Religion-based moral codes typically carry with them the threat of retaliation from mystical beings in the form of a denial of everlasting life, a condemnation to eternal suffering, a denial of everlasting pleasure, or pain and suffering while still in mortal existence.
Religion-based codes of morality often carry (A) requirements to believe in and worship only the mystical beings of a specific religion as well as (B) behavioral requirements commonly found in secular codes of law.
The
Ten Commandments of the Judeo-Christian Religions
Exodus 20:3-17 [1]:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make any graven image, or any likeness of anything
that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in
the waters beneath the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them,
nor serve them.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the
Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour
and do all thy works; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy
God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy
daughter,
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy stranger which is within
thy
gates.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days be long long upon
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
6. Thou shalt not kill.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; thou shalt not covet thy
neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox,
nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
The Mideastern religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam present
the following basic mysticisms:
One-God: Creator of the Universe and all
people/things/events.
One-Life: Which is a test of an individual's
faith and character.
Judgement: With Heaven as a reward or Hell
as a punishment.
When stripped of their mysticisms, what's left of the the Judeo-Christian religions is the Ten Commandments.
Because the first five Commandments are specific to the Judeo-Christian religions and thus may be offensive to members of other religions, the Ten Commandments should not be placed into any classrooms, courtrooms, or other public and government buildings.
The remaining five Commandments are found in many secular codes of law of many governments. They are thus not unique to the Judeo-Christian religions.
One of the most unusual religions of the world, Buddhism, when stripped of its mysticism (Pure Buddhism), offers a unique code of morality.
The Code of
Morality of Buddhism
The Essence of Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths [2]:
I. Dukkha : Man suffers.
II. Tanha : Man suffers because of greed, defined as excessive
desire.
III. Nirvana : Man's suffering can be alleviated.
IV. Marga : Man's suffering can be alleviated by means of the
Eightfold Path.
The Four Noble Truths are what's left when Buddhism is stripped of its mysticism. The Four Noble Truths are thus "Pure Buddhism."
A close examination of the Four Noble Truths reveals that what appears to be a code of morality is actually a theory of psychology [3] leading to the observation that mental problems (dukkha: man's suffering) are caused by unachievable and/or inappropriate desires (tanha: man suffers because of greed, or excessive desire), and mental problems can be resolved (nirvana: the alleviation of suffering) by getting rid of desires that are liabilities and keeping only those that are assets (marga: the Eightfold Path).
Notice that the Four Noble Truths focus upon the individual and his desires, particularly his excessive desires, or greed. Excessive desires cause suffering.
Operational Psychology, a cognitive psychology developed by Bob Kroepel [http://www.bobkwebsite.com/oppsych1.html], focuses upon the difference between desires which are achievable and appropriate and desires which are unachievable and inappropriate, how conflicts are differences of desires, and how mental health depends upon keeping only those desires which are assets because they are achievable and appropriate and getting rid of those desires which are liabilities because they are unachievable and/or inappropriate.
Operational Psychology and Pure Buddhism are similar because they are theories of psychology, and because they offer natural codes of morality.
Operational Psychology and Pure Buddhism focus not upon punishing those who violate the natural moral code but upon the benefits of following the moral code for the individual and the society in which he lives.
The Buddha (Enlightened One) was a real person, Siddhartha Gautama, a prince who lived a perfect life until he saw sickness, death, poverty, and a monk seeking truth, which caused him to become a monk and to seek truth until he judged that what he was being taught by others was not the truth and he began to seek the truth within himself and within others, until he formulated the Four Noble Truths. [4]
The Buddha, himself, never talked of an afterlife, and thus Pure
Buddhism is actually a form of agnosticism, a philosophy without
concern for mystical
beings. In essence, the Buddha said that we have a problem here on the
Earth
and there is a way to help people help themselves and other people—The
Four
Noble Truths. [5]
The essence of all law is that no man should injure another; all the rest is commentary. [6]
Moreover, Jefferson's 'No man should injure another' does not require belief in mystical beings and thus does not imply or state otherwise the potential for punishment or the denial of pleasure by mystical beings.
Injury is operationally defined to be threatening to cause or actually causing a loss of life, limb, liberty, family, or property.
An innocent individual/person is operationally defined to be a person who does not intend to injure another person who does not intend to injure him or another innocent person.
Jefferson's The Essence of all Law can be rephrased thus:
The essence of all law is that no man [or woman] should [be allowed to] injure [threaten to cause or actually cause a loss of life, limb, liberty, family, or property] another [innocent man/woman]; all the rest [of the law] is commentary.
Jefferson's 'no man should [be allowed to] injure another' is superior to the Golden Rule as a basis for a natural morality.
The Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," also, "Do not do unto others what you would not want them to do unto you," can be corrupted to justify injury to innocent individuals, as in "If others cannot do to me what I can do to them, then they lose and I win!" In this corruption slavery, which is an injury to another (A) when the slave is innocent/does not intend to injure others who do not intend to injure him and (B) because of the loss of liberty/freedom, becomes justified.
This corruption of the Golden Rule is exemplified by a corruption of the 23rd Psalm, which reads "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow if Death, I will fear no Evil, ..." and is corrupted by "Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no Evil, for I am the meanest _____ (?) in the Valley!"
Thus, where the Golden Rule 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you' can be corrupted by The Dictator's Twist (The Bully's Twist), 'If others cannot do to me what I can to do them, then they lose and I win!', which would allow injury to an innocent individual, Jefferson's 'No man should injure another' cannot be corrupted because it does not allow injury to an innocent individual when an injury is defined to be [but not be limited to] a loss of life, limb, liberty, family, or property and an innocent individual is defined as a person who does not intend to injure another person who does not intend to injure him or other persons.
Thus, where the Golden Rule can be corrupted Jefferson's 'No man should injure another' cannot be corrupted.
Thus, Jefferson's 'No man should injure another' is a superior basis for a natural morality than the Golden Rule.
The injunctions [commandments, orders, requirements] to not kill, not commit adultery, not steal, not bear false witness, and to not covet, can be enshrined in natural codes of morality, just as they are enshrined in secular codes of law. Moreover, additional civil and criminal injunctions can be created for secular codes of morality and secular codes of law.
Why would anyone follow a natural code of morality?
Why do people desire any person/thing/event?
People desire people/things/events because of the benefits they expect to derive from 'achieving' desired people/things/events.
People desire people/things/events because they expect to derive more benefits than detriments from their 'achievement' of the desired people/things/events.
People desire to follow a natural morality, a natural code of morality, because they expect to derive more benefits than detriments from following the natural morality.
People desire to follow a natural morality because they expect to achieve more of their desires and to maximize their happiness.
Further, people follow a natural morality because doing so produces
the achievement of desires and the maximization of happiness here and
now in this lifetime and upon the Earth in contrast to the unproven
promises of the achievement of desires and the maximization of
happiness in another lifetime and someplace other than upon the Earth.
There are two standards of natural morality which all men and women
must uphold:
(1) The survival of the innocent individual and his family.
(2) The survival of the human race (the human species).
Failure to protect an innocent individual and his family threatens
any society and also threatens the survival of the human race.
Democracies have long recognized the need to protect innocent
individuals and their families so the democracy and its society could
survive, and, ultimately, the human race could survive.
Dictators have long recognized the need to protect innocent
individuals and their families (innocent
herein being defined as not threatening a dictator's person, authority
or state in addition to not threatening the life, limb, liberty,
family, or property of an innocent individual); without innocent
individuals, dictators would have no citizens over which to rule, thus,
dictatorships must enact and implement and enforce laws which ensure
the survival of the innocent individual and his family, and,
ultimately, the survival of the human race.
Thus, the twin survival standards of natural morality are the
ultimate goals and guidelines for those seized or granted rights which
are justifications for human actions and reactions.
All people are selfish.
Selfishness (S) is seeking to achieve one's desires and to maximize one's happiness.
There is a difference between personal selfishness and social selfishness.
Personal selfishness (PS) is seeking to achieve one's desires and to maximize one's happiness without regard for the desires and happiness of other people.
Social selfishness (SS) is seeking to achieve one's desires and to maximize one's happiness by cooperating with other people to negotiate common desires (compromising one's desires when necessary, within limits) and by working with other people to achieve the negotiated common desires.
There is a sequence in which social selfishness develops [shown in reverse order]:
The individual learns that to achieve his desires and to maximize his happiness he needs the ready, willing and able cooperation of other people for which he must be ready, willing and able to cooperate with them to negotiate and to achieve common desires.
I. Personal Selfishness: The individual seeks to achieve his desires and to maximize his happiness without regard for the desires or happiness of other people.
The Developmental Sequence of Social Selfishness can be stylized thus: S/Selfishness->PS/Personal Selfishness->SS/Social Selfishness, which can be stylized further: S->PS->SS, where "->" means "leads to" or "changes into."
Where an individual is born S he seeks to achieve his desires and to maximize his happiness, he becomes PS when he seeks to achieve his desires and to maximize his happiness without regard for the desires and happiness of other people, and he becomes SS when he realizes that to achieve many if not most if not all of his desires he needs the ready, willing and able cooperation of other people for which he must be ready, willing and able to cooperate with them to negotiate and to work to achieve common desires and thereby to regard the desires and happiness of other people.
The S->PS->SS sequence is a natural sequence. Children must be personally selfish in order to survive. This is entirely normal. They must let their parents know that they need help, and they must insist that their parents help them. Crying babies will get the attention of most normal people, especially the attention of most normal parents. As the individual grows and develops an awareness of the process of socialization, he realizes and learns that he needs other people to achieve many if not most if not all of his desires and to maximize his happiness. He realizes and learns that other people are not necessarily obligated to give him everything he wants. He realizes and learns that he needs the ready, willing and able cooperation of other people. He realizes and learns that in order to induce other people to cooperate with him he must cooperate with them to negotiate and to achieve common desires. When the individual accepts the idea that he needs other people, and that he must cooperate with other people, then he becomes socially selfish.
The individual who is personally selfish does not recognize that he needs other people.
The individual who is socially selfish recognizes that he needs other people—he needs cooperation from other people for which he must be willing to cooperate with them.
The need of the normal individual for other people will prompt him to work with other people to establish a code of conduct which will be a code of morality, and this need will prompt him to follow the code without supervision or threat of legal, civil, or social punishment.
Social selfishness is still a form of selfishness because the individual is motivated to achieve his desires and to maximize his happiness, but with the inclusion of other people into his social circle the individual's social selfishness combines with the social selfishness of other people to create a magnificent working relationship built upon a code of common desires, mutual desires, social desires, community desires.
We can count upon the fact that people are selfish, but the natural selfishness of normal people will progress from personal selfishness to social selfishness and thereby create the order that civilization will require.
Thus, the reason an individual will negotiate and follow a natural code of morality is, ultimately, selfishness.
We see, then, that a natural morality—a natural moral code—could be built upon the natural phenomenon of human selfishness.
Civilization is renewed in every generation when individuals realize that to achieve their desires and to maximize their happiness they need the ready, willing and able cooperation of other people for which they, themselves, must be ready, willing and able to cooperate with those other people to negotiate common desires and to achieve those common desires.
Those persons who are sociopaths or psychopaths will not follow any code of morality.
Sociopaths are individuals who personally selfish but are realistic, in touch with reality maintaining social and family relationships, and working and paying taxes. They may be dangerous in many ways, but nevertheless are marked by excessive personal selfishness.
Psychopaths are individuals who are personally selfish and are unrealistic, not in touch with reality, not maintaining social and family relationships, not working and paying taxes. They, too, may be dangerous in many ways, and are clearly marked by excessive personal selfishness.
Sociopaths and psychopaths are not normal—they are highly abnormal. Their abnormality is proven by the logical possibility that if they were allowed to do whatever they pleased, which would suit only themselves, in the worst case scenario they would have the potential to destroy the human race in contrast to normal people who, by cooperating with other people in the spirit of social selfishness, in the best case scenario have the potential to continue and to improve the human race.
Normal people will follow a natural code of morality because they will learn and realize that they must be socially selfish rather than personally selfish if they wish to achieve most of their desires and to maximize their happiness. Thus, the inherent selfishness of man is the reason why individuals will follow secular codes of morality if science should ever prove beyond a doubt that mystical beings never existed and will never exist, that mystical beings existed but somehow all died, or that mystical beings exist but do not involve themselves in human affairs and thus will not punish individuals who break religious or secular codes of morality.
Upon the face of the Earth and among men, there are far more normal people than sociopaths or psychopaths. Otherwise, we would have far more violence and social chaos than we currently have. This being the case, we see the possibility is excellent that the majority of men, being normal, will follow a natural code of morality.
Regardless of religion, the good that men do to and for each other is done because of natural morality—because of S->PS->SS and Jefferson's "No man should [be allowed to] injure another [innocent man who does not intend to injure others who do not intend to injure him]'; and the bad/evil that men to and for each other is done because of matural immorality—because of S->PS and the corruption of the Golden Rule, 'If others cannot do unto me what I can do unto them, then they lose and I win.'
Most people do not think about what they would do, and what people
in
general would do, if scientists could prove beyond a doubt that gods
never
existed, existed but died, or exist but are not involved in human
affairs.
Rational people would realize that to enjoy life they would still need
to
be socially selfish, that they need other people, and that they need a
code
of conduct or morality to organize human life. They would therefore
obey
traffic laws, and local, state and federal laws, for to break them
would
cause chaos and the destruction of society and the chance for a good
life
here upon the Earth. Life would still be good. Fun would still be fun.
Falling
in love, making love, having children, and being a good person would
all
be positive benefits of a good life and good living. For most people,
life
would not be meaningless without gods. Life without gods would
therefore
have its own meaning and its own inherent goodness.
Thus, without the existence of the gods, natural morality would be a
natural possibility for a morality among humans.
A god can be defined as a
being who/which has greater knowledge and capabilities for using that
knowledge than mankind and who therefore can perform stunts mankind
cannot perform.
Proof of the existence of gods would be the gods, themselves, revealing themselves in a form humans can perceive and understand, and performing stunts which prove they have greater knowledge and capabilities for using that knowledge than mankind, and, therefore, by the definition of a god to be a being of superior knowledge and capabilities for using that knowledge than mankind, proving they are gods.
To date, no one has proven by physical evidence—the gods,
themselves—that gods exist, therefore no one is rationally obligated
nor justified to believe in the existence of gods nor in the existence
of gods-based moralities.
In the absence of physical proof of the existence of gods or of
god-based moralities, natural morality is the only possibility, and
therefore the only reality for a universal morality for mankind.
Thus, a natural morality is the moral reality.
Natural Morality/NM is a moral code based upon the concepts and
principles of The Essence of all Law, The Twin Survival Standards, and
an understanding of Human Selfishness.
NM is a god-free morality—no gods are necessary for it to be a true
morality and to be accepted by people who intend to be moral.
People desire to follow a natural morality, a natural code of morality, because they expect to derive more benefits than detriments from following the natural morality.
People desire to follow a natural morality because they expect to achieve more of their desires and to maximize their happiness.
Further, people follow a natural morality because doing so produces the achievement of desires and the maximization of happiness here and now in this lifetime and upon the Earth in contrast to the unproven promises of the achievement of desires and the maximization of happiness in another lifetime and someplace other than upon the Earth.
The essence of all law is that no man [or woman] should [be allowed to] injure [threaten to cause or actually cause a loss of life, limb, liberty, family, or property] another [innocent man/woman]; all the rest [of the law] is commentary. [Rephrase of Thomas Jefferson]
where
Injury is operationally defined to be threatening to cause or actually causing a loss of life, limb, liberty, family, or property.
An innocent individual/person is operationally defined to be
a
person who does not intend to injure another person who does not intend
to
injure him or any other innocent person.
There are two standards of natural morality which all men and women
must uphold:
(1) The survival of the innocent individual and his family.
(2) The survival of the human race (the human species).
All people are selfish.
Selfishness (S) is seeking to achieve one's desires and to maximize one's happiness.
There is a difference between personal selfishness and social selfishness.
Personal selfishness (PS) is seeking to achieve one's desires and to maximize one's happiness without regard for the desires and happiness of other people.
Social selfishness (SS) is seeking to achieve one's desires and to maximize one's happiness by cooperating with other people to negotiate common desires (compromising one's desires when necessary, within limits) and by working with other people to achieve the negotiated common desires.
There is a sequence in which social selfishness develops [shown in reverse order]:
The individual learns that to achieve his desires and to maximize his happiness he needs the ready, willing and able cooperation of other people for which he must be ready, willing and able to cooperate with them to negotiate and to achieve common desires.
I. Personal Selfishness: The individual seeks to achieve his desires and to maximize his happiness without regard for the desires or happiness of other people.
Civilization is renewed in every generation when individuals realize that to achieve their desires and to maximize their happiness they need the ready, willing and able cooperation of other people for which they, themselves, must be ready, willing and able to cooperate with those other people to negotiate common desires and to achieve those common desires.
We have each other, and we can help each other.
Bibliography
[1] The Old Testament of the Christian Bible, King James Version: Exodus 20:3-17.
[2] The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism:
Huston Smith.
The Religions of Man.
Perennial Library, Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc., New York, 1965.
pp. 109-123.
David G. Bradley.
A Guide To the World’s Religions.
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Engelwood Cliffs, NJ, 1963.
pp. 111-112.
T. Patrick Burke.
The Major Religions.
Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 238 Main Street, Cambridge, MA. USA 02142,
1996.
pp. 62-65.
[3] The Four Noble Truths of [Pure] Buddhism as psychology:
Huston Smith.
The Religions of Man.
Perennial Library, Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc., New York, 1965.
pp. 104-123.
Alan W. Watts.
Psychotherapy East and West.
Mentor Books, The New American Library of World Literature, Inc., 501
Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022, 1963; also Pantheon Books, Inc., 22
East 51st St., New York, NY 10022,
Chapter One: Psychotherapy and Liberation.
pp. 11-24.
[4] Huston Smith, pp. 91-96.
[5] Huston Smith, pp. 104-123.
[6] I do not recall the source of this quotation, but I do remember reading that Jefferson paraphrased an Hebrew scholar who issued a similar description of Jewish law.
I have not been able to find the precise source of this quote in
Jefferson's correspondences and speeches.
Here is one internet source/reference:
http://www.objectivethought.com
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are
injurious to others."
--Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia
[7] New Testament of the Christian Bible:
St. Mark: 12: "... Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. ..."
St. Luke 6: 31: "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."
St. Matthew 7:12: "Therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so unto them: for this is the law and the prophets."
[8] Confucius and the Chinese version of the Golden Rule.
Huston Smith.
The Religions of Man.
Perennial Library, Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc., New York, 1965.
p. 165, p. 179.
David G. Bradley.
A Guide To the World’s Religions.
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Engelwood Cliffs, NJ, 1963.
p. 144.
T. Patrick Burke.
The Major Religions.
Blackwell Publishers, Inc., 238 Main Street, Cambridge, MA. USA 02142,
1996.
p. 113.