Dear Friends,
It seems to me, if we envision human heartedness as a house, it’s roof is reciprocity, and the Golden rule is the foundation. Reciprocity, or returning the deeds of others, is a form of justice. A kind of justice even a dog understands and is capable of. Reciprocity emerges in spontaneous play among children as well. Therefore, we can presume that reciprocity is a deeply ingrained understanding of a feeling tied to action, that we call justice. Before we have the ability to reciprocate the actions of another, often we must act. In that case, the Golden Rule should be our guide. Would we live a good life we need to be human hearted. Start an interaction in a way so that if the other reciprocates, it shows humanity, while if they don’t, they prove themselves cads. Then we can reciprocate appropriately.
The goal of everyone should be the best life they can have given the circumstances. How can we do that when we’re manipulated into following the goals of another? By being human hearted. Grounding ourselves in right thinking and acting has a way of focusing us on right goals. That was the basic philosophy of Ben Franklin anyway. In Poor Richards he often opined how right action leads to right outcomes. More eloquently than I. When we use the golden rule, then reciprocate, we’re using right action to get right outcomes. The golden rule sets the tone of engagements and reciprocation shows our ductility to change. Everything we ever get comes from others, so if we seek to get good from others, then it’s up to us to give good, and reciprocate, to be human hearted.
Reciprocity is an appropriate response in any circumstance. If you follow the golden rule and offer your hand in peace, then they try to stab you, reciprocation is warranted, or if they offer you a meal, reciprocation in some way is also warranted. Reciprocity allows the other the ability to reset the interaction to their way of communicating. Sass is returned for sass, as respect is returned for respect, no matter their station. Moreover, if you can tell the character of a person by how they treat the help, then reciprocity is the measure used. The reason I came up with the idea and term, “reciprocal attribution,” is as a way to reciprocate appropriately to positive and negative attitudes, that lead to actions. Including reciprocal attribution to inhuman as well as human heartedness.
Human heartedness is a translation of a Confucian term, “jen,” that I’ve commandeered for my own philosophy. Mirroring much of what I believe Confucius meant by it. But since I can’t read ancient Chinese, and therefore have to rely on second hand accounts of what he said and meant… it’s impossible for me to know, only presume. It’s also been translated as “Ritual and righteousness” and “Man to manedness.” In it Confucius highlights the right way to live in the world as he saw it. If everyone lived in a human hearted way, the world would be great. That’s impossible though because of the multitude of personalities. Some compatible with human heartedness and others incompatible with it. How to get the majority to be human hearted when some are incorrigible? To benefit us all.
Confucius said that people follow their leaders… in morality and in villainy. If we accept this maxim, then it follows that if the elite, the leaders, are examples of human heartedness, then the rest of us will follow and become human hearted. The same logic works in reverse though. If the elite are dirt bags… we’ll follow and be dirt bags. The trick then is to force the elite to be human hearted. If some guy is a dirt bag, that sucks for him and his family, but if our leaders are, that sucks for all of us. In more ways than merely being oppressed. Their injustice makes us as inhuman hearted as they… forcing us all to dwell in a house of horrors. While human hearted elites would put us in a mansion of miracles. It goes both directions, we can reciprocate inhumanity to force the inhuman, to be human hearted.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
