A Formulation of Five Principles
A formulation of five key, rather widely-accepted, principles of human emotional life, expressed in the simplest form I can, are:
- Do not abandon.
- Do not exploit weakness — protect it.
- Do not betray.
- Do not control.
And:
- Be honest. If you realise any of these things are happening, correct it.
These can read as "moral" commandments. They can also just be read as mathematical principles — ones that are hard to apply flawlessly. There will be many errors.
When we follow or contravene these, there are predictable outcomes: though unique to every situation, they follow a pattern. It's possible to see the pattern in the noise when you know what you are looking for and try to correct the situation through correcting the error.
It is also possible to see patterns in behaviour leading up to these principles not being respected — as well as common errors in trying to apply them.
The interesting bits of such basic principles are in the detail of how it plays out when applied in real situations, when exposed to the real world.
We can go into these details and stories next.