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6. PERSONAL PRACTICEVersion 1.3 June 2017                                 (Previous Version) We need to make choices about what to do every second of every day! Can we offer any useful guidelines based on our insights from philosophy, science, history, religion and art? Can anyone really give reliable practical advice on how others should behave? Surely no individual would have the gall?  Is there a reasonable systematic approach? Can we justify our moral choices? ●         How should we choose what to do? What values will guide our choices? ●         How do we best look after our bodies and minds? Can traditional medicines be useful? ●         How should we manage friendships and sexual relationships? What rules do we follow? ●         What are our obligations in family life, at work and in our communities? ●         Is there any room, any sensible place, for so called ‘spirituality’, in a secular world? The most critical outcome of this Reasonable Global Way is the behavioural choices we make on a moment by moment basis, based on our beliefs about the world and choices that reflect our values. Our philosophy provides a theoretical analysis using reason when possible. Science and history provide a practical analysis of how we got to be as we are, based on both reason and the evidence. Religion provides multiple narratives, rules and diverse exemplary models, each capable of a range of interpretations. The arts, media and culture provide a similar plethora of narratives and models. Given all this information, now we have to choose our path, which way to go. As with the Part 7 on Politics, in this Part we try to restrict the discussion to the value choices we have to make, in our daily lives and when we are consciously making life changing decisions. Here we try to explain what value choices are the most reasonable, and cite the relevant supporting material in the previous parts. We try not to introduce new factual information, because this should be covered in Parts 1 to 5.  Parts 2 and 3 especially, on Science and History, may frequently need to be extended and updated with relevant evidence and conclusions.  All Parts may be extended and updated as we gain more understanding and insight.  So if a new scientific study provides good psychological evidence that affects our choices in, say, our parenting, the relevant details of the study should be included in Part 2 (eg in Chapter 2.7 on Neuroscience), then in Part 6 the new evidence should be cited when we determine its impact on our behavioural choices. Our personal practice is not a fixed set of rituals that we perform in a religious setting or removed from daily life: our personal practice is our daily life. Our behaviour is our person, in practice. We promote neither a hedonistic life style nor a social strait jacket. A Reasonable Global Way is a balance of personal freedom with social responsibility – to contribute to the community to the degree we are able. As we choose, hopefully, as time goes on, we learn to do better, for ourselves and our communities. As the Buddha said, we need to be more skilful. We look at personal practice under these headings, to learn how to behave in each area:
The values we adopt in our personal lives lead on to our political values, covered in Part 7.
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