Which Is Your Moral Guide?

Everyone is familiar with the Golden Rule, but have you ever heard of the other three "Rules"? Here's how it was explained to me.

Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have done unto you
Silver Rule - Do not do unto others what you would not have done unto you
Bronze Rule - Do unto others as they have done unto you
Iron Rule - Do unto others before they do unto you

Think carefully about each one and what it means. In your opinion, which of these rules is the best one for an individual to follow in daily life, and why?


I chose the Silver Rule, because of the nature of causality and the problem of unintended consequences. How many times have you tried to help someone and made the matter worse? How many times has someone tried to help you with the same result? The Silver Rule seems to me to be about the same thing as the Hippocratic Oath, "First, do no harm". Like every rule, of course, there are times it was made to be broken. I do random acts of kindness when inspiration strikes, but for the most part I try (not always successfully) to mind my own business and not cause more problems.

 

I guess it depends on what a person would want done unto themselves. I mostly want to be left alone to make my own decisions and goofs. If I want help, I'll ask. And that is how I treat others. That rules out doing things to people that they don't want done.

 

"HARM NONE" has served me well, it's very similar to your Silver Rule, but was promulgated by the Goddess Religion (or at least one version of the Goddes Religion).

 

I went with silver. I've always found the Golden Rule a bit pretentious; what if others don't want to to have done unto them what I'd have done unto me? I can be a little eccentric at times and there are all kinds of lines that can get crossed with GR thinking.

 

hmm...I chose the Golden Rule. Because it seemed more positive - it requires you to actively engage rather than passively exist. The Silver Rule, to me, treats people as if they were individual atoms, going their individual ways and doing nothing more then avoiding collission. To not do anything has the potential to allow evil through inaction. But I also figure...the Golden Rule doesn't mean you have to interfere - it just means you treat people as you would wish to be treated. With respect.

 

A shrink once told me that he had to be very careful before giving people advice, because if they take it, he was responsible for the results. I don't want to be responsible for others, so I don't give them advise.

 

Here, take my advice, I'm not using it.

 

I choose the golden rule, because I leave people alone and want to be left alone.

 

Being a Pagan, "I do what I want and harm no one".

 

Indira's web is an old story about our every action.
like a big web, everything we do affects everyone else in some way. even if you think that you leave others alone you may not. when you flush a toilet you are affecting someone.

isn't the golden rule part of the theology of Christianity?

 

Ive thought the golden rule was..."He who has the gold, makes the rules."

 

that's the Midas Touch.

 

If I may give some advice, try looking at morality in terms of general principles or formulae rather than specific imperatives.

There is the letter of the law and the spirit of the law - and sometimes, they indicate two very different things. When you follow the spirit, rather than the letter of the law, then you can do no wrong.

 

You make an interesting distinction...I agree...

 

Golden Rule can't be improved upon

I choose the Golden Rule every time, because it means proactively having the right attitude about how to coexist with our fellow humans. It has nothng to do with going around trying to do things to or for others without being asked. On occasion, we feel the need to offer assistance to someone who is not asking for it, and end up getting rebuffed for our efforts. That's just the human frailty of crossed communications that happen from time to time, and the less often it happens the better. Part of the Golden Rule entails knowing when to mind our own business in the first place!