Mentis Codex
Mentis
Codex
The Guide For A Sentient Being
The Pillars of a Sentient Being
1. Self-discipline
2. Logic and Reason
3. Common sense
4. Compassion
5. Morality and Sense of Justice
6. Self-Motivation
7. Goals
The Mentis Creed
1. I am sentient being and I do not sacrifice myself or my mind and the products and ideas I create from it for any other sentient beings unless I choose to do so freely.
2. I exist everyday as a sentient being to grow my mind, know more about the Universe and everything in it.
3. I will do my best to stand on my own and take care of myself and those who depend on me first then help other sentient beings as best as I can if I so choose.
4. I exist to think and act for myself and not to manipulate or force other sentient beings by any means available to me, to think or act as I do and I demand the same from them in return.
5. I aim to learn all the facts, knowledge and truth or truths about an issue and will not deny or hide these things from those who need or seek them or change them to fit my needs, beliefs or to keep a position of power or leadership, I accept them no matter what they are and do not let other sentient beings tell me I cannot do so.
6. I believe all other sentient beings have an equal right to life and have the same rights as I want for myself and I will treat them as such but I demand the same from them in return.
7. I believe that all sentient beings and myself living under any form of government have all the same rights, personal freedoms, responsibilities and ideals and are equal under the rules and laws of that government and are subject to the same punishments for breaking those rules and laws regardless of one’s position in society or leadership.
8. I do not support a leadership or government that I cannot elect or change in an orderly and peaceful way and which wants to think for me at anytime and control any parts of my life which does not harm others or another group of sentient beings.
9. I attack other sentient beings and take their lives only because I have to in self defense or in the defense of other sentient.
10. I do not take pleasure or profit in another sentient being’s suffering, mentally or physically, and I do not kill or physically attack other sentient beings for revenge, pleasure, to keep a position of power or leadership or force them to think as I do or agree to live my way of life.
11. I believe all sentient beings have a right to do what they want with their bodies but they do not have the right to ask or force any other sentient beings to help support them in repairing the unnecessary damage they inflicted on themselves by free will.
12. I do not take from other sentient beings what is not mine to take.
13. I know my responsibilities and promises to myself and other sentient beings and I try to fulfill them as best as I can at all times.
14. When I wrong another sentient being or beings I will admit to my mistake or crime and fix whatever damage I have caused to them that I can and apologize to them but not expect acceptance of my apology or forgiveness of my action or actions.
16. I value all forms or Art, Writing, History, Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Knowledge, Creativity, Curiosity, any new ideas and new ways of thinking about life and what happens in it.
17. Logic, Reason, Critical thinking and practical application of Knowledge in life are treasured by me and will do my best to use them every second I am aware of what is going on around me.
18. I will do my best to teach other sentient beings what I know if they want to learn from me but I will not force it on them and I will not try to stop them from learning on their own.
19. I will try my best to make life better for all sentient beings who will follow me after my death and no take away from them the same rights I had in life or make it harder or impossible for them to live a more productive life than I had.
20. I know I will make mistakes in life but I will try to learn from them and not repeat them nor will I ask other sentient beings to take responsibility for them in any way.
21. I have a personal code of morals and standards which are not listed here but they do not conflict with anything on this list and I try to keep them as best as I can.
Code of Behavior
I. Rectitude or Justice
It is said that to have power you must have money or soldiers. You must have a command of people that work for you in many task for your benefit. A house that has many rooms or many things in those rooms as well. A car that cost more than most people will make in a life time. It has been said all these things make a person. But this is not true. A person with power but no sense of rectitude is much like a child who wants and wants but has no sense of responsibility. It is not about having things or power but the way one acts in a given situation that is that of thought and direction. Gathering the material things of life is not a task that comes easy and it is not wrong to have somethings but to do so at the cost of rectitude is wrong. With rectitude is the close cousin of justice. Justice is the armor of rectitude much like a samurai has armor. Rectitude is the man and justice the armor one cannot exist without the other. Saying one has a sense of justice is not only knowing right from wrong in others but also in oneself. It means to act to correct the wrong in a proper manner. Justice also means acting with temperance toward others and in defense of those who cannot help themselves. If one has justice they do not take comfort in the suffering of others in anyway. Finally it can be said about both with rectitude and justice that without either you cannot live a life of purpose. Rectitude is using logic, reason and thought as you go through life. Getting money and material things might seem logical but to do so at the cost of others just to get the money and material items is wrong.
II. Courage
Being brave is not the same thing as being courageous. Being brave is to do an unsafe act just for the sake of doing it. Being courageous is to do an unsafe act for a logical and meaningful reason. Take the risk of being set on fire. Some people do this to prove they are brave. This serves no purpose other than a show when the person risk burning. Then there are those firemen who everyday go into a burning building to save a life of some kind. Which one makes more sense? While doing a stunt is a risk it is a risk that has no real pay off for anyone while the fireman might save a child or senior citizen.
This pattern could be put forward to examine when a citizen witnesses a murder and comes forward to testify in court against the criminal. They are being courageous in the sense that they are doing the right thing for not only themselves but society as well. They risk retaliation from the criminals friends and even the criminal. But still they do it.
Having courage is taking risk for the right reasons for some kind of benefit toward society as a whole first as well as the person. Being brave is just taking a risk for a risk's sake.
III. Benevolence or Mercy
Benevolence is caring about others as much as you care about yourself. As stated in the first principle of justice and rectitude there is responsibility. With benevolence as it is defined as having good will toward others and to be kind and do charitable acts it goes deeper. It might be said that rectitude is the ship and benevolence is the rudder. A man who always thinks about money and getting more could have a rectitude of some kind but if this rectitude destroys others to see expression then it is as bad as not having any sense of ideals or sense of action. Even the most evil people in the world had rectitude look at the Nazis or a dictator but look what they did with it. Subjection, murder, oppressive control of people and other vile things.
A benevolent person looks out for themselves but also for others as well through out life. They see that their actions have a ripple effect across all of life. The act of doing a single act of charity is more powerful than 1000 acts of neutrality and 10000 acts of evil. It is those with a sense of true benevolence who make the world a better place. Just think of all those people who have been kind to you and how they make you feel and think of those who were cruel and destructive towards society and yourself. Those who try to make the world a better place while at the same time helping themselves are who should be emulated.
Coupled with benevolence is mercy which can be defined as alleviation of distress; showing great kindness toward the distressed. There are many figures through out history who have had mercy. Those who saved the Jews in Nazi occupied lands or those who got slaves out of the south to where they could be free. But mercy is a simple things as well. It could be to defend someone who is being bullied in school or work. Mercy like benevolence is where one does good but only for the person who is in distress. The benefit of showing mercy comes from the act itself and only itself.
IV. Politeness
Have a sense of being politeness is the act of showing regard for others and acting within the social norms of a society and in a general way. This means knowing when to speak and when not to in a given situation. It also means showing respect for others as you move throughout life. Put this is not to say you are stuck in the ridge rules of being polite in everything but it does mean you are polite when needed. You do not ignore people when they are speaking to you or talk over others. The rules of a given society are many in this area but there are a few things that travel across the borders. One is not to touch another person without permission is most situation. Calling of derogatory names of a group is also impolite. Touching material possessions of another person without permission. Talking about sexual matters could also be considered impolite too. These are just a few things about being polite but remember this it is an important.
V. Honesty and Sincerity
Being an honest person is corner stone of any person in a working society or social group. Its not just the act of telling the truth to another group member but also to oneself. We will start with the individual first because this is the base of being honest with the group.
Being honest with oneself is in someways even harder than being honest to the group. Think about all those times when you might have been trying to cut back on food to lose weight. It is birthday at the office and it is about 3PM. Time for your break from work for 15 minutes. You are the first in the break room and there is some cake on the table and you know there is ice cream in the ice box. You look at the cake think of your promise to not to eat anymore than the small piece you had at lunch. Still you want it. You say to yourself “I will only have a small piece and ride the bike or walk for an hour tonight extra.” Now at this point you are lying to yourself because you know that the extra hour of exercise more than likely will not happen and even if it does it will not burn off the calories you put into your body with the cake.
This is just one example of how people lie to themselves all the time. Take a gambler who says after just barely making the ends meet for the month says to themselves. “I will not gamble again.” Then a few days later they think. “I will only spend $20 at the casino on payday.” Then payday comes and they spend most of the check. They lied to themselves because they knew or had a good idea from past actions that they would spend the money at the casino. Now they are right back where they were.
These are only a few examples of ow people lie to themselves and in the end it harms them as well as others. This is the first objective of being honest which is being honest with yourself. If you cannot do that then you cannot be honest with the rest of society as a whole. Because if you can lie to yourself with convection they lying to others is very simple. This brings us to the idea of lying to others.
Lying to others one its surface seems wrong to most people but it is a deeper problem then just telling someone you were late for a meeting due to going to the bathroom when in reality you lost track of time on the computer. Lying is the wall that destroys a group or society that blocks its functions from happening. Take a given government. One lie may not stop it from working but as you ass more and more the citizens under a government will come to not only distrust it but in time detach themselves from it through inaction or outright defiance. This could be said of individual in a given society as well. One lie might not cut off the person from society as a whole but as you tell more and more lies in time no one will trust this person and they will either have a difficult time functioning in society or not be able to at all.
Along side honesty in both the individual to themselves and the individual to society is sincerity. It is the glue that holds those true things said together. Without sincerity what you said might be just simple statements that could be or could not be true. There would be doubt in everything even if it was true what was said. Take it like this: There is a drawing of a horse it is in black and white. This is honesty without sincerity. The same picture in color is honesty with sincerity.
It is important not only to have this sincerity with the practice of honesty with oneself but with others as well. Honesty and sincerity is the glue that holds society together as well as the individual person. If one cannot be honest with oneself then one has not chance of being truly honest and interact with others.
VI. Loyalty
Loyalty is the act of binding yourself either intellectually or emotionally to a course of action or to a group. As simple as this might stated it goes deeper than just helping a group you have promised yourself to or to a course of action either for yourself or the group. This group could be family, a military unit, a government or a business. The act of bounding with a group or keeping to a given goal either from outside the individual or from the individual themselves is a core component of being a person.
If one did not have loyalty to a course of action then said action will never take place. If you can quit at any given time then there is no security or purpose of taking the action in the first place. In the end if you cannot count on yourself to stay loyal to a goal then you cannot be counted on for even more important things.
This brings us to loyalty to the group. How can a group be held together if the members of said group cannot be trusted? The answer is it cannot. You must have loyalty not only to the members of the group but to the leadership and rules of the group as well. This is the only way a group of any size can hold itself together. This fundamental idea is the base of all human society starting from the time our ancestors were on the coast of Africa 200,000 years ago. It might have been instinctual but there as a sense of loyalty.
VII. Character and Self-Control
First will start with character which is the display of a persons actions in accordance to a set of morals and rules that they live by in life. This definition means that one has a set of morals that they stick to in life. This could be some of the basic and building block items listed in this list and a deeper set of rules and morals in ones interactions with the world and those in it. Again character is combination of all the morals and rules one believes in and the implantation of them in life. One without character would much like a computer that had no mother board. The morals and rules could be as programs on the hard drive but useless unless the mother board is there to run the them and process them.
This brings us to self-control which can be defined as the act of denying yourself; controlling your impulses and regulating your actions with logic. In the analogy of the computer where character is the CPU self-control could be CPU of the computer system. Without self-control or self-discipline a person could not function in society. This is the first thing that parents teach their children by putting them in chairs and making them sit or sitting around a circle at school to play a game or get a lesson from the teacher. Self-Control is what keeps a person working out reach a goal such as getting a gold medal or to lose weight. Self-control is the funnel that all the things talked about before go through so that a person can act in life.
Principles of Life
Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
Do not allow jealousy to guide your actions.
Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.
Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
In all things, have no absolute preferences.
Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
Do not let all customary beliefs guide your actions.
Do not fear death to the point of obsession.
Do not seek to possess either goods beyond your basic needs.
Guide Lines for Living
1. Always use logic in everything you do in life.
2. Never lie to yourself.
3. Never prosperously harm others.
4. Always strive to do your best in the tasks presented to you.
5. Never lower yourself to fit in to any group.
6. Always believe in yourself no matter what happens.
7. Do your best to DO and not TALK.
8. Fix the problem first then find someone to blame later.
9. Try to leave the world a better place for the next generation
10. Never lie to others it only harms you in the end.
11. Do your best to take care of others after your basic needs
are taken care of in life.
12. Never take advantage of others just to better your own position.
13. Improve yourself everyday in at least one way.
14 Plan ahead for the next day.
15. Set short term, intermediate and long term goals and do your best to stick to them.
16. The more you learn the more you grow as a person.
17. Your mind and body are the only things that you will ever really own in life so treat them well.
18. There are things that affect you in a positive, neutral and negative way in life. Be wise enough and honest enough to know the difference between them.
Proverbs and Sayings
Lack
of will power has caused more failure than lack of intelligence or
ability. --Flower A. Newhouse
Wherever you go, go with all
your heart.
--Confucius
One of the greatest discoveries a
man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he
was afraid he couldn't do.
--Henry Ford
Here is the
secret of inspiration: Tell yourself that thousands and tens of
thousands of people, not very intelligent and certainly no more
intelligent than the rest of us, have mastered problems as difficult
as those that now baffle you.
--William Feather
Korean Proverbs:
Power lasts ten years; influence
not more than a hundred.
Cast no dirt into the well that gives
you water.
Even if the sky falls on you, there is a hole that you
can escape from.
The deeper the waters are, the more still they
run.
A turtle travels only when it sticks its neck out.
Even
a fish wouldn't get into trouble if it kept its mouth shut.
Put
off for one day and ten days will pass.
Words have no wings but
they can fly a thousand miles.
A kitchen knife cannot carve its
own handle.
Japanese
proverbs:
A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in
a bundle.
A statement once let loose cannot be caught by four
horses.
An ant hole may collapse an embankment.
Better to be
a crystal and to be broken, than to be a tile upon the housetop.
Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.
Don't rejoice
over him that goes, before you see him that comes.
Fortune will
call at the smiling gate.
He is not poor that hath not feel
content.
If I peddle salt, it rains; if I peddle flour, the wind
blows.
Life is for one
generation; a good name is forever.
Some people like to make of
life a garden, and to walk only within its paths.
The reputation
of a thousand years may be determined by the conduct of one hour.
The tongue is more to be feared than the sword.
Unless you
enter the tiger's den you cannot take the cubs.
Chinese
Proverbs:
A bird can roost but on one branch, a mouse can
drink not more than its fill from a river.
A diamond with a flaw
is worth more than a pebble without imperfections.
A dog in a
kennel barks at his fleas; a dog hunting does not notice them.
A
hundred men may make an encampment, but it takes a woman to make a
home.
A man without a smiling face must not open shop.
A
murder may be forgiven, an affront never.
A needle is not sharp
at both ends.
A young branch takes on all the bends that one
gives it.
Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of
standing still.
Blessings do not come in pairs; misfortunes never
come singly.
Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with
a hatchet.
Every day cannot be a feast of lanterns.
Experience
is a comb which nature gives us when we are bald.
Give a man a
fish, and you feed him a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him
for a lifetime.
He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who
does not ask remains a fool forever.
He who governs by his moral
excellence may be compared to the Pole star which abides in its place
while all other stars bow towards it.
When a finger points at the
moon, the imbecile looks at the finger.
Africa
Proverbs:
Only a fool tests the depth of the water with
both feet.
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
The
earth is a beehive, we all enter by the same door.
There are 40
kinds of lunacy, but only one kind of common sense.
Rain beats a
leopard's skin, but it does not wash off the spots.
When the
mouse laughs at the cat, there is a hole nearby.
Only when you
have crossed the rive can you say the crocodile has a lump on his
snout.
Evil enters like a needle and spreads like an oak tree.
When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.
The moon does not think to be reflected, nor does the water think to reflect, in the Hirosawa Pond.
Stories
In China there was once a man who liked pictures of dragons, and his clothing and furnishings were all designed accordingly. His deep affection for dragons was brought to the attention of the dragon god, and one day a real dragon appeared before his window. It is said that he died of fright. He was probably a man who always spoke big words but acted differently when facing the real thing.
* * *
Once there was a very powerful and young samurai who was known for his feats of power and strength. He was known to walk for four days and nights with very little food or water. He could kill a bird with a bow and arrow at 100 feet. He was also known to the a very powerful swordsmen as all samurai are of course. So this young samurai walked the lands showing off his skills and power. Then as it happened the young samurai came to a village and there was a young boy there that ran up to this famous samurai and said to him.
“Sir how do you do the feats that you do? How do you kill a small bird so far away? How do you walk for so long with so little food and water? How powerful samurai?” The young samurai smiled and said to the young boy.
“I walk for days on end and kill the bird in the sky with my bow with one thing. It is not my body nor the weapons themselves. It is by pure will. I see it then I do it.” Not far away was an old samurai who listened with a smile. The young samurai looked at him and in anger said.
“You doubt my will!? You think I do this by luck or chance of some kind!?” The old samurai smiled and said to the young samurai.
“Yes I doubt your will young sir. I think that you cannot do the task I have in mind.” The young samurai took a battle stance and screamed.
“I demand that you tell it to me. Do you wish I kill a bird in the sky? Do you want to do battle?”
The old samurai smiled and said:
“No. None of that. You see the mountain. It is four days walk away for a normal samurai for you it would be two or less. On top of the mountain are red rocks. Go there as fast as you can and bring back a large rock and I will believe your powers of strength and will.” The young samurai laughed and with a smile said to the old samurai.
“I accept and when I return I will do battle with you and kill you in front of the whole village.” With that the young samurai marched off toward the mountain as the sunset. Word spread across the village about the coming battle and people would come up the old samurai and tell him to run for the young samurai was sure to kill him.
On the sunset of the second day the young samurai came over the hill carrying a large red stone. The old samurai stood in the town square waiting for the young samurai with no expression on his face. The young samurai came up to the old samurai very tired and threw the rock at his feet.
“There I have done the task! Now I kill you!” The samurai did battle and in ten seconds the old samurai had kill the young samurai. The town was in shock. After burying the young samurai the next morning the young boy came up to the old samurai and said:
“Sir how did you beat the young samurai? He could kill a bird in the sky and walk for days. How he had a strong will?” The old samurai smiled and said to the boy.
“Yes but he had no direction or the ability to look ahead. The young samurai had will much like a powerful rain storm with wind but soon it blows itself out. Take heed young man. Have will but have direction as well.” Thus is the story of the young samurai and old samurai.
After Word From Author
If you have read this far I hope some of what I have written has gotten across to you. I want to thank you for reading this guide if you will to being sentient. I know there are many many definitions to being a thinking conscience being and I will not try to lock down the exact meaning here. I will say I think it means knowing ones actions has consequences to ones self and others. This is the core part of this set of guide lines, the creed and other items in this document.
That said I want to dispel the idea that I am trying to start a religion of some kind. This is not the case at all. I am not interested in being a figure that people look up to and need continuance input telling how to think and how to feel about whatever might be on their mind. I wrote this so that there would be a logical base one which a being can come up with what they think is right and proper for them to think with their own mind that was given to them.
I also want to say that this document is not just for those who do not believe in a supreme being nor is it for those who do believe in a supreme being. This is for everyone who is sentient or another word for being conscience. You see I was confused for a long time about what I thought and what I believed. I looked and looked for a book that would show me what it meant to be a thinking being. I was looking for the rules or guide lines for lack of a better word. I tried a few religions which did nothing and made the situation worse for me. I then went to the idea that there was no supreme being but this did not work either. I tried self-help and self-motivational books but they were useless as well. After all this I just gave up which did not work as well. I felt this empty hole inside myself then I came to the logical conclusion that I had to come up with my own rules and ideas.
I started doing this about 3 or 4 years ago and have been working on it off and on for that long. I wrote 10 versions of the creed which was call the sentient's creed at first. As for the other items I made up over the years and refined off and on. As for the proverbs I thought they were something logical to be put in. The stories were put in as an after thought. I wrote the samurai one and got the other off the internet.
I
hope that this guide has helped you and I hope that you have a use
for it in the future. There is not much more I can say other than I
hope you have a good day and good thoughts. Again thank you for your
time.
User License
You may make as many copies of this PDF and give them away in any digital form possible. Feel free to quote from it. You may not change the text in anyway and you may not sell this PDF. It is meant to be given to everyone. As for translation you may do this as well but you must remain true to the original text of the document.
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