31/05/2018
22. Treat others as you would want to be treated:
22.1. In all times and in most places, Mankind has looked up to and revered certain values. They are called the virtues. They have been attributed to wise men, holy men, saints and gods. They have made the difference between a barbarian and a cultured person, the difference between chaos and a decent society.
22.2. Virtues are the ideal qualities in good human conduct. It doesn’t absolutely require a heavenly mandate nor a tedious search through the thick tomes of the philosophers to discover what “good” is. A self - revelation can occur on the subject. It can be worked out by almost any person.
22.3. If one were to think over how he or she would like to be treated by others, one would evolve the human virtues. Just figure out how you would want people to treat you. You would possibly, first of all, want to be treated justly: you wouldn’t want people lying about you or falsely or harshly condemning you.
22.4. You would probably want your friends and companions to be loyal: you would not want them to betray you. You would want people to be fair in their dealings with you. You would want them to be honest with you and not cheat you.
22.5. You might want to be treated kindly and without cruelty. You would possibly want people to be considerate of your rights and feelings. When you were down, you might like others to be compassionate. Instead of blasting you, you would probably want others to exhibit self - control.
22.6. If you had any defects or shortcomings, if you made a mistake, you might want people to be tolerant , not critical. Rather than concentrating on censure and punishment, you would prefer people were forgiving.
22.7. You might want people to be benevolent toward you, not mean nor stingy. Your possible desire would be for others to believe in you , not doubt you at every hand.
22.8. You would probably prefer to be given respect , not insulted. Possibly you would want others to be polite to you and also treat you with dignity. Right?
22.9. You might like people to admire you. When you did something for them you would possibly like people to appreciate you. Correct?
22.10. You would probably like others to be friendly toward you. From some you might want love. And above all, you wouldn’t want these people just pretending these things, you would want them to be quite real in their attitudes and to be acting with integrity.
22.11. You could possibly think of others. And there are the precepts contained in this book. But above you would have worked out the summary of what are called the virtues.
22.12. It requires no great stretch of imagination for one to recognize that if he were to be treated that way regularly by others around him,his life would exist on a pleasant level. And it is doubtful if one would build up much animosity toward those who treated him in this fashion.
22.13. All right: one can work out for himself the human virtues just by recognizing how he himself would like to be treated. And from that, I think you will agree, one has settled any confusions as to what “good conduct” really is.
22.14. Now what do you suppose would happen if one were to try to treat those around him with justness, loyalty, fairness, honesty, kindness, consideration, compassion, self-control,tolerance, forgivingness, benevolence, belief, respect, politeness, dignity, admiration, friendliness, love, and did it with integrity?
22.15. It might take a while but don’t you suppose that many others would then begin to try to treat one the same way? The way to joy is made much brighter by applying the precept, “Treat others as you would want them to treat you.”
23. Flourish and Prosper:
23.1. Sometimes others seek to crush one down, to make nothing out of one’s hopes and dreams, one’s future and oneself. By ridicule and many other means, another who is evil - intentioned toward one can try to bring about one’s decline.
23.2. For whatever reason, efforts to improve oneself, to become happier in life, can become the subject of attacks. It is sometimes necessary to handle such directly. But there is a long - range handling that seldom fails.
23.3. What, exactly , are such people trying to do to one? They are trying to reduce one downward.They must conceive that one is dangerous to them in some way: that if one got up in the world, one could be a menace to them. So, in various ways, such seek to depress one’s talents and capabilities.
23.4. Some do it just from prejudice or because they “don’t like someone.” But however it is attempted, the real object of such is to make their target grow less and fail in life.
23.5. The real handling of such a situation and such people, the real way to defeat them is to flourish and prosper. Oh, yes, it is true that such people, seeing one improve his lot, can become frantic and attack all the harder. The thing to do is handle them if one must but don’t give up flourishing and prospering, for that is what such people want you to do.
23.6. If you flourish and prosper more and more, such people go into apathy about it: they can give it up completelly If one’s aims in life are worthwhile, if one carries them out with some attention to the precepts in this book, if one flourishes and prospers, one certainly will wind up the victor. And, hopefully , without harming a single hair on their heads. And that is my wish for you: flourish and prosper!
