On Easter Sunday, many of our thoughts turn to Jesus of Nazareth. Whether you believe Jesus was the Christ foretold in the Old Testament, or just a man, his words bring wisdom to all of humanity. He may have been the first human to embrace synergy. He is credited as the author of The Golden Rule and his words seem to capture the very essence of synergic morality.
Timothy Wilken
The Scientific Basis for “The Golden Rule”
Edward Haskell, a pioneer of synergic science, explained:
“The first formulation of the MORAL LAW for a non-human “kingdom” of Universe was Dimitri Mendeleev’s discovery of the Periodic Law in 1869. “The properties of the chemical elements are functions of their atomic weights.”
“What Mendeleev’s discovery states for Atoms is that “As ye sow, so shall ye reap,” where “reaping” is the properties of the chemical elements and “sowing” is the co-Action between the atom’s two components its vast, light, electron cloud, and its tiny, massive nucleus.”
Haskell’s analysis of the Atomic elements showed that these two components the electron cloud and the massive nucleus related in only three ways positive, neutral, or negative. Haskell called this the Moral Law of Unified Science.
For humans, the earliest formulation of the Moral Law of Unified Science appeared 3500 years ago as the doctrine of karma.
“Hinduism began in India about 1500 BC. The belief in rebirth, or samsara, as a potentially endless series of worldly existences in which every being is caught up was associated with the doctrine of karma (Sanskrit: karman; literally “act,” or “deed”). According to the doctrine of karma, good conduct brings a pleasant and happy result and creates a tendency toward similar good acts, while bad conduct brings an evil result and creates a tendency toward repeated evil actions. This furnishes the basic context for the moral life of the individual.”
The doctrine of karma was accepted by Buddha ~500 BC and is incorporated in modern Buddhism today. It appeared in western thought ~300 BC, in the Old Testament of the Bible as the phrase: “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”
Two thousand years ago Jesus of Nazareth stated this law this way:
“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.“
Recall Universe is now understood to be process. Reality is a happening. Many things are going on all at once. Living systems the plants, animals, and we humans all live within the EVENT paradigm. Buckminster Fuller defined an event to be a triad of related phenomena action, reaction, resultant.
The dynamics of all behavior can be understood using these three concepts. Fuller discovered for every action there is a reaction, and a precessional resultant.
I can decide on an action. I can then implement my action. The environment including all life forms react to my action, the vector sum of the two produce a resultant. I act, the rest of the world reacts, and when it all settles down the change made by the interaction is the resultant.
Now reformulating Haskell’s The Moral Law of Unified Science to include Fuller’s Principle of Action-Reaction-Resultant, we get:
Adversary action tends to provoke adversary reaction ending in an adversary resultant.
Neutral action tends to provoke neutral reaction ending in a neutral resultant.
And synergic action tends to provoke synergic reaction ending in a synergic resultant.
“As ye sow, so shall ye reap.”
We humans have three choices. We can sow adversary actions and reap adversary resultants. We can sow neutral actions and reap neutral resultants. Or we can sow synergic actions and reap synergic resultants.
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Jesus of Nazareth’s “The Golden Rule”
The first formulation of the synergic corollary of the Moral Law of Unified Science was:
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
This formulation is credited to Jesus of Nazareth who intuitively discovered the synergic way 2000 years ago. He gave us the rules for synergic relationship in his sermon on the mount.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. “Go be reconciled with thy brother.”
But, can we modern humans do this? Can North American whites love the South American browns? Can the Jews love the Arabs? Can the Northern Irish love the English? Can the Bosnians love the Serbs? Can the South African whites love the South African blacks?
Are we humans better able to love today? Have we learned enough in 2000 years—“To reconcile with our brother”?
Jesus of Nazareth may have been the first human to embrace synergy. His words seem to capture the very essence of synergic morality. Synergic morality is more than not hurting other, it requires helping other. Jesus was the first human to state the fundamental law of synergic relationship. It is known as the Golden Rule:
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law.”
What would you have others do to you? The best one word answer I can find for this question is help. “Help others as you would have them help you.”
Synergic Morality is Helping
Andrew J. Galambos, in his lectures describing Moral Capitalism, often quoted the negative version of the Golden Rule:
“Do not do to others what you would have them not do to you.”
What would you have others not do to you?
Here the best one word answer is hurt. “Do not hurt others as you would have them not hurt you.”
The negative version of the Golden Rule is true and correct as far as it goes. In fact, it is the underlying premise for the Neutral Morality found in the western world today. But, Synergic Morality requires more of us than simply not hurting. It requires more of us than simply ignoring others. It requires us to help others to help each other.
Jesus of Nazareth understood this on the deepest of levels. He called for more than a prohibition against hurting others. He asked all humans to help each other.
Synergic Morality is more than the absence of hurting. It is the presence of helping. Synergic Morality rests then on the premise that when you help others, you will find yourself helped in return.
Happy Easter!