Kill more people ?. Huh.....the world has seen too many killings . It is easier to kill than to make real peace . Killing does not require too much brain work . Peace demands too much work and perseverance too .

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If you kill others, you are killing yourself.

It is better to think in terms of what you can do for them. Wouldn't it be nice if total strangers always just wanted to help you or make your life easier?

This is the golden rule. Do unto others as if they were you... because they are.

I have a problem with The Golden Rule, which is easiest to express with the question: "What if you're a masochist?"

Strict adherence to The Golden Rule by a masochist would require he to cause pain to others because he wishes pain to be caused to himself.

The basic assumption of The Golden Rule is that everyone want's the same things, which is obviously not true in all cases.

The basis of the problem with The Golden Rule is that it is reflexive. It projects one's own viewpoint onto everyone else, which is fundamentally self-centered.

It would be better to say "Do unto others what other's would do unto themselves" - because they're not you. (If they were you, then they would want the same things you want.)

(And really Jeannie, this is the fundamental reason I believe in the "separatist" view of spirit and not the pantheistic view. But that's another thread altogether. )

Sure but there was a point in the lives of any masochist before the adult appreciation of aversive stimuli. Instead of just flat out "feel pain" it's then "when I appreciate pain feel pain" and if you put that through the golden rule then you're treating everyone the way you want to be treated, it just takes recognition that you have to pay attention to their mood at the time of treatment.

i toosed the golden rule when i tossed the bible decades ago. treat people the way YOU want to be treated? bullsh1t. treat them the way THEY want to be treated. again common sense rules the day over religion and spirituality.

Yeah, that's what JR and I both said - treat them the way they want to be treated, not the way you want to be treated.

I want to be treated according to my mood. If you thought the golden rule ever meant you should stick bandaids on people when you've cut yourself you must be trying to interpret it poorly.

it's been my experience that when all else fails the (credible) threat of physical violence seems to work for most of life's problems

How about this one..

Do as you will..harm no one.

What a simple heathen pagan concept, if all took a vow of non violence then the violence would end. Will never happen because many have an eye for an eye
and revenge mentality..so sad.

Tragedy of the commons. "If I don't take advantage of these people somebody else will so not doing it only hurts me" sort of thinking.
Well, it's nastier how I put it while the idea is more general.

Yup, that's what I said. I should treat you the way you want to be treated. So we agree.

If I thought that, then I would agree.

"If you thought [that] you must be trying to interpret it poorly."

If you are a masochist, you are in luck because you will certainly be able to find many people who would beat you up and if you can't you can just go out some night and piss someone off.

There are always a lot of "what if's" in any situation. The idea is that you might run into your incarnate self living one of your future or past lives and in hurting them, you are hurting yourself. If you believe in reincarnation unrestricted by our time line, you could easily run into yourself. The person you hurt could be you.

On a larger scale, in the belief that we are all part of a single entity with many different points of view, we are all incarnates of that same self.

I did not want to get into a nit picking debate about it. I just wanted to suggest that we BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER and attempt to understand one another.

Its no big deal.

If you would rather kill each other, hurt each other, then I am sorry.

Interpret what poorly?

Unfortunetely the media are more interested in wars than in peace .
Those who made tons of dollars from wars just want wars to continue for ever . Those companies who profit from wars are peace enemies .
When money rules the human values diminish to cipher .

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What she said.

As Butler Schaffer wrote, if Edison could light up the world all by himself (by inventing the light bulb), you too can enlighten the world. You just need to find out how for yourself.

I don't think so. I been touch by it. To many screwed up people out there.

Human nature and the evolution of our species makes the prospect of "peace", an impossibility. Our psyches are programed to retain our most primal instincts for dominance, acceptance and conformity to our ideals and to eradicate perceived weaknesses to aid in the survival of the species.

Unless there is a way to mass reprogram the human psyche and eliminate the core primal survival instinct, our concept of peace can never exist.

Naw, just get the crappy places on Earth to develop industry while places like China transition from industry to finance (leaving the US to probably have to transition straight to advance technology research,) and everyone will be part of the system that gets us more than beating each other up.

We're closely related to bonobos and they're really peaceful. The only big difference between them and chimps is that they have a wider diet so they didn't ever have to split up to get their daily meals and weren't vulnerable to having three rivals show up and smash their heads in.

Or in other words if you wanted to fight them it had to be the whole group vs the whole group. Violence had to be a much bigger gamble (there would hardly ever be a group three times the size of an enemy group and that's about the numbers advantage you need to have a good shot at not getting seriously injured.)

Now, the important thing is that you can look at the people around the world and see that we don't just up and start fighting for no reason- we judge if it's worth the risk. In places where it usually isn't there's a whole lot less violence.