Confucius, when asked by a disciple whether one word could guide his whole life, replied: "That word is Reciprocity. Do not do to others what you do not wish for yourself.
In the previous publication you and I, with our enlightened attention, touched upon the Law of Reciprocity and the Golden Rule of Morality. Today we reveal this theme in all its manifestations!
And so, once, 2000 years ago, almost claiming to be a holy Jew, Josephus Flavius, in a euphoric burst of insight, said that "We, Mankind, possess a Law perfectly designed to encourage true religion, social justice and good will between peoples!" - And this Law is the Golden Rule of Morality#nbsp; And this Rule is found everywhere in the Hindu Vedas - "Mahabharata#nbsp; in the sayings of Buddha - "Dhammapada", in Homer - "Odyssey#nbsp; Herodotus - "History"; In the Bible, the Golden Rule is mentioned in the Old Testament book of Tobit (Tob. 4:15), also in the Gospel when presenting the Sermon on the Mount, - here the wording given by Christ (Peace be upon Him and blessings of the Father) is considered the most complete: - "Therefore, in everything, as you want people to do to you, do so also you do to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Mt. 7:12). The entire Qur'an is imbued with the ethics of the Golden Rule. It is often found in the Sunnah as well, as a saying of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The ethics of Reciprocity is firmly established in the culture of Islam and in the mass consciousness of Muslims, it is fixed in the form of proverbs, admonitions, and obvious requirements of common life Wisdom.
In the concept of social and legal relations, the ethics of Reciprocity acts as a criterion to determine whether an action does not contradict the natural Laws of Justice, emphasizing three forms of the Principle of Reciprocity, namely: 1. Right (justum - Latin) - do not do to another what you do not want the other to do to you; 2. Decency (decorum - Latin) - do to another what you wish the other to do to you; 3. Respect (honestum - Latin) - do what you wish others to do. The first two Principles are generalized in international law and politics, the last one - in the ethics of relationships!
Everything is as simple as genius itself - if you want good for yourself, do good for others. In essence, it is a formula of Man's relation to himself through his relation to others: it is assumed that Man must and wishes to be guided by noble moral and ethical norms, which have the property of reciprocity, social justice and Unity. Strengthen his ties with others, and open up the prospect of mutually beneficial cooperation with them. To do this, it is necessary to mentally put yourself in the place of the other(s) - those who will experience the consequences of your cooperation - and put the other(s) in your own place.
The Golden Rule of Morality, genetically and in essence, is a rejection of the ethics of retaliation embodied in the custom of blood feud (an eye for an eye). Humanity has come to the necessity of transition to the collective responsibility of the human race and the removal of the division into "our own" and "others", which can be balanced only by mutual recognition of the ethics embodied in the Golden Rule of Morality.