How not to harm others in a global, integral world?
Question from the Internet:
“Long as one does not harm others, an individual should be free to pursue his/her own ends. Do you agree or disagree?”
While this is true, it is not as simple as it sounds.
Since we evolved into a fully integrated, totally interdependent system, with every decision, action, even with our thoughts we inevitably influence the whole system. The so-called “butterfly affect" works with full force today.
Moreover, since we are all born with an inherently subjective, egocentric, self-serving and self-justifying nature, knowingly, unknowingly we succeed, survive at the expense of others as we keep thriving to consume excessively, to accumulate profit and resources for ourselves beyond necessities.
By default we don’t even know what natural necessities, available resources mean, since we are incompatible with Nature’s laws of integration thus we are only scratching the surface with our “research"!
Thus the original statement is true only, if we fully consciously check and know that we are not harming others, that we never consume beyond the optimal parameters of natural necessities and available resources, and every decision, action we make is serving the benefit of the whole, fully integrated system —that includes the non-Human part of Nature as well.
This is why we can’t implement the original, “good-looking", ideal principle without a unique, purposeful and highly practical educational method, that can help us understand and actually, tangibly feel our total interdependence, and can also help us understand Nature’s system, our natural necessities and the resources we can use, consume.
Then we will feel what we lose when we act instinctively, only for our own benefit, and we also feel what we gain by consciously, methodically acting for the benefit of the whole collective, for the whole system.