The role of the Prime Directive [to seek pleasure and avoid pain for yourself and others, to convert negative energy into positive energy through your conduct in the world, and to nurture life and struggle against death for the welfare of the planet and the co-existence of all living things] is to provide a universal guideline for ethical decision-making. It is a paradigm for socializing our children into an ethical worldview through the systematic cultivation of fair-mindedness, honesty, integrity, self-knowledge, and a deep concern for the welfare of others. This early childhood cultivation is the process for engineering an ethical world. The proper role of ethical reasoning is to highlight acts of two kinds: those that enhance the well-being of others and therefore warrant our praise, and those that harm or diminish the well-being of others, and therefore warrant our criticism. As a general rule it is fairly simple to establish agreement about what is and what is not ethical behavior. Ethical reasoning and principles are not based on religious, political, cultural, or philosophical worldviews which have historically been the basis of divisions and conflict among the human family. The key to understanding ethical reasoning and ethical behavior is a set of simple questions! How would you feel is someone did that to you? How would you feel if someone cheated, deceived, exploited, harmed, abused, embarrassed, ignored, avoided, ridiculed, diminished, or otherwise undermined you in some way? By asking these kinds of questions the governments of the world, were able to come together in 1948 and agree on the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Have you ever read the document? Our global implementation of its protocols is flawed to say the least, but the aspirations and declarations of the document are a benchmark of progress in the ethical understanding of our species, our world, and the global human and inter-species relationships that support our existence.
The Preamble to the Declaration states:
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
The Prime Directive of the Human Family is the quintessence, the refined extract of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Forty-four words that any adult or child can commit to heart. Consider Articles 1-10. They are all elaborations of the Prime Directive to seek pleasure and avoid pain for yourself and others. Consider Articles 11-15 as examples of the directive to convert negative energy into positive energy through your conduct in the world. In fact each element of the UDHR is embodied in the Prime Directive of the Human Family. Consider Articles 24-25 in the context of the third protocol of the Prime Directive, to nurture life and struggle against death for the welfare of the planet and the co-existence of all living things. Article 29 states that, everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. This is perhaps the most important article because without a sense of individual responsibility, the aspirations of the UDHR and the Prime Directive cannot be realized.
Article 26 of the UDHR states that, everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. It further states that, education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
Governments, corporations, and organizations are social institutions that do not run the world. People do! Humans breath life into institutions. We tend to forget that all of the world's leaders, heads, and decision-makers were once children raised by one or more of us. Raise the child's body on a diet of nutritious food and regular exercise and they will tend to grow into physically healthy human beings. Nurture the child's mind and spirit on ethical wisdom and practice and they will tend to grow into socially conscious and responsible individuals whether they become postal worker, a teacher, an entrepreneur, a community leader, a corporate mogul, a head of government, or the head of a powerful international organization. So the only way to change the policies and practices of our social institutions (government, economy, education, health care, family, etc.) is to change the worldview of the people who run them now, and (perhaps more importantly) those who will run them in the future. We are preparing the leaders of tomorrow in our homes, classrooms, and neighborhoods today. The Prime Directive should be promoted, instructed, nurtured, and exemplified in every home, every classroom, and every neighborhood. The children who grow into leaders from those kinds of environments will become the kind of leaders who encourage and support our process of healing our world. You can help make a difference by simply promoting the Peaceful Space Project web site and blog among your family, friends, coworkers, community social and civic leaders, government representative, and anyone else you can think of. No product to sell although I would hope that they would read the Handbook. No complex philosophy to try and articulate. Just be a planter and drop the seed at every opportunity trusting that when it is time for that seed to grow, it will! We cannot afford to give up on our own species because that means allowing ourselves to descend further into the nightmare abyss that the Enia outline in the Handbook. We have to believe that our children are capable of facing and overcoming the many social and environmental obstacles to survival that we have placed in their path. We have a responsibility to give them all of the fundamental tools the meet those challenges that we can. The Prime Directive is a fundamental tool, the quintessence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Living in alignment with the Prime Directive
is a choice to which everyone should be invited!
You have been invited!
You have been invited!
Create Peaceful Space!
Trust Your Process!
Peace, Love, and Health!
Preview The Handbook On Being Human, vol. I
(Reference: Understanding the Foundations of Ethical Reasoning, Dr. Richard Paul, Dr. Linda Elder, Foundation for Critical Thinking, ISBN: 0-944-583-17-2)
(Reference: United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights) (link)
