Do whatever you want, as long as it doesn’t harm others.

Stoic and Buddhist philosophy. No religious metaphysical stuff like gods, spirits or reincarnation.

Everyone here is saying “don’t be a dick”. That is not sufficient. That just makes you middling, not good. To be good, you must also stop people who ARE being dicks.

Be the person Captain Picard would want you to be.

Some of my moral principles

• Treat others how you think they would want to be treated, but not at all costs.

• You don’t have to like everyone, and not everyone has to like you. Although, being liked by others generally leads to having a better life.

• Avoid lying or “distorting the truth”. But, sometimes lying is necessary, like to keep a friend’s secret.

Some of my existential thoughts

• There are no permanent consequences other than death (I do not believe in an afterlife, although I find the concept interesting). There are no rules to follow, just temporary consequences you may have to deal with. You can make up your own rules and follow them, or not follow them.

• Perception is just a tool used by your brain (a small part of the universe) to process the chaos that is the universe. A similar universe could be described by a very complex particle simulation. That’s really cool.

Any morale principle must to be able to be universally applied to be valid. This translate in not asking for others what I won’t do myself. And judging hardly those who ask for rules that don’t apply to themselves.

That simple principle can construct a lot if you develop it.

Don’t be a dick. Try to stay out of the kinds of trouble that cause extra paperwork.

I have a set of values:

• Be social
• Seek autonomy
• Give solidarity
• Live in community
• Be healthy
• Have a clean home
• Work is to support other values, it’s not a value itself

And so on…

The choice i make is the one that aligns best with my values. If i have time to think that is. Otherwise my subconscious picks it’s own weights.

There’s a hierarchy to the values but they change in substance and position over time. That’s by design. Humans grow and change.

Circularity and contradiction? That’s fine. As long as it’s aligned with my values I know I’m unlikely to regret it.

if there is meaning to your choices, except that which you assign to it, you cannot know it. do as you please, do what feels right or don’t. accepting everything may not lead to happiness, but, other than the necessary mental faculties, it is the only requirement for contentment.

Don’t

Golden Mean - a famous philosphy by Aristotle has been really been big part of my adult life. It’s just incredibly handy and applicable to any situation.

Aristotle’s Golden Mean is the idea that virtue lies between two extremes - excess and deficiency.

We even see this idea expressed in contemporary sciences and sociology concepts like economic diminishing returns etc. and it really applies to everything. The best parts of life are trully in the middle and if you believe in only one life focusing on extremes is unlikely to get you anywhere interesting unless you’re very lucky/unlucky.

I really recommend “How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question” by Michael Schur who is one of the creators of The Good Place and he evaluates many popular ethics and world model views from a contemporary point of view and its really well done if you’re interested in practical ethics.

I’m going to die.

That’s it. There’s not much I’m really certain of, but I’m pretty damn certain that I’m going to die.

So I ask myself - how do I want to live my life in light of this fact?

Don’t be a cunt to…

… Yourself … Others … people in need

But…

… Not bring yourself in danger … Not Bring Others in danger … Not let people bully, use, hurt etc. you.

your*

Dont break the weekend safety brief.

• Do not add to the population
• Do not subtract from the population
• Do not end up in the newspaper, hospital or jail. – If you do end up in jail, establish dominance quickly.

Obviosuly this a a comedic response but it covers most of the bases.