ALTRUISM. . .THE GOLDEN RULE

Last night I had a long conversation about ‘altruism.’ What is altruism? Are there any truly altruistic people? Are any behaviors truly altruistic? One of the topics that emerged was focused on the connection between altruism and the Golden Rule.

Many, I mean many, faith-traditions, philosophic traditions (e.g. Confucianists, Buddhists) and humanistic-traditions espouse what is known as the Golden Rule. The version that seems to be the most cited is ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you’ [Gentle reader you might ‘google’ the Golden Rule and read the different versions and note their similarities].

This ‘Rule’ is often cited as if it were a ‘core’ rule that a moral person would follow (the ‘law’ does not always support this rule nor do a variety of ethical decision-making processes – thus one could act within the law or ethically and still not embrace this ‘moral’ rule). This ‘Rule’ is cited as being ‘core’ in that a moral person, to the best of his or her ability will not betray it by acting against it.

HOWEVER, as important as this rule has been to many traditions (Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Confucianists, Buddhists, Baha’is, etc.) there are times when those who espouse these traditions will choose not to follow it (for legal reasons, for ethical reasons) in spite of the moral implications (as you, gentle reader, will soon see).

When would one, in fact, when does one choose not to follow the Golden Rule or support one who does? Let us start with the second part of this: When would we tend not to support a person who espouses and lives out the Golden Rule? Take a minute or two and see what emerges into your consciousness before you read on. . .

Time’s up. Example: Fred is a masochist. He wants folks to whip him till it hurts. Given this, he feels free to whip others till it hurts (the Golden Rule in action). How many would say that, indeed, Fred is living by the Golden Rule?

Here’s another example. You are driving along following a winding river. You stop along the side of the road to admire the beauty of the river. You then notice a young child playing in the water….WAIT A MINUTE SPARKY…you look closer and see that the child appears to be drowning…you jump out of your car and run to the edge of the river. You stop. You are wearing your new suit and three hundred dollar shoes…do you, an excellent swimmer by the by and a trained life-guard, walk away. Probably not – you would jump in and attempt to saver the child. Nice!

There are ethicists and moralists however who would say that the ‘real test’ of the Golden Rule would be NOT TO BUY the three hundred dollar shoes. It would be to purchase shoes that were comfortable and significantly less expensive and send the other, say $250 dollars to a relief fund that would then purchase clean drinking water for two children for a year. Now, that would be following the Golden Rule to a tee (not a tea) as most of us desire to have clean drinking water for ourselves.

When I stop and reflect upon it I can quickly emerge into my own consciousness many instances when I choose not to follow the Golden Rule. The questions, for me, that lie behind the ‘Rule’ is: ‘Am I truly my brother’s keeper?’ ‘Who is my brother?’ ‘What does it mean to be my brother’s keeper anyway?’ What I do believe as I type these words today is that the Golden Rule is powerful, has been around for thousands of years, and is a daunting challenge to actually live into and out of. The Golden Rule, like compassion, forgiveness, unconditional acceptance and unconditional love, is nice in theory and oh so challenging to live out.