The Unexamined Life - Wetherill

Richard W. Wetherill - Nature’s behavior­al law of absolute right

Socrates is purported to have said that the unexamined life is not worth living, but he failed to explain how that examination is conducted. The following text explains. Socrates also said, “Think not those faithful who praise thy words and actions, but those who kindly reprove thy faults.” Therefore, we shall kindly reprove our leaders for not acting on the information presented by the late Richard W. Wetherill when he published his book Tower of Babel on January 1952. It explains that virtu­ally all trouble is caused by our disregard for a little-known law of nature Wetherill had coined the word humanetics for his study, and the law is presented here as nature’s behavior­al law of absolute right. It calls for thoughts and actions that are inclusively logical, appropriate, and moral. People behave as if they had multiple choices, but natural law states just two: what is right or what is wrong. Right works; wrong causes trouble. Wetherill taught that among the principles people reason from many are counterfeits. Some people object to the term counterfeit principles, but consider counter­feit money. It is not real, but it attains a kind of reality when accepted. In that sense, there are counterfeit prin­ciples people form and act on, causing wrong results. Those counterfeit principles are described next. Re­leasing their influence enables people to gain many wanted changes. 1. What are counterfeit principles? They are commands to self that people form such as “My mind is made up and I won’t change it” or “I’m always shy around strangers.”
2. How are they formed? When upset, people do unreal­istic thinking that gets lodged in memory as premises to be acted on such as “When I feel attacked I fight back” or “After what’s happened I’ll never be the same.” 3. What do counterfeit principles cause? They cause attitudes and actions contrary to natural law such as “Nobody’s going to tell me what to do” or “I want things to go my way.” 4. How are counterfeit principles released? When the concepts are recognized as untrue, they drop from memory and no longer influence behavior but only if a person intends to live a rational, honest life. 5. What results? Relationships improve, problems are resolved, and well-being is restored. Observing people’s behavior confirms the validity of nature’s behavioral law. Counterfeit principles per­meate conversations such as “If I don’t like it I won’t do it” or “I don’t like to make changes” or “Nobody understands me.” It is widely known now that lifestyles impact people’s health, but despite those warnings, many often continue irrational lifestyles. This writing states the formula that eliminates irrationality: Think, say, and do what is rational and honest, according to natural law.To paraphrase Socrates: “Think not those faith­ful who praise thy words and actions, but those who kindly reprove thee of thy counterfeit principles.” People who conform to the behavioral law join those who are already benefiting from adhering to it by continuing to release their counterfeit principles. That is how life becomes well worth living.