Principle 10 Solidarity – Week 1 – 2023

October 1, 2023 

Principle 10. Solidarity. Week 1

“When You Treat Others As You Would Have Them Treat You, You Liberate Yourself.”

Last time: The Future and What is it that I Want?

This Time: The Key (and more Houdini pictures)

This Week:

We are starting a new principle, and this first week we’ll focus on its structure and meaning in general. Like all the principles, this one provokes its own questions. Why would treating others this particular way allow me to liberate myself? When I treat them another way, am I enchaining myself? Why would that be? What am I liberated from? Who am I? And who are the others? And that’s just to get started. 

Please Note: 

Our principle isn’t quite what you might think at first. It doesn’t suggest that you treat others as they want to be treated. Nor, does it say treat them well so they will be nice to you. Though some may disagree, or take offence, neither of those things are oversights. Why is our principle of solidarity formulated in this particular way is, it seems to me, a question well worth investigating.

There also arise questions about how it relates to that other principle about liberty which we studied last month. Though any of the principles might be applied to our relationships with others, these are the only two that specifically reference others. While the first one is called Liberty and hopefully opens the field to unitive or coherent action, this principle is named Solidarity and points to how we might extend that coherence to the treatment of everyone else (i.e., valid action).

Personal Reflections:

What follows are my reflections. I make no greater claim for them but offer them in the spirit of exchange and dialogue.     

 This principle has obvious similarities with the so-called “Golden Rule” which we find at the centre of many moral traditions. However, that “rule” is something that we have heard so many times, and in so many variations, that we don’t usually pay attention to what it might really mean — let alone how we might try to apply it. 

It’s easy enough to prove to yourself that the sustained and honest attempt to apply this principle has important consequences. Among them, that it leads to a certain openness, a more positive emotional climate, and an increased tendency to connect with others. We know that isolation, selfishness, and self-absorption can cause serious problems for people. This principle encourages us to open ourselves to others, and to approach them in a positive manner. 

There are great differences between this principle and the one we considered last week which spoke of not harming anyone. But they complement each other in important ways. And that is also a useful reminder that the principles can be understood, and more importantly transformed into a lifestyle, by interpreting each principle within the context of the other ones.

In the third of Silo’s Letters to My Friends, he gives us reason to believe that he saw this principle as the key to all of them. In fact, he says it is: “the true morality.” He makes similar assertions of its centrality to his thought in various other points in his writings. In his public talks in 1981 he framed it as our freely chosen moral act. Last month’s principle casts light on why he called it freely chosen.

However, important as it may be, there is no doubt that like all principles it can be misapplied and distorted. There are situations where it is, more or less, intentionally reduced to a slogan, an excuse, or a banner under which I can cause suffering to another by claiming for example that it's for their own good, or that’s how I would want to be treated. Leaving those cases aside, there is still a lot of room for misunderstandings about what the principle is suggesting. 

Our version of the famous moral edict makes it very clear that the idea is not: "treat others well so that they will reciprocate and treat you well". Though perhaps there is nothing wrong with that approach here something else is being proposed. And that difference is a big deal. We say that by acting in this way “you liberate yourself.” This is a result that has little to do with the others’ response to my actions, and at the very least liberates me from dependence on their actions or reactions. This point may raise new questions when it comes to the issues around harming others that were raised in discussions of the previous principle. Of course, both those principles leave us a lot to consider regarding why, and from what, I wish to free myself.

Versions of, and commentaries on, the “golden rule” can be found in the most ancient teachings and in every part of the world. You’d think that fact alone might have got our attention already!

Here’s some comments on the theme. These are attributed to K'ung-fu-tzu or Kong-zi (aka Confucius) around 500 years BCE.

A disciple asked Confucius, “What is a good person?” The master replied, “You can tell a good person by their good actions. If a king does his utmost for the people and lives only for them, you can call him good. However, more than good, they are saintly who first strengthen themselves in knowledge and later give that to others, who treat others as they would have themselves be treated. In this way without being a ruler, any subject can become a saint in their own measure. And this depends neither on rank nor possessions.

I look forward to hearing about your reflections on this key principle. 

Be like Houdini

Liberate Yourself!

Coming up:

Next week we will continue with our considerations of Principle Solidarity, in relation to our past situations. 

Remember:

“If my thoughts, my feelings, and my actions are in agreement, if they all go in the same direction, if my actions do not create contradiction with what I feel, then I can say that my life has coherence. But though I am true to myself, this does not necessarily mean I am being true to those in my immediate environment. I still need to achieve this same coherence in my relationships with others, treating them the way I would like to be treated”.

Silo_ Letters to My Friends 

Note:

These notes have been posted on our Facebook page (Community of Silo’s Message Toronto Annex), sent to our email list, and are also on my webpage at  www.dzuckerbrot.com

Continued…