Relations of Man

***Man to Self***

A) Value your own life

Man like all animals tends toward vitality

As man increases in vitality, he expands from survival to health to reproduction

B) Never lie to yourself

Man is both mind and body

Mind may focus on memory or imagination, but body exists in present reality

Therefore, mind must embrace truths & discard error if man is to succeed

***Man to Man***

A) Seek trade, not predation

There are two relationships of man to man

1) Predator/Prey - one suffers at behest of the other

2) Mutalism - both benefit by the relationship, as in trade or family

And a third category, that of no relationship

Human prey and predator are the same species

Modern weapons annul the advantages of size and youth

Social action, whether dressed as justice or revenge, further suppresses the benefits of predation

Thus the predator must risk his vitality entire to extract even marginal benefits

Consequently it is a losing game, and more could be obtained in voluntary trade

Avoid becoming a predator by deception or voluntary furtherance of another's self-destruction, lest one's partner consider himself prey and make war

In the case of organized predation, a few benefit at the expense of the many

If instead the many benefit from the few, the few soon disappear

Wisdom dictates strategy of prey: disengagement (either flight or peaceful disobedience), war or obedience

The few require the support of the many, thus widespread peaceful disobedience ends the organized predation

***Man to Nature***

A) Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed

B) Men are part of Nature

Men are neither gods above Nature, nor spirits trapped within it, nor demons imposed upon it, nor refuse beneath it