. You can try to aim at what the other person wants or at least needs – because the loving person wants good for the beloved. And even pagans can do good for their friends.
It takes a Master to come up with the best phrasing.
I believe the statement goes do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If people did unto others as they would do unto themselves, guys would have to go around jerking each other off, and women fingering one another… Despite that though, there is an obvious fundamental flaw in that thinking. It automatically assumes that everyone wants the same things. If I am a masochist, should I go around torturing other people? Something which may seem like a really nice gesture to one person could be completely offensive to another person. Any moral statement that pre-assumes everyone in the world agrees on and likes the same things is obviously flawed to begin with. I like blasting screeching electronic noises at ear-bleeding decibals, do you want me to come over to your house and blast it?
I think this thread shows the corruption of the basic ideal of doing good to others. It’s not that hard, we make it hard in our selfish eyes.
like “If I were my boss I’d give myself a promotion” it has nothing to do with that.
“guys would go around jerking each other off”
it definately has nothing to do with that.
The basic ideal is that you try to help others to make their day easier. Stop and help change someones tire, call the tow truck for them, pick up someone who needs a ride, stop by the library and teach a class on something your good at.
the basic ideal is to not be selfish. all the things stated here are based on selfish ideals and are thus flawed.
Just a quick thingy about what you said. I had that experience–a while back, I was coming home from school and driving along a busy road at 50 mph, my tire blew up, it was nighttime, in the street of Los Angeles, and didn’t know what to do. A guy approached me and knowing already what just happened, offered to change the tire. As he bent down to look at it, I checked my purse for money, and ack no cash, only debit card, to give him. He seemed to have read my mind, and said he didn’t need anything. He was on his way to a friend’s house, and saw what happened. I tried to get his phone number or tried to give my phone number and maybe invite him for coffee some other time. But he refused.
okay, bed time
You do onto others what others want you to do onto them.
well, really it’s about going out your way though, the guy could’ve just walked by without helping him change his tire. But he took his time to help you. time is valuable. share it.
i think, in the situation where you know hundreds of others will also very soon be faced with the same situation, that its a matter of having free time to give,
the guy in traffic who is 15 minutes late for work is not going to stop to fix a tire.
a guy who is 15 minutes early hopefully will. hes got the help to spare.