Better and better 2

The historical Buddha was very pessimistic about humanity when he lived in India some 2 500 years ago. Most humans would face a difficult and painful time after death, he saw. He told as many as he could how to avoid future hell, but Buddhism has remained a teaching for a minority.

We could ask if the general conditions on earth has made it easier to follow ethical rules.

That would be a spin-off effect, of course. 

The method for getting a good life is following the ethical rules of no killing, stealing or lying. These rules are more important than any other rules or impulses. The principle is that good gives good. Bad gives bad.

In normal social life we advance our ambitions as our means advance, so we always live in an atmosphere of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. We want more and better. 

Thanks to modernity, we have more and more of a choice between these ideals, more or better. More is not always better. More food and drink is bad for many, for example.

Not long ago we could blame unethical actions on hard necessities, but at least some of these arguments are losing in relevancy.

Ethics 2

A positive attitude towards all others ... is that really reasonable? Nothing can be as dangerous and horrid as people...
The time for sharpening the ethical debate is coming. We can not only rely on old norm systems, based on production problems and local communities.
The religious norm systems are always debated because of their inherent conflict between dogma and practical demands of new circumstances.
We need a norm system that is so simple so it can be understood by all and implemented by all always, in all actual and hypothetical situations.
The norm system should also be so challenging that it is necessary for the individual to use all resources in order to find and do the right - the norms should be based on the total knowledge and experience of man kind since the beginning of time. All cultures should be included and feel at home: this is what we always wanted and valued!
To balance a global ethical norm system on the principle of rational non violence is daring. Normally we want some solid basis.