Bad Advice
The concept of “do unto others as you’d have done unto yourself” is tricky and misunderstood. It seems so simple. That is deceptive. First of all, it presupposes that you know how you like “done unto yourself”. Do you? Do you know how you like people to act toward you? Second, the exhortation to “do unto others” commands the impossible for many people. To “do” in any specific way, i.e. do unto others like a dog would”, presupposes that you can control your actions. Can you? Can you “do…like” or can you only “do”? Third, it presupposes a concept of “others.” This means that a person, an actor, would have to recognize that other people have emotions and ideas, that they might react in the same way the actor might. This is an extraordinary act of consciousness! All of this, recognition of others, knowledge of self and control over actions, demands a highly refined mind. Simple advice gone to waste. Better advice to get to this point (since, if you recognize that other people are like yourself in their feelings, and you have strong self knowledge (the two are probably hand in hand), this principle is utterly self-evident), is to spend 10 minutes a day thinking about yourself and other people. You will derive the advice on your own, and give it to yourself.
4 Comments:
There's a little bit of a strawman here -- the "golden rule" probably isn't as complicated as the post makes it sound. First, it doesn't really matter whether one *knows* how one likes other people to act towards oneself -- the point is that one should be conscious of the fact that all humans live in a world with other people, and all of us have the free will to act upon each other. That's a great gift, and (to mangle a cliche) it accordingly implies great responsibility. In other words, the rule says that one should exercise one's free will without denigrating the equally free will of all other persons. And remember the context of the rule: It's supposed to be an overarching commandment for how to live life, not an action-by-action thought process.
Second, even if one applies the rule to specific acts, it isn't usually very complicated: One asks how one would feel if the contemplated act were done upon oneself. Can the answer be known with complete certainty? No, but, in most cases, we'd have a pretty good guess. Plus, the point isn't to be right -- the point is to be the type of person who considers the impact of his/her acts on others.
Third, as to the ability to control actions, all Western religious (and, for that matter, legal) thought is premised on the fact that most people can, at most times, control themselves. To challenge that premise is to challege the entire Judeo-Christian system that produced the golden rule to begin with. If one rejects this system as a starting point, it doesn't really matter what one thinks of the rule anyway.
PS -- Here's the golden rule in context, Luke 6:20-45 (the rule itself is in v. 31, at the end of the third paragraph). Note particularly vv. 43-45, the last paragraph, which says that the point isn't to do good things per se, but rather that people who are good at heart (e.g., those who obey v.31) are bound to act from love and not from evil.
Looking at his disciples, he said:
"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.
"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
He also told them this parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.
Thank you for the comments and posting the text from Luke. That passage is always stirring.
If I said to you, "Do unto others as you'd have done unto you;" or I said "Wash the dishes how you want others to wash dishes." I'm "simply" giving you a piece of advice. The difference is in the range of instances that the advice covers.
The difficult part with any advice is knowing how and when to translate it into action. I agree with you that the whole point with this kind of advice is to avoid an "action-by-action thought process," but I wonder if the first statement is too broad and abstract to ever be translated into any actions. In the case of washing the dishes, the set of actions (dishwashing) is narrowed, so the advice is much more concrete and practical. Bad advice to me is the kind of statements that are so distant from actions that they are rendered useless.
The objective of the Golden Rule is to create a self-aware, empathetic and considerate person. However, the problem with this piece of advice is that the only people who understand it (since it is so distant from actions and must be self-derived) are people who try to practice it. That it is failing to me of the advice, not the people. When advice cannot be translated into concrete actions, we should have no expectation of it being followable.
I would just like to point out that "davver" posted a fairly new version of the Sermon on the Plain. The Golden Rule came into English through the King James, and thus you should be using that text: "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." Notice that the two clauses are inverted, which creates a subtley different message--one that puts priority on the actions of others, not "yours."
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