kindness

I have been thinking about all the fighting going on about religion…all the talk about god…and all the problems people face…
it doesn’t really matter at all…the important thing is KINDNESS…how we treat each other…that is what it is about…
it doesn’t matter about any god…what kind of person do you want to be…the only rewards are how it works for you…

What matters is how you get it to be and stay that way.

A majority of people are wrong about something.
Oh if only they would change.
Well they already changed.

Yes. The Ancient Greek philosophers said: “be moderate”.

Here are some examples of modern Occidental imperatives like Kant’s categorical imperative and other’s imperatives:
(1) “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction.”
(2) “Be revolutionary.”
(3) “Trust in the absolute spirit and the dialectic processes.”
(4) “Relinquish.”
(5) “Be yourself.”
(6) “Persevere.”
(7) “Be autarkic as much as you can.”
(8) “Take care of you, your relatives and dependants, your surrounding and ecolgical environment.”
(9) “Participate in the discourse.”
(10) “Take care of your foam, because you live in it.”

Modern imperatives of ILP members:
(A) “Do unto yourself and others as you’d do unto yourself if you were them.”
(B) “The important thing is KINDNESS.”
…?

Clarify, Verify, Instill, and Reinforce the Perception of Hopes and Threats unto Anentropic Harmony
.
.
Repeat it to yourself twice a day (a mantra) and the varied meanings and serious significance of it comes automatically.

Oh, sorry, James. How could I forget that! #-o

So we have the following modern imperatives (in chronological sequence) of ILP members:
(I) “Clarify, Verify, Instill, and Reinforce the Perception of Hopes and Threats unto Anentropic Harmony.”
(II) “Do unto yourself and others as you’d do unto yourself if you were them.”
(II) “The important thing is KINDNESS.”
…?

Kindness taken to the extreme can kill.

idioms.thefreedictionary.com/kill+with+kindness

Example:
Overwhelm or harm someone with mistaken or excessive benevolence.
For example, Aunt Mary constantly sends Jane chocolates and cake and other goodies, even though she’s been told Jane’s on a diet-nothing like killing with kindness .
This expression originated as kill with kindness as fond apes do their young (presumably crushing them to death in a hug) and was a proverb by the mid-1500s.

The effective approach is the Middle-Path that is aligned with optimal living.

I think life is big and messy enough for lots and lots of things to matter.

Then it wouldn’t be kindness would it. :icon-rolleyes:

I would say that it is stupidity that kills, not kindness. With stupidity, one presumes something to be kindness even when it clearly isn’t.

good work james…my idea for this thread was to focus on how we treat other persons…
all this god stuff doesn’t really matter that much…

Live and let live.

That all leads always to the same imperative, namely Kant’s Categorical Imperative.

The first formulation: “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction.”
The second formulation: “Act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.”
The thrid formulation: “Therefore, every rational being must so act as if he were through his maxim always a legislating member in the universal kingdom of ends.”

The first formulation of the Categorical Imperative appears similar to the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule or ethic of reciprocity is a maxim, ethical code or morality.

The Golden Rule (in its positive form) says: “Treat others how you wish to be treated.” One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself (directive form).
The Golden Rule (in its negative form) says: “Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself.” One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated (cautionary form, also known as the Silver Rule).

Kindness is arguably the most noble attribute in the realm of human relationships … relationships between man and his environment … man and animals … in short … man and his world. However, seems it has been trampled by individualism, ambition, competition and the deification of prosperity.

St Augustine’s suggestion that prosperity inevitably leads to depravity may turn out to be accurate.

St Augustine writes in his book “City of God” … “now ambition would not prevail but amongst a people wholly corrupted with covetousness and luxury. And the people are always infected with these two contagions, by the means of affluent prosperity”. You are depraved by prosperity…”

This degeneration of kindness in human relationships may not be such a bad thing. Perhaps it will serve as a negative teacher. Seems people are more inclined to embrace change in times of serious adversity.

A well known Chinese maxim … “Inevitable reversal of the extreme” … may be relevant here.

Any improvement of the current status of ‘kindness’ in the world must start with imagination. As more and more people imagine a kind world … the world will become a kinder place.

Oh no. Live and let live. I quite another thing completely.
Kant offers himself to behave only in ways that he would find acceptable if it were a overall rule for everyone.
“Live and let live” is a plea for negligence. It suggests that I can do what the fuck I want, and so can others.

It does not even have the codicil “do no harm.” That’s not what Kant had in mind.

Kant definitely did have a keen set of moral rules that he was able to comply with, and willing to impose those rules on all others, right up to the hilt of the third formulation.

I did not say that “live and let live” is the same, but that it leads (leads!) to Kant’s Categorial imperative.

Augustinus is right: Prosperity inevitably leads to depravity.

we don’t have to prove anything about kindness…
it is something that happens…
this is not science…
how important is kindness…

Read some ILP posts and you will know how important kindness is.

I’ll repeat a Wiccan commandment–Do as you will so long as it harms no one.

I like it but it sounds unrealistic

So does the Golden Rule!