Most western societies support the use of the Golden Rule as a standard of conduct. In short: "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This rule as a guide to getting along with others is unimpeachable. As a moral standard, however, it is entirely deficient, as it assumes that the desires of others can be used as a guidepost for what is good. For example, a cannibal could morally eat others if they desire to be eaten. Further, suppose you treat a hurtful person as you would want to be treated and end up being exploited. This lack of resolve strengthens the behavior of the exploiter and weakens the follower of the golden rule.
Another stab at finding morality in the intentions of others can be found in the silver rule: "Do NOT do unto others that which you would NOT want done unto you." This rule gets closer to finding morality due to its advocacy of self control and erring on the side of less action rather than more, both of which prevent harm to others while constituting good martial practice anyway.
However, the true martial path is contained in the Iron Rule. While the Golden and Silver safely reside in the cathedral as objects of public veneration, Iron is the root substance which builds societies and destroys enemies of the peace while Gold and Silver dazzle the senses, but bend under pressure. Evil people need not fear followers of the precious metals. However, they will always fear and respect unforgiving, unyielding iron.
The Iron Rule reads thus: "You shall do unto others as they have done unto you." This rule dispenses with intention as a guiding moral standard and positively demands just action with regard to others.
Those who contribute, grant mercy, and give thanks receive the same in turn. Those who detract, harm, and withhold gratitude are treated accordingly. As such, individuals reap greater suffering for their evil actions and greater joy for their good actions. The end result: suffering decreases, joy increases. Those who live by this rule require the greatest strength of will, especially as they must be careful not to destroy those who punish them while providing sufficient thanks to those who are good to them.
Unlike the precious metal rules, the Iron Rule cannot be readily followed by a regular person. One requires awareness, will, and skill to grant mercy and dispense punishment according to the Iron Rule. However, by benefiting those who build, contribute, and give thanks, while punishing those who destroy, detract, and take for granted, a person can help build a society of iron around them. This is the most powerful expression of the martial way.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Mercy is a Gift
Power, as previously defined, can be used or withheld. Often, ending a conflict only requires a display of potential power to discourage would be attackers who lack the strength for direct harm (see: schneevies). By choosing NOT to withhold power against an attacker, you withhold something more important: mercy. By withholding mercy, a conflict is ended, but a cycle of destruction is created. Avoiding and ending destructive cycles is the purpose of the martial way.
As such, a capacity for mercy is the pinnacle of martial refinement. A martial artist who is able to grant mercy to an attacker, or to avoid conflict out of mercy rather than fear, has already walked the martial path and arrived at a terminal destination. The way of peace has come full circle for the martial artist who grants mercy when one has every right, capability, and inclination to inflict destruction. Mercy requires greater awareness, will, and skill in addition to terminating aggression in both parties, thus achieving peace: the goal of the martial way.
Mercy constitutes a gift because destruction is inevitable. All will die; alone. Every person's body will deteriorate, break, and expire. To take a life is merely to hurry along an inevitable process. Therefore, PRESERVING a life by withholding destruction is the single greatest gift one can grant, because no one owes anyone mercy from the inevitable.
Mercy is a gift that requires extensive refinement and self control of one's emotions and physical responses under conflict. To properly exercise mercy against a scumbag or schneevie requires well honed awareness, will, and skill.
Just as good people, schneevies, and scumbags vary in their responses to power, they correspondingly vary in their responses to mercy. A schneevie will ignore that they were granted mercy, preferring to delude themselves. A scumbag will see mercy as weakness, because they only understand how to deliver destruction. A good person will be humbled by a display of mercy, feel indebted, and strive to earn the gift.
Such is the proper path of the martial artist: to fully appreciate and selflessly deliver mercy, even to one's sworn enemies. Deciding when to grant mercy and to what extent requires great awareness, strength of will, and keenness of skill. This will be discussed in the next post: The Iron Rule.
As such, a capacity for mercy is the pinnacle of martial refinement. A martial artist who is able to grant mercy to an attacker, or to avoid conflict out of mercy rather than fear, has already walked the martial path and arrived at a terminal destination. The way of peace has come full circle for the martial artist who grants mercy when one has every right, capability, and inclination to inflict destruction. Mercy requires greater awareness, will, and skill in addition to terminating aggression in both parties, thus achieving peace: the goal of the martial way.
Mercy constitutes a gift because destruction is inevitable. All will die; alone. Every person's body will deteriorate, break, and expire. To take a life is merely to hurry along an inevitable process. Therefore, PRESERVING a life by withholding destruction is the single greatest gift one can grant, because no one owes anyone mercy from the inevitable.
Mercy is a gift that requires extensive refinement and self control of one's emotions and physical responses under conflict. To properly exercise mercy against a scumbag or schneevie requires well honed awareness, will, and skill.
Just as good people, schneevies, and scumbags vary in their responses to power, they correspondingly vary in their responses to mercy. A schneevie will ignore that they were granted mercy, preferring to delude themselves. A scumbag will see mercy as weakness, because they only understand how to deliver destruction. A good person will be humbled by a display of mercy, feel indebted, and strive to earn the gift.
Such is the proper path of the martial artist: to fully appreciate and selflessly deliver mercy, even to one's sworn enemies. Deciding when to grant mercy and to what extent requires great awareness, strength of will, and keenness of skill. This will be discussed in the next post: The Iron Rule.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
The Modality of Power
Power is defined here as the capacity to effect one's physical surroundings and the behavior of others. As a capacity it is morally neutral. For example, a pistol is not a bad or good object. It is a hunk of metal. Left alone, all it will ever do is rust and eventually deteriorate. That same pistol in the hands of a person becomes powerful in its ability to take a life. As already mentioned, destroying life is a morally neutral act which acquires moral significance depending on its consequences.
Power can tend toward good or bad outcomes depending on whether an exertion of force results in greater goods and reinforcement or greater suffering and punishment. The use of power can be described in individuals or institutions.
Individuals can be sorted into 3 types: good people, schneevies, and scumbags. Only 2 of those types actually wield power over their environments and others.
The majority of people are sheep, or schneevies. They live life to minimize punishment without considering consequences for others. They are characterized by insufficient empathy, cowardice, unreliability, conformity, disloyalty, constant weak punishment toward others, dishonesty, obsequious displays of servility, and avoidance of discomfort. These individuals are ruled by fear of punishment. They avoid conflict in the short term, thus ensuring conflict over the long term. Schneevies are outwardly friendly and inwardly hostile. They are prone to aggression against themselves and others, yet lack the strength of will to attack a specific target overtly. They gang up on opponents and tend to utilize dishonorable tactics to ensure victory while minimizing the possibility of a painful defeat.
Schneevies balance on the precipice between decency and scumbaggery, both of which require martial strength of will.
Scumbags require strength to accept responsibility for maliciously harming others. They use punishment to effect the behavior of others and actively destroy reinforcing patterns of behavior specifically to maximize harm to a perceived opponent. Scumbags do not obey principle or law. They fully accept the possibility of being victimized in the same way they victimize others. In this way, the scumbag is at least honest about their intentions. A bank robber stands by their actions and rarely seeks to hide behind anonymity when caught. Further, committing to full fledged scumbaggery requires enough strength of will to accept punishment.
Good people require the most power to accomplish their goals and thus walk the hardest path. Without enough of them, the task of civilization fails. Good people understand that justice, peace, and natural rights are luxuries won through conflict. Life and happiness are the exceptions, not the rule. Therefore, good people are characterized by humility, honor, loyalty, gratefulness, reliability, honesty, forgiveness, and moderation. Some individuals walk this path with the help of religion and some walk alone, but all obey the same principles. In all cases, a good person requires the most power and strength of will to accomplish their goals.
At the level of institutions, the 3 individuals described above interact to generate either a cycle of construction or a cycle of destruction.
A cycle of construction is a reinforcing, self limiting feedback loop of behavior where individuals reinforce the beneficial behaviors of others to produce a surplus of some good. For example, a functional restaurant reinforces the cooking of the chef, the serving of the waitress, and the supervision of the manager. If these three roles are adequately rewarded, those individuals will be more productive and generate more surplus for the consumer in the form of good food and enjoyable interactions. This organizational ideal requires the most supervision and the most professional conduct from employees, but it creates a situation where the consumer, the manager, and the floor workers are all benefited and strengthened from their investments of time, money, and energy. Industry is the ultimate expression of a constructive cycle.
A cycle of destruction, or people grinder, is a self destructive, uncontrolled feedback loop of punishment which punishes the behaviors of workers and generates a net deficit of resources. These situations are like money sinks where the consumer pays exorbitant costs for a disappointing product, or even no product at all. An example might be a restaurant where the cook messes up orders, the waitress forgets to check on her tables, and the manager orders random "employee evaluations" to scare subordinates into looking busy. This organization results in punished behavior of the cook, who is castigated and fired, the waitress, who receives complaints and no tips, and the manager, who runs a failing business and is hated for using heavy handed tactics. These negative feedback loops result in diminishing performance and eventually run out of people to harm. Everyone involved in this interaction, from consumer to manager, to floor worker, is worse off for their investment of time, money, and energy. War is the ultimate expression of a destructive cycle.
Both of these cycles, constructive or destructive, require power to operate. If this power is given to good people, a constructive cycle generally results. When given to schneevies, a slow destructive cycle results leading to gradual organizational decline and a lot of irritable, chewed up individuals. When given to a scumbag, a cycle of destruction is purposefully initiated to cause maximum damage to all people involved, leaving scorched earth and destroyed careers or lives.
All things considered, the goal of every individual should be to maximize power while seeking to walk the martial path of good people. When choosing to invest time, money, and energy in an institution, one must consider whether they are gaining rewards from a constructive cycle or liable to get chewed up in a destructive cycle. If one notices schneevies or scumbags taking over the reigns of power within a constructive cycle, they should have the foresight to disconnect from a developing cycle of destruction before they are too badly chewed up.
Power can tend toward good or bad outcomes depending on whether an exertion of force results in greater goods and reinforcement or greater suffering and punishment. The use of power can be described in individuals or institutions.
Individuals can be sorted into 3 types: good people, schneevies, and scumbags. Only 2 of those types actually wield power over their environments and others.
The majority of people are sheep, or schneevies. They live life to minimize punishment without considering consequences for others. They are characterized by insufficient empathy, cowardice, unreliability, conformity, disloyalty, constant weak punishment toward others, dishonesty, obsequious displays of servility, and avoidance of discomfort. These individuals are ruled by fear of punishment. They avoid conflict in the short term, thus ensuring conflict over the long term. Schneevies are outwardly friendly and inwardly hostile. They are prone to aggression against themselves and others, yet lack the strength of will to attack a specific target overtly. They gang up on opponents and tend to utilize dishonorable tactics to ensure victory while minimizing the possibility of a painful defeat.
Schneevies balance on the precipice between decency and scumbaggery, both of which require martial strength of will.
Scumbags require strength to accept responsibility for maliciously harming others. They use punishment to effect the behavior of others and actively destroy reinforcing patterns of behavior specifically to maximize harm to a perceived opponent. Scumbags do not obey principle or law. They fully accept the possibility of being victimized in the same way they victimize others. In this way, the scumbag is at least honest about their intentions. A bank robber stands by their actions and rarely seeks to hide behind anonymity when caught. Further, committing to full fledged scumbaggery requires enough strength of will to accept punishment.
Good people require the most power to accomplish their goals and thus walk the hardest path. Without enough of them, the task of civilization fails. Good people understand that justice, peace, and natural rights are luxuries won through conflict. Life and happiness are the exceptions, not the rule. Therefore, good people are characterized by humility, honor, loyalty, gratefulness, reliability, honesty, forgiveness, and moderation. Some individuals walk this path with the help of religion and some walk alone, but all obey the same principles. In all cases, a good person requires the most power and strength of will to accomplish their goals.
At the level of institutions, the 3 individuals described above interact to generate either a cycle of construction or a cycle of destruction.
A cycle of construction is a reinforcing, self limiting feedback loop of behavior where individuals reinforce the beneficial behaviors of others to produce a surplus of some good. For example, a functional restaurant reinforces the cooking of the chef, the serving of the waitress, and the supervision of the manager. If these three roles are adequately rewarded, those individuals will be more productive and generate more surplus for the consumer in the form of good food and enjoyable interactions. This organizational ideal requires the most supervision and the most professional conduct from employees, but it creates a situation where the consumer, the manager, and the floor workers are all benefited and strengthened from their investments of time, money, and energy. Industry is the ultimate expression of a constructive cycle.
A cycle of destruction, or people grinder, is a self destructive, uncontrolled feedback loop of punishment which punishes the behaviors of workers and generates a net deficit of resources. These situations are like money sinks where the consumer pays exorbitant costs for a disappointing product, or even no product at all. An example might be a restaurant where the cook messes up orders, the waitress forgets to check on her tables, and the manager orders random "employee evaluations" to scare subordinates into looking busy. This organization results in punished behavior of the cook, who is castigated and fired, the waitress, who receives complaints and no tips, and the manager, who runs a failing business and is hated for using heavy handed tactics. These negative feedback loops result in diminishing performance and eventually run out of people to harm. Everyone involved in this interaction, from consumer to manager, to floor worker, is worse off for their investment of time, money, and energy. War is the ultimate expression of a destructive cycle.
Both of these cycles, constructive or destructive, require power to operate. If this power is given to good people, a constructive cycle generally results. When given to schneevies, a slow destructive cycle results leading to gradual organizational decline and a lot of irritable, chewed up individuals. When given to a scumbag, a cycle of destruction is purposefully initiated to cause maximum damage to all people involved, leaving scorched earth and destroyed careers or lives.
All things considered, the goal of every individual should be to maximize power while seeking to walk the martial path of good people. When choosing to invest time, money, and energy in an institution, one must consider whether they are gaining rewards from a constructive cycle or liable to get chewed up in a destructive cycle. If one notices schneevies or scumbags taking over the reigns of power within a constructive cycle, they should have the foresight to disconnect from a developing cycle of destruction before they are too badly chewed up.
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