Beliefs are not private, and powerful beliefs are not harmless. What we Believe dictates what we Do; therefore, it is imperative to believe only true and good things. What is demonstrably true is not always good, and what is subjectively good is not always true, but, within the vast spectrum of reality’s varied perceptions, there are beliefs which meet both these criteria. The Declaration of Universal Human (and I would add Nonhuman) Rights is, for example, one such possible set of beliefs. Beliefs that cannot be defended by reason, such as superstition or prejudice, should be discarded and Better guiding principles built in their place. This is what I call the “Natural Selection of Ideas,” ideas that cannot survive contact with verifiable reality should go extinct (as opposed to the Natural Selection of Species, which sees the often cruel extinction of living beings. I Believe that biodiversity on this planet should be preserved and needless suffering avoided; unlike the Natural Selection of Species, the Natural Selection of Ideas entails no actual cruelty, while still preserving those Ideas most fit for Coexistence within reality.)

Ethical codes should be built up on shared empirical, observable evidence not isolated anecdote and intuition. The purpose of Morality should be to maximize the collective welfare and to minimize the individual suffering for All Living Beings. Moralization without this attribute is surely an attempt to manipulate the people against their own interests. Any principles of societal baseline Morality and basic Decency must guarantee the Rights to Life and Dignity for All forms of consciousness. Spiritual pursuits should be a private, individual journey for subjective enlightenment and NOT a collective “one size fits all” dogma. Such dogmatic lockstep subsumes an individual identity – turning intelligent people into primitive and brutal mobs. The same is true of all tribalistic loyalties, which displace the emphatic individual with an in-group/out-group, “us vs. them” mentality. We must realize that we are all One group; we are all in this Together; we are All Earthlings. Instead of stunting our empathy-understanding within the arbitrary borders of nations, races, sexes, or even species, we should work to expand our Circle of Compassion to Infinity. Nothing is lost in the bargain, except excuses for cruel behavior. Bigotry and all agonizingly delusional detachment from the reality of human and nonhuman suffering belongs in our ignorant past. All we need now is to acknowledge, codify, and implement our New Understanding.