Dear Friends,
It seems to me, if I were to name my personal philosophy, it would be the philosophy of reciprocity. I believe in reciprocating while setting a higher standard. The golden rule is also a form of reciprocity and is a core principle. Not merely reciprocity in action but in attitude and attribution as well. Reciprocity is hard wired into us, so when we see it being violated, we have an instinctive reaction to it. When we see reciprocity in action we call it fairness, and when we see reciprocity violated, we call it unfair. This philosophy leads us to several conclusions… the way we treat each other is improved when we reciprocate, reciprocation creates positive incentives, and if we accept the golden rule as a standard, reciprocity will lead us to less violence, crime, war, suffering and poverty. All simply by treating others reciprocally.
Reciprocity is when we treat others as they treat us, but is more than that, it also extends into, thinking about others as they do us and holding them to the same standard as they hold us. This is where the Right of self protection comes in. If someone intends to kill you, you have the reciprocal Right to do them harm, (as long as their actions and intentions would clearly lead a reasonable person to conclude they intend harm), based on their actions. Reciprocity need not be absolute, since bringing any idea to the absolute makes it absurd, so reciprocity must be tempered with understanding. Sometimes people are angry, had a bad day or are sick. We must consider these things as we deliberate our reciprocal action.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you is reciprocal in nature. First we must think about how we would like to be treated. Then treat others that way. This is a form of pre reciprocation, since our actions are designed to encourage others to act the same, or in other words… reciprocate. If we accept the golden rule as a standard of conduct, then our actions improve the lot of Mankind, when we do unto others as we would not have done to us, we lower the lot of Mankind. Since people are at heart reciprocal we can expect them to act the same to us as we do them. When we act good, others will tend to act good and when we act bad, others will tend to act bad as well. The more reciprocal the community is, the more our actions effect the lot of Man, for the good or for the bad.
Fairness highly correlates with reciprocity. Imagine someone who is treated very well… then turns around and stabs his or her benefactor in the back. Almost everyone has an instinctively negative reaction. The inhumanity cannot be denied and so we react appropriately. The saying returning evil for good means just that. To do evil to one who has done us good. Hypocrisy is a blatant violation of reciprocity. When we see someone acting hypocritical our gut tells us they are bad people. This is because hypocrisy is not simply a violation of reciprocity but of the golden rule as well. The hypocrite not only returns evil for good, but treats others in a way that would make them furious, were they treated so. We all know in our hearts that to be fair, one must be reciprocal, and not to be reciprocal is to be unfair.
Most of us want a better world. To make it better it is best to improve that which we can… rather than tilt at windmills. We can demand others change all we want, but the only people we really have the power to change, is ourselves. Yet if even a few of us make a small change to the good, the whole is improved an order of magnitude, by the multiplication effect of reciprocation. When we reciprocate we are being fair, when we treat others as we would have them treat us, we are encouraging positive reciprocation, and when we practice reciprocal attribution we discourage evil. You and I can make a difference, we have an amazing ability to change the world for the better… if only we practice reciprocation and the Golden Rule.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
