52-Reverse the Golden Rule and Flow Part 3

Part 3: Flow's Bad Side and the Golden Rule's Good Side

How can flow not be right? This concept sounds incredible, something like touching perfection. But it's often energetic, disruptive, and fierce. Flow forges outcomes. The painful sides of flow are the ugliest forms of violence; think lynchings, trolling, pillaging, hazing, and war. But violence is not a singularity. At times, it is necessary. Evolutionary change is often violent and we all have the inherent right to protect life from predators. Depending on the circumstance, fighting's either the best or worst decision. Let's consider bears: on one hand, a momma bear; the other, an inquisitive adolescent male grizzly. If you fight the momma, you die. If you curl up in a ball before the boy, trying to be a grizzly, you're dinner. Knowing when to fight is key to surviving a bear attack. 

Bear Attack 

Violence itself is not the issue and flow is a basic state inherent to all minds. The Golden rule makes certain compassion is not disregarded. So, if we marry flow with the Golden Rule, do we insure we'll do the right thing? No. Hesitating long enough to reverse the Golden Rule insures we at least understand what we are about to do to another by doing it to ourselves first (even if only in our imagination).

When our intentions are pure, we make the what, why, whom, how, and where relevant when we practice upon ourselves first. We'll fulfill the Golden Rule because we'll know if treating another in a specific way is in fact the way we would want to be treated. And should we go through with it, we'll know it's not working when they react unexpectedly. As it so often is, candid communication is the firm fix for affectionate misfires.

Finding flow is about intentional, vulnerable, participation: my definition of love. Integration with our community increases the potential for flow. I know I'm at my best when I'm at peace with the question, 'can I live with myself and my tribe if I do this?' My main focus is my behavior's effect on my community's flow. So when in doubt, I reverse the Golden Rule and imagine doing to myself before I do to another. It's so simple. Want to rob someone? Rob yourself. Would you like to smash someone's face in? Smash in your own. How about destroying a bunch of lives by polluting a river? Take the first swallow. Does shooting someone in the foot sound good? You know what to do.

And for those considering killing a bunch of people with a bunch of guns, simply do unto yourself before you do unto others. 

That'll solve the problem for everyone.

When humanity embraces both sides of the Golden Rule, 

we flow into something 

magical,

meaningful,

and wonderful.