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of photosynthesis too? . . . but 
simultaneously 
the means for ignition? How 
would linear ethics 
tackle the problem of 
`auto-catalytic' phenomena 
(better known as vicious circles). If 
definitions 
of means and end are so difficult to 
pindown 
in such a simple scientific 
situation, it is 
hardly surprising that ethics based 
on `means' 
24 A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps 
towards Enlightened Living 
and `ends' are virtually impossible 
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to apply in 
multi-factorial social scenarios. 
Unfortunately, 
the problems found in society are 
almost always 
the vicious circles that make 
application of ethics 
so difficult. To the question of 
whether blessings 
are `means' or `ends', it must be 
answered 
that they are both. Putting any one 
of the thirtyeight 
blessings into action will 
contribute towards 
social development. At the same 
time, the 
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existence (or coming into 
existence) of any of the 
thirty-eight blessings is itself an 
indicator of social 
progress. Blessings also help to 
avoid the 
dilemma of justifying 
unwholesome means by 
wholesome ends. 
8 Facilitating Practical Outlook: 
The practice of 
blessings are effective through 
reversal of positive 
feedback loops of decay through 
the setting 
in motion of positive feedback 
loops of development: 
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firstly, to check the downward 
spiral and, 
secondly, to turn the spiral 
upwards. Action for 
social problem solving can start by 
the effort to 
replace any one of the thirty-eight 
counterparts 
of the blessings by a blessing. 
Problem solving 
can start with the local application 
of any blessing. 
The blessings encourage personal 
commitment 
instead of passing the buck. Once 
the first 
blessing comes into being, then it 
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will cause an 
upturn in society, which will ease 
the accumulation 
of the next blessing in the 
sequence. The 
end-point, said to be the biggest 
blessing of them 
all, is to bring all thirty-eight 
blessings into being 
in society. 
9 Transcending Values: The 
Manual of Peace does 
not focus merely on the values of 
action based on 
moral principles or intention for 
the actions, but 
rather on the modes of our 
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relationships in society, 
environment, family relations, 
education, 
communication and spirituality. 
Yet, the scope of 
application of blessings can even 
expand to cover 
the whole of the human race, with 
all lives sharing 
their part in the single 
commonwealth of 
morality—the Global Community. 
10 Highlighting Opposites: 
Blessings also reveal the 
flipside of blessings — the `Bad 
Omen' or `social 
curse', which are the sign that 
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something bad is 
about to happen (omens of 
forthcoming decay). 
Where there is no development, 
there must be 
decay, and to this end the 
opposites of the thirtyeight 
blessings are representedby a set of 
thirtyeight 
identifiers, like tips-of-the-iceberg, 
which 
signal thepresence of a nest of 
much deeperrooted 
but invisible social problems. The 
nature 
of such problems is, again, that of 
negative feedback 
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loops or `vicious cycles' which 
lead toward 
decay. Unsolved, such curse will 
spread, into ever 
broadening circles of repercussions 
with their own 
vicious cycles. A comparable 
example in science 
might be the thermodynamic 
model of loss of 
entropy through the dissipation of 
heat. 
These are characteristics of the 
Manual of Peace. In 
the chapters that follow, each of 
the thirty-eight 
Blessings of Life will be explained 
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in turn. 
Orientation 25 
The First 
Group of Blessings 
"Turning your back on 
unwholesomeness" 
Goodness doesn't come 
unpackaged. It comes as part 
and parcel of 
the person who does good deeds 
and and who exemplifies those 
good deeds. Goodness is 
transmitted between people by 
the example 
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a good person sets for others 
and by a good person's teaching 
and criticism of the behaviour 
of a person whose level of 
goodness 
is lesser. Goodness is like the 
food which we eat. It strongly 
influences 
of our view and understanding 
of life and the world.To begin 
with we have no idea what 
goodness is. Some people tell us 
that 
such and such a thing is good. 
Others tell us that something 
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completely 
different is good. Who should 
we believe? And when we 
ask them why they consider 
such and such a thing to be 
good, noone 
seems to know the answer. Thus 
if we want to learn how to do 
good deeds, we have to start 
making decisions about our 
lives even 
from the time we are still unable 
to tell the difference between 
good 
and evil. Although we cannot 
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tell the difference between good 
and 
evil, there are certain indicators 
that allow us to tell the 
difference 
between people who habitually 
do good and people who 
habitually 
do evil. The first step on this 
path is the identification of the 
people who habitually do evil 
and we make our first step 
towards 
goodness by avoiding such 
people. Our next step towards 
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goodness 
is to associate with people who 
are habitually good. The third 
step is to honour those who are 
habitually good so that we can 
start 
to observe the faults in 
ourselves, by comparison with 
the higher 
virtue of those who are worthy 
of respect. Thus, the first group 
of 
blessings is thus almost entirely 
concerned with being selective 
about our friends. 
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Blessing One: Not Associating 
with Fools 27 
A. INTRODUCTION 
A.1 First Step on Journey the 
Most Important 
For the Manual of Peace, although 
all of the blessings 
are important, all of the latter 
thirty-seven 
hinge on the first. Thus you could 
say that of all the 
blessings the first is the most 
important. It is like 
the first tread of the steps leading 
into a house. If 
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you cannot climb this first step, 
you will spend the 
rest of your life at the foot of the 
staircase with no 
way of getting into the house. You 
can also think of 
this blessing "Not Associating with 
Fools" as being 
like the first step on a long 
journey, without 
which the voyage can never begin. 
B. DISCRETION: THE 
IMPORTANCE & 
FORMATION 
B.1 The importance of calibrating 
discretion 
No-one wants to make a mess of 
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their lives. Everyone 
wants to feel that they are profiting 
from the 
years that pass them by 
to give 
them a sense of 
success and achievement in their 
lives. However, 
the way each person defines 
"success", "profit" or 
achievement in their life will 
dictate what they channel 
their efforts into. A businessman 
defines profit 
in life in monetary terms so he 
devotes his time and 
effort into earning as much as he 
can. A criminal 
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might define achievement in life 
by "cracking the 
most impenetrable safe in the 
world" or "cutting 
the most corners possible" to 
maximise the amount 
of stolen goods he can a mass —
so he spends all 
his waking hours planning his next 
robbery. A 
criminal doesn't particularly want 
to live his life 
dishonestly, but he thinks that 
being a criminal is 
good enough. Although everyone 
seeks success (in 
their various ways), in the long run 
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they may be 
left with regrets in their mind. If 
you ask why a 
difference of definition of success 
in life can make 
such a difference to one's destiny, 
it is because this 
"common sense" about the world 
dictates the decisions 
we make about the world — and 
these decisions 
drive all that we say and do. In the 
Manual 
of Peace we call such common 
sense "discretion" —
it is the basic understanding by 
which we judge 
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each experience and situation in 
the world to know 
whether it is likely to be beneficial 
for us or harmful. 
B.2 Discretion doesn't come 
unpackaged 
Discretion is a personal quality we 
acquire, test and 
calibrate as a result of the 
experiences we meet in 
life. It is not a quality we can get 
by reading about 
it, buying it, downloading it or 
memorizing it. It 
can only come as the result of our 
transactions with 
real people. It is a quality often 
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unspoken, but easily 
learned by example. Thus 
discretion doesn't 
come loose, but is part and parcel 
of the exemplary 
people who possess it. 
B.3 Two Formative Influences on 
our discretion 
There are two major influences on 
the formation of 
discretion in a person. The first 
major influence is 
Blessing One: 
Not Associating with 
Fools 
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