The Code of Kindness

The other day, I had a great conversation with a Mormon Elder who was visiting the city.  He stopped me in a park, with the disarming gesture of his hands up in front of him.  I told him I appreciated that he was trying to make me feel safe.  He then asked me if I wanted to talk about religion.  I said sure.  So we did.  Our dialogue made me think about what I believed in, and how I should express those beliefs.  I am not a Christian.  I don't believe in a god.  But this doesn't mean I don't have faith.  My faith lies in people.

Let me explain.

I do think we should treat each other how we want to be treated.  This is a great philosophy by which to live.  The Elder said, "sounds like you're a Christian to me." I said, but there is one very important thing missing, I don't believe Jesus was magical, or a "god."  I always thought this idea was, well, unbelievable.

Now, I don't hate Christianity, or any religion.  I think that there are good ideas in most Faiths. For example,  I think that the Christian bible has some great ideas.  I think that Jesus was an important historical figure, a revolutionary really, who tried to make his world a little better.  But I don't think he was miraculous; just a guy trying to change the world.

And that notion is more compelling to me;  Jesus as just a guy trying to do good, is more compelling than a mystical figure who was sent with a mission from a holy being.

And that is my point, I think people can work to make the world better, but we have competing motivations that cause us to act selfishly instead of for the common good.  When we push aside those selfish motivations, we can change the world.

Then the Elder asked me a very important question: "Was I a good person?   If I don't believe in God, what motivates me to be a good person?"

I told him that I subscribed to something I called, "The Code of Kindness."  It was a directive I wrote in a journal once.  Since then, it has served as a guide for how I treat other people.

The "Code of Kindness" is pretty simple really.  And it's an acrostic poem, so it's easy to memorize:

I think that my code is a truer working of trying to be a "good" person.  It also shows my strong belief in the goodwill of humanity.  I try to be a caring and helpful person not because I will be rewarded someday by a paternalistic figure that is proud of me.  Conversely, I am not giving and empathetic out of fear of retribution from a deity watching my every move.   I act the way I do, because I think that humanity will be best served, if I am caring, kind, and helpful.  And I believe that all people have the capacity to be this way.  I don't even think that there are "good" and "evil" people really, just that our personal motivations are sometimes skewed and selfish.  If we can consider each others well being more in our thoughts and actions, the world would be a beautiful place. 

So my faith lies in hope for other people.  

And when humanity's back is up against the metaphoric wall, I believe that people will step up and do what is right for other people.  In that is what I believe.

Our conversation ended as it was getting dark.  He hadn't converted me, but he did make me think.  And that is a nice gift.