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"Use truth as your anvil, nonviolence as your hammer and anything that does not stand the test when it is brought to the anvil of truth and hammered with nonviolence, reject it." Mohatma Gandhi
This is a collection of ethical principles that I try to abide by. [text]
While many principles are self derived, they are shared by others — who often state them better. Many are learned from the anarchist, civil rights and non-violence movements. I try to provide references to these sources when possible. Interestingly, it is only when I began to formally describe and find quotations related to my own principles that I realize how completely unoriginal they were. My disappointment in being late to the scene is bested by my satisfaction of being in good company.
I believe a person is acting morally when their actions are consistent with their assumptions about life. Much personal and social conflict results from an ignorance or conflict of one's own beliefs. Plato was correct in acknowledging the importance of examining one's life. Even when people have a good sense of themselves and their priorities, they lack the rigor to implement the logical extension of those assumptions. For instance, I believe animals are exploited in the production of dairy products and that belief demands that I reduce my use of animal products to a greater extent than I have. My failure to do so is an immoral act.
Note the subjectivity in this philosophy: one can merely alter one's assumptions about life to suit one's lifestyle. If one's assumptions are acted upon consistently, I consider the person moral. However, maintaining such self-serving assumptions can be very difficult if not sociopathic, and "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Additionally, I give greater respect to people that acknowledge their faults and look for ways to improve. If one is willing to address flaws by inconveniencing one's lifestyle instead of one's assumptions, I consider the person ethical. I admit that rationality, integrity, individuality, and compassion are my own personally subjective assumptions that influence many of the principles below — they are my axioms. If you do not share them you still may be a "moral" person, but one I might not care to know.
Furthermore, it is relatively easy to be a good person if one only has internal conflicts to address. But what happens when moral individuals differ on social issues? This is why civil disobedience is so important.
These principles guide much of my personal conduct, as well acting as a meta-set for other areas of my life — for instance, my professional workstyle.
Know the world is what we make it to be:
A good person or society can never be externally constructed. Rather, virtue results from the actual application of principle to reality. It is our choice as to whether we spend our future in "heaven" or "hell."
"We must be the change we wish to see." Gandhi.
Act as I would like to be.
I took a great step in maturity when I learned to act as I would like to behave, rather than the way I wanted to at that moment. For instance, when I'm in a bad mood or in an uncomfortable social situation I would like to retreat to my bedroom and mope. Instead, I ask myself, "what would a totally cool and righteous person do?" If I make myself go out and engage others, to address the awkwardness with positiveness, I end up feeling positive.
"Mere thoughts act. They have that power." Gandhi. The Essential Gandhi, 312.
"I don’t sing because I am happy; I’m happy because I sing." William James
"Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it, even if I may not have it at the beginning." Gandhi. The Essential Gandhi, 320.
"But I don't sit idly by, I'm planning a big surprise. I'm gonna fight for what I want to be. I won't make the same mistakes, because I know how much time that wastes." Fugazi, Waiting Room.
Have faith
Depending on my state of my mind, the world can seem great or horrid. Faith is the exertion, even in the face of difficulty, that there is a positive side. Belief begets reality. Some people use tools such as prayer, positive visualization, and meditation in the exercise of faith. These can be useful but should not serve as a crutch that others can steal and manipulate. The right and responsibility of faith belongs to the individual for she is ultimately responsible for its exercise and success.
"These then are my last words to you: Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact." William James.
"To the question whether I am a pessimist or an optimist, I answer that my knowledge is pessimistic, but my willing and hoping are optimistic." Albert Schweitzer. Out of My Life and Thought, Epilogue.
Build culture
A healthy culture is the exertion of a positive social faith. The belief that we should cooperate begets a cooperative community.
"Mutual aid is as much a law of animal life as mutual struggle." Pyotr Kropotkin. Mutual Aid
"If it is man's privilege to be independent, it is equally his duty to be inter-dependent." Gandhi.
"The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without. It has to come from within." Gandhi
"Satyagraha is a process of educating public opinion, such that it covers all the elements of the society and makes itself irresistible. " Gandhi
"Individualism is, in theory, a kind of Anarchy without cooperation. It is therefore no better than a lie, because liberty is not possible without Solidarity, without cooperation." Errico Malatesta, Anarchy
Promote freedom
People have diverse assumptions and approaches to life. I'm quite subjective and I am willing to grant others their space if they do not violate another's. I try to support friends in the pursuit of their happiness even when different than my own if it is within the bounds ethical behavior.
"Whatever floats your boat." Anonymous.
"My effort should never be to undermine another's faith but to make him a better follower of his own faith." Gandhi
"If your heart acquires strength, you will be able to remove blemishes from others without thinking evil of them." Gandhi.
"When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory." Russell. The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, 1944-1969, pp. 71-2.
Rely upon personal integrity instead of paternalistic authority
I am ultimately responsible for my happiness and morality, as well as the health and morality of the communities to which I belong. I can not delegate my happiness, accountability, nor responsibility to another — particularly to an institution. When I surrender my ability to rely upon myself for guidance, I not only permit myself to be exploited, but I lend my sovereignty to the actions of the other. I distrust institutions to do what I would not do; I am frightened when I am told I can not understand or address an issue; I try to represent what I do in a way such that it could be done by someone else. This is not to say people can not excel or differ in the quality of what they do, nor that we should not cooperate or trust one another. But accountability is frequently avoided; elegance is simplicity; and trust grows from accessibility and understanding.
Interestingly, perhaps the strongest commonality between Punk and Gandhi is the DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic. One of the three tenants of Gandhi's program for India was the spinning wheel: everyone should be able to clothe and sustain themselves through their own effort using local resources. His belief in this was so strong that he predicated his acceptance of nomination as leader of the National Congress party on the wearing of khadi — the cloth woven from homespun cotton — and daily spinning by other Congress members. (The Essential Gandhi, 221.) Punks thrive on the independent (DIY) production of speech (zines), music (7" vinyl), housing (communes/squats), and food (co-ops and community gardens).
Chomsky is the ultimate skeptic and encourages self-reliance in thought and the opposition of propaganda. There are also a few connections between Chomsky and punk. For instance, in 1992 Chomsky was featured on a split single by Bad Religion, and has since had CD's released by Brett Gurewitz's (of Bad Religion) label Epiteth and Jello Biafra's (of Dead Kennedy's) label Alternative Tentacles.
"... The outward freedom . . that we shall attain, will be only in exact proportion to the inward freedom to which we may have grown at a given moment." Gandhi. The Essential Gandhi, 190.
"Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort." Gandhi.
"Civil disobedience presupposes willing obedience of our self-imposed rules, and without it civil disobedience would be cruel joke." Gandhi.
"Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep." Gandhi
"In true democracy every man and women is taught to think for himself or herself." Gandhi
"Freedom received through the efforts of others, however benevolent, cannot be retained when such effort is withdrawn." Gandhi
Be eccentric and non-conformist
Human and civil rights protect one's ability to be different. Like a physical body, I must exercise my rights if I wish to prevent atrophy. Non-conformity leads to a robust and tolerant society, one that can focus on reality rather than trivia. Unfortunately, many subcultures tend to be extremely rigid in the definition of their boundaries — more so than the mainstream! I am less interested in the visibility of a particular (and often static) eccentricity than the general acceptance of change and difference.
"Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves." Henry David Thoreau. Civil Disobedience.
"True morality consists not in following the beaten track, but in finding out the true path for ourselves and in fearlessly following it." Gandhi.
Treat things equally with respect to that which they have in common.
Many evils (including nationalism) are a form of "tribalism." Humans tend to extend and remove empathy based on arbitrary labels: human/animal, white/black, patriot/commie, etc. Within that scope of empathy, humans are often decent, but we are monsters to those outside that sphere.
This characteristic of human behavior is extremely dangerous; instead we should extend principles and empathy to those that have the relevant characteristics in common. Animals have the same capacity to feel pain as humans, consequently they should be accorded the same treatment with respect to not being hurt. Minorities have the same interests in the governing of their community as anyone else, and should be accorded the same ability to participate as such.
"No matter what the nature of the being, the principle of equality requires that its suffering be counted equally with the like suffering — insofar as rough comparisons can be made — of any other being." Peter Singer, Animal Liberation, Revised 1990 Edition, 8.
"But pain is pain, and the importance of preventing unnecessary pain and suffering does not diminish because the being that suffers it is not a member of our species. What would think think of someone who said that 'whites come first' and that therefore poverty in Africa does not pose as serious a problem as poverty in Europe?" Peter Singer, Animal Liberation, Revised 1990 Edition, 220.
"Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace." Albert Schweitzer.
Find strength in doing the right thing
I'm not happy if I achieved ends through inferior means. And I feel proud regardless of the ends, if I did it well and to the best of my ability. Once one finds one's own moral compass, and divorces the substantive from trivia, strength comes from within.
"The golden rule is to act fearlessly upon what one believes to be right." Gandhi.
"Truth is what the voice within tells you." Gandhi.
"Time and again in my life, contrary to all wise counsels, I have allowed myself to be guided by the inner voice—often with spectacular success." Gandhi. The Essential Gandhi, p. 312.
"Never think of any right effort as being fruitless — all right effort bears good fruit, whether we see results or not. Just concentrate on thinking and living and acting for peace, and inspiring others to do likewise, leaving results to God's hands." Peace Pilgrim, Steps Toward Inner Peace.
"Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love? Will we be extremists for the preservation of injustice — or will we be extremists for the cause of justice?" Martin Luther King Jr. Letter From Birmingham Jail.
"Justice will come when it is deserved by our being and feeling strong." Gandhi.
"An evil deed is better not done: a misdeed torments one hereafter. Better it is to do a good deed, after doing which one does not grieve." Buddha, Dhammapada.
Always question and challenge:
I hold to my right to question and challenge and distrust anyone who suggests otherwise. Challenge is a virtue, not an evil.
"Do not feel absolutely certain of anything." Russell. The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, 1944-1969, pp. 71-2.
"... to take apart the system of illusions and deception which functions to prevent understanding of contemporary reality [is] not a task that requires extraordinary skill or understanding. It requires the kind of normal skepticism and willingness to apply one's analytical skills that almost all people have and that they can exercise." — Noam Chomsky. Chomsky Reader, 35.
"Do not accept what you hear by report, do not accept tradition, do not accept a statement because it is found in our books, nor because it is in accord with your beliefs, nor because it is the saying of your teacher... Be lamps unto yourselves." — Siddhartha Gautama
Silence: silence often serves as assent.
Speech is a right and a responsibility. The greatest evils were witnessed and approved by those that never said anything. Furthermore, a lot of organized evil is a creature of people becoming jaded from the moral implications of what they do. Many people that perpetuate the system are merely trying to do a good job. This job is of course defined by some other entity from which there is no moral responsibility or accountability.
"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding." — Louis Brandeis
"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." King. The Wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr.
"[N]o one should have the authority to 'allow' anything [related to] freedom of thought ... I simply do not agree that the state, or any other system of organized power and violence, should have the authority to determine what people think and say." Chomsky. Correspondence with Robert Barskey reported in Noam Chomsky: A Life of Dissent. 177-178.
Systems/institutions of power (nationalism).
It is man, not systems of man, to whom I owe my allegiance. I care nothing for the flag to which you pledge, I care only for the actions by which you represent yourself as a good or bad person.
"My country is the world and my religion is to do good." Thomas Paine.
"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism, 1945.
"By patriotism I mean the welfare of the whole people; if I secure it at the hands of my opponent, I should bow down my head to him." Gandhi.
"Nationalism is an infantile disease" Albert Einstein.
"If an American is concerned only about his nation, he will not be concerned about the peoples of Asia, Africa, or South America. Is this not why nations engage in the madness of war without the slightest sense of penitence? Is this not why the murder of a citizen of your own nation is a crime, but the murder of citizens of another nation in war is an act of heroic virtue?" Martin Luther King, Jr.
"My patriotism is not an exclusive thing. It is all-embracing, and I should reject that patriotism which sought to mount the distress or exploitation of other nationalities." Gandhi.
"Do you want to make it impossible for anyone to oppress his fellow man? Then make sure that no one shall possess power." Bakunin.
"I think it only makes sense to seek out and identify structures of authority, hierarchy, and domination in every aspect of life, and to challenge them; unless a justification for them can be given, they are illegitimate, and should be dismantled, to increase the scope of human freedom." Noam Chomsky.
"That includes political power, ownership and management, relations among men and women, parents and children, our control over the fate of future generations .... Naturally this means a challenge to the huge institutions of coercion and control: the state, the unaccountable private tyrannies that control most of the domestic and international economy, and so on. But not only these. That is what I have always understood to be the essence of anarchism: the conviction that the burden of proof has to be placed on authority, and that it should be dismantled if that burden cannot be met." Noam Chomsky.
Media: never trust a single view point.
Information is power; the public's attention is a scarce and valuable resource. This attention sets the scope of moral consideration of a community — and is critical to reform movements and civil disobedience. Why should I trust institutions that benefit at my expense through the control of selective and misleading information? Sometimes I despair at ever finding a real answer, but I feel empowered by finding diverse and independent view points.
"Don't hate the media. Become the media." Jello Biafra (formerly of Dead Kennedys).
"Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the [U.S.] media." Noam Chomsky
"Propaganda is to democracy what violence is to totalitarianism." Noam Chomsky
"[Lippman] argued that what he called a 'revolution in the art of democracy,' could be used to manufacture consent, that is, to bring about agreement on the part of the public for things that they didn't want by the new techniques of propaganda." — Noam Chomsky. The Spectacular Achievements Of Propaganda. Open Media; Pamphlet#10; Open Magazine Pamphlet Series, February 1992.
"The corporate grip on opinion in the United States is one of the wonders of the Western world. No first world country has ever managed to eliminate so entirely from its media all objectivity — much less dissent." Gore Vidal, 1991.
"The rest of the bewildered herd just have to be basically distracted. Turn their attention to something else. Keep them out of trouble. Make sure that they remain at most spectators of action, occasionally lending their weight to one or another of the real leaders, who they may select among. .... We've got to prevent their rage and trampling. We've got to distract them. They should be watching the Superbowl or sitcoms or violent movies." — Noam Chomsky. The Spectacular Achievements Of Propaganda.
Context and exploitation: operating — and even offering a solution — within the context of a problem can condone it.
This is a difficult principle to abide by without becoming a hermit, but one should still refuse to take context for granted. In Chapters 27 & 28 of A Canticle for Leibowitz this moral dilemma is framed by a medic and priest who have to tend to the suffering terminally ill victims of a nuclear attack and they argue about the assisted suicide of these individuals. The abbot argues, "The very existence of the Radiation Disaster Act, and like laws in other countries, is the plainest possible evidence that governments were fully aware of the consequences of another war, but instead of trying to make the crime impossible, they tried to provide in advance for the consequences of the crime." The medic responds, "Personally, I am a pacifist. But for the present we're stuck with the world as it is. And if they couldn't agree on a way to make an act of war impossible, then it is better to have some provision for coping with the consequences ...[resulting in a more merciful death]" This dilemma is also the focus of the Star Trek episode A Taste Of Armageddon.
Frequently, the contextual biases of a system that
claims to be fair, reinforce an injustice. The contextual inability
to exercise one's rights is merely a form exploitation.
"Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as cooperation with good." Gandhi
"To ignore evil is to become an accomplice to it." Martin Luther King, Jr.
"It is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he should lift himself by his own bootstraps. It is even worse to tell a man to lift himself by his own bootstraps when somebody is standing on the boot." Martin Luther King, Jr.
One's self: be truthful and open to diversity and criticism
David Brin offered an interesting theory on privacy: there should be none. Instead, we should have complete and mutual transparency. When everything is known about everyone, society won't fetishize upon the peccadilloes of the few but focus on substantive issues. I do not believe this thesis will work if generalized by law; we cannot make the powerful honest, but every individual can try to protect her own privacy.
Regardless — to borrow from Gandhi — the honesty of our society is in proportion to that of our personal lives. Consequently, I do try to be very open and honest about myself. Openness means that I can be true to my own moral compass: deterring those actions of which I'm genuinely ashamed and removing the power of others to shame me for that which I find acceptable.
"Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it." Russell. The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, 1944-1969, pp. 71-2.
"Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light. Russell." The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, 1944-1969, pp. 71-2.
"Privacy doesn't bring you freedom, it comes from freedom. But accountability is the one thing without which freedom utterly dies." David Brin. The Transparent Society, Wired Packet.
"Non-cooperation is a measure of discipline and sacrifice, and it demands respect for the opposite views." Gandhi.
"I do not want my house to be walled in on sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible." Gandhi.
"Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed." Russell. The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, 1944-1969, pp. 71-2.
"Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent that in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter." Russell. The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, 1944-1969, pp. 71-2.
"Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you." Russell. The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell, 1944-1969, pp. 71-2.
"Where secrecy reigns, carelessness and ignorance delight to hide while skill loves the light." Gelman.
Fight social injustice by focussing self integrity as civil disobedience
Injustice demands conflict; one consequently needs tools (derived from self integrity) that manifests the inequities of society in a way that does not multiply them. Civil disobedience is the inescapable placement of injustice within the view (empathetic scope) of those — through ignorance and silence — implicitly perpetuate the system. The media is the method; this is why a diverse and free media is important. If the American networks had not been allowed to broadcast civil rights marchers being beaten, hosed, and attacked by police dogs, we may not have made the advances we did.
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction....The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963.
In this world hate never yet dispelled hate. Only love dispels hate. This is the law, ancient and inexhaustible. You too shall pass away Knowing this, how can you quarrel." The Buddha, Dhammapada.
"Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is force to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored." Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Often the oppressor goes along unaware of the evil involved in his oppression so long as the oppressed accepts it. "Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the State becomes lawless or, which is the same thing, corrupt." Gandhi.
"Civil disobedience is the assertion of a right which law should give but which it denies." Gandhi.
"Non-cooperation is intended to pave the way to real, honorable and voluntary cooperation based on mutual respect and trust." Gandhi.
"My non-cooperation is with methods and systems, never with men." Gandhi.
Always strive to improve, even if perfection seems distant.
It is hard to be a good person; but perhaps harder not to be. Regardless, it can be a frustrating endeavor. Even if one isn't perfect, trying to improve can make all the difference in the world. For instance, while I may not eliminate all animal products that were produced in an exploitative and painful context from my life, if I select alternatives whenever I can, and others act the same, a greater number of accessible alternatives will emerge — making subsequent improvements easier.
I think it is acceptable (and laudable) to admit there is an issue or problem that requires further work in one's life — and it might even take a lot of time to address. If it remains identified we can work together to improve. I think it is unethical to deny the existence of a problem, to make excuses and to rationalize, particularly: "My action will only have a small affect on the world." The world is what we as a collection of individuals make it to be, dismissing the existence or relevance of a problem condemns its solution more-so than any other act.
"Act only in accord with a principle which you would at the same time will to be a universal law." Immanuel Kant. Kant's Categorical Imperative. Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785), and Critique of Practical Reason (1788).
"All that is said here grows out of a tragic misconception of time. It is the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually time is neutral. It can be used either destructively or constructively. I am coming to feel that the people of ill-will have used time much more effectively than the people of good will... We must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability. It comes through the tireless efforts and persistent work of men... We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy, and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood." Martin Luther King Jr. Letter From Birmingham Jail.
"Just for today I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do." William James
"The best is the enemy of the good." Voltaire. Philosophical Dictionary, "Dramatic Art" (1764), also "Every man is guilty of all the good he didn't do."
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