Ensure Stability by PayingAttention

Having considered the more personal aspects of self-stabilization: your work requirements and private requirements, we can turn to communal and moral demands that depend on paying attention to others.

The same issue confronting us is the tremendous diversity of others in our social milieu. Again, without compromising individuality or integrity, there is a way to stabilize our position through adhering to Precepts emerging from combinations of even Level Injunctions only.

Communal Stability
L"6: Heed What's Right ↔ Care About Others: L"4

Public interactions are of the greatest importance in social life. To smooth these interactions, doing your best-R"L5 must be bypassed. That Centre releases work energies with an intense self-focus and disruptive potential. This can interfere with, and even crowd out, caring about others-R"L4. It may even lead you unwittingly or unwillingly to cause others harm or emotional distress. The resulting social disruption will certainly be harmful for you, if not for them.That is socially (as well as spiritually) dangerous.

Use Personal Principles ↔ Care about Others

These Centres evidently interact because you will spontaneously use personal principles in determining who, when and how you care about others. Conversely, your personal approach to caring about others and the particular requirements given your situation will shape some of your personal principles. Because your particular principles will be stable, your relationships with others will be handled in a stable and predictable way. Others can depend upon it, and this will be a factor in any direct or indirect dealings with you.

So the Precept R"L6_P ↔ R"L4_B is named:  Be Trustworthy.

Understand Social Obligations ↔ Care about Others

These Centres evidently interact because social obligations specifically exist to ensure group members care about others both ceremonially and practically. We count on good manners to oil inter-personal interactions, including commercial ones. Because rightness and goodness are deeply embedded in social mores, the disrespect inherent in a minor indiscretion may be intensely hurtful. The influence operates in the reverse because caring about others enjoins an obligation to understand customs, and show respect in social situations by generally adhering to them (whatever your personal view).

So the Precept R"L6_S ↔ R"L4_B is named:  Be Respectful.

Moral Stability
L"4: Care About Others ↔ Hold Ideals: L"2

In your communal life you can (and should) often actively bypass Become Aware-R"L3 when it is irrelevant to caring about others. In such cases, it will be blatantly obvious that someone or some group is suffering and needs attention.

Your sustenance of ideals fosters goodness in caring about others and this expresses our basic humanity. Conversely, the significance of caring in social life inevitably shapes ideals held so as to foster humanitarian concerns.

So the Precept R"L4_B ↔ R"L2_B is named: Be Humane.

Reject the Fanatic's Favourite

L"6: Heed What's Right-Hold Ideals: L"2
Why?

This combination would suggest that you can bypass both Care About Others-L"4 and Become Aware-L"3. A moment's thought would indicate that this must be highly unsatisfactory. It would mean sanctioning the behaviour of fanatical extremists and grandiose demagogues who are convinced that everything they do is right-R"L6 and good-R"L2, and are deaf to reason and compassion. We know that great harm is caused to individuals and social groups in this way: so this combination is not permissible.

Wrap up on Stability

Enabling a worthwhile existence is stabilized by focusing on the two primary demands of communal life that Primal Injunctions place on me: getting a grip and paying attention. See diagram at right.

Strangely, these derived Precepts do not seem to pose much difficulty: see discussion in the Review.

In regard to getting a grip of myself:

• My work stability: R"L5 ↔ R"L3 flows from my strengths as long as I keep my eye out for suitable opportunities.
• My private stability: R"L3 ↔ R"L1 is based on making arrangements that are as congenial for me as possible in the circumstances, given that I know my preferences.

In regard to paying attention to others

• My communal stability: R"L6 ↔ R"L4 is ensured in a straightforward way. I must always be respectful, whoever I am dealing with; and I must be trustworthy through consistently sticking to my principles.
• My moral stability: R"L4 ↔ R"L2 is also simple. I must recognize and respond to humanitarian issues at all times.

These Precepts are all relevant to endeavours and subject to creative handling. This means they require alertness, immersion and a positivity towards the challenges of social life.

Naturally, I would expect, or at least hope, that others will behave similarly. It is in their (egotistic) interests to do so. However, whether they do or don't, thePreceptsfor a better communal existence are inherently good: good for me, good for others and good for the collective.

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• The next step in improving communal existence, building on this stable foundation, must involve more actively thriving with others.

Originally posted: 31-Jan-2013