I remember once being given a detention in middle school for acting up in class with a friend. The principal took us into his office and after a short lecture asked, “Do you girls know about the golden rule?”
We just stared at him. I thought at the time maybe it had something to do with the Disney movie Aladdin (don’t ask why), but luckily I kept my mouth shut. He seemed concerned with our blank looks and said, “well, remember this. The Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have done unto you. In other words, treat people how you want to be treated.”
This to me seems the foundation of morality. Who would have thought that a detention in 6th grade could prove so life changing?
I think that it is this Golden Rule that provides us with a basis for a kind of universal standard of principles from which more details, conditions and ethics are made—and it is one that seems to apply to all people. Athesist, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish…I really can’t think of a group of people who could possible discount this as a general good life philosophy.
Think about it. Almost ANY question you ask yourself regarding the world and people around can be answered by asking yourself, “how would I want to be treated if I were in the same situation?” Civil rights, immigration, health care, foreign policy, the list goes on. And though it is a secular philosophy, it is also very much in the foundation (if you look hard enough) of a lot of religions, even if it is not the not the most commonly preached tenet —sort of a unique thing if you think about it.
Though my religious knowledge may be a bit rusty, I will try and look at a couple of religious to make the point. Buddism is maybe the easiest: To reach a state of nirvana, you must (among other things) treat everything around you as though it has a soul. From your mom to your neighbor to the bug in your room—treat everything as though it holds a spirit as precious as your own.
In Hinduism, although the basis for belief used to be grounded in the equality of a caste system, the process of reincarnation demanded that you hold yourself accountable during this life in order to ensure a better one the next time around. So, in theory (I realize that history contradicts this a bit), treating ANYONE with anything less than respect was a dangerous undertaking—if you were mean to the lowest of the caste, who is to say you won’t be reincarnated even farther below in the future?
And in Christianity, “thou shalt not judge” seems to be a crucial if somewhat often overlooked canon of their beliefs.
The point being that the Golden Rule is not only universal in that it transcends religion, but made even more prolific in its incorporation into the foundation of many if not all of the major religions.
That said, there is a cynical side of me…and I don’t think that this “rule” is really human instinct. It sort of has to be worked at, an active way of living and addressing the world. Human’s really are somewhat naturally self-absorbed and I think it takes practice to make that next step and imagine yourself in someone else’s shoes.
Maybe that’s why we don’t naturally associate this philosophy when thinking about all the various religions, especially when it is not our own—because they have been “humanized,” contaminated as it were, and in many ways, moved away from that fundamental aspect of basic kindness and decency.
I don’t know. But I think that the basis for a universal principles of morality do lie in treating others the way you wish to be treated, a Golden Rule for both the secular and the spiritual.