Why be good?

[Thumpalumpacus]

Both empathy and practicality.

A normal, well-balanced human vicariously feels pain at the suffering of another, and therefore tends to avoid inflicting it.

Practically, being a nice guy keeps one in the good graces of other humans with whom one must live and work.

Karma is not a metaphysical process, to me; it's a material phenomenon, and it can be summed up in three words: assholes make enemies.

How do you put this philosophy into practice, PT? Of all people, I find this most ironic coming from you.

How have you sought to avoid becoming my enemy over the past three weeks?

I don't like dishonest people, and you are dishonest. You're dishonest about why you're here, you're dishonest with yourself in why you believe what you believe, and you deploy lies in the effort to attain your "aha!" moment even though that means you must be dishonest with yourself.

I don't seek enmical relations with anyone, nor do I seek pacific relations with anyone. I seek honest relations with someone. And when someone is not honest, I do not go out of my way to spare their feelings.

Don't like it? Perhaps you could deal with matters honestly. I don't hold grudges.

To answer your question as to how I put empathy to work in my life, I treat people the way I'd like to be treated, until they cease reciprocation. At that point, I reciprocate their mistreatment. When you dodge questions, and impute positions to people that they clearly don't hold, that's rude, and I'm not going to be polite as you're being rude to me.