The new lifestyle guide is divided into two equally important major categories, the "moral six" and the "intellectual five". To use an ancient metaphor, the first five deal with the heart, and the last six with the brain. The former category, and the list itself, begins with the single greatest, simplest, and most important moral axiom humanity has ever invented, one that reappears in the writings of almost every culture and religion throughout history, the one we know as the Golden Rule.
v Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you.
v Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect. Do not discriminate or oppress on the basis of sex, race, or (as far as possible) species. In all matters, strive to cause no harm.
v Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.
v Live life with a sense of joy and wonder, and always seek to be learning something new.
v Enjoy your own private life (so long as it damages nobody else) and leave others to enjoy theirs in private, whatever their inclinations (which are none of your business in any case).
v Test all things objectively; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.
v Do not indoctrinate your children. Teach them how to think for themselves, how to evaluate evidence, and how to disagree with you.
v Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.
v Form independent opinions based on your own reasoning and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.
v Value the future on a timescale longer than your own.
v Question everything.
C. Ramachandran
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