You can't solve a problem you can't identify. You also can't find solutions to most of life's problems on your own either.
There are many who look for guidelines to help them find their way through life: it might be religious precepts (like the 10 Commandments or Buddha's 8-Fold Path), it might be a sense of moral dignity, it really doesn't matter. When all is said and done, I truly believe that all the "Paths to Righteousness" or "Enlightenment" or "Salvation", I really don't care what you think you have to call it either, can be reduced to one very simple statement. Yes, that's how complex, how complicated human life on this planet is: one rule, guideline, suggestion is all we need.
My friend Stan Tenen at the Meru Foundation has pointed out very clearly that all religions worldwide share one basic precept: they have some form, some expression of what is most commonly known as the "Golden Rule" (which can (and does) include even atheists, in the form of Kant's categorical imperative). And, on the more-than-secular side, the Australian comedian Jim Jefferies has reduced this notion to even simpler terms: "Try not to be an asshole."
We don't need any more than that ... BUT, and believe me this is a big "but": there are no exceptions. If you want to reduce things, reality, life, whatever, to simplest terms, this is it.
For most of us, however, this is too much to ask, and so we come with any number of excuses why that can't possibly be T-H-E solution. Truth be told, it's not a solution, it's a way to prevent solutionless problems from arising. That, on the other hand, is too big a deal for oh, so many people, especially those who love to go on and on about personal responsibility, in all its shapes and forms.
So, there you have it in a nutshell. That's it. Now, how many exceptions do you believe you should be allowed to make?
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