In no particular order:

1. Knowing that change and impermanence are the greatest constants in the universe (even more so than death and taxes), and being able to keep on top of things by being adaptable – which in the final analysis means willing and able to embrace change.

2. Understanding that we’re all our own worst enemies, and knowing that, as a general rule, the damage that others can inflict on us pales in comparison to that we can inflict on ourselves, particularly as a result of our unwillingness to embrace change or to accept the kind of responsibility for ourselves that would enable us to do so.

3. Accepting responsibility for effecting change where our knowledge and understanding falls short of reality instead of purposefully confusing being criticised and being attacked, such that we conflate attempts to hold us to account for not being responsible with an attack on our rights and wellbeing, eg. ‘If you don’t make the dictates of my ego law and otherwise attempt to think for yourself the enemies of justice and other assorted evildoers win.’

4. Making a sincere and meaningful effort to distinguish persons from actions such that we are able to refrain from making moral judgments about others, which in the final analysis functions as a form of psychological projection, blame-shifting and disavowal of our individual responsibility to develop the capacity to think and act for ourselves such that we are able to retain our capacity for adaptability to the constantly-changing and evolving world we live in.

5. Learning from our mistakes and those of others specifically by refraining from making moral judgments such that we avoid making them again, and in so doing rising above the insanity that to one or another degree appears to be the defining trait of the world we live in. Developing our capacity for self-actualisation and then acting in the world as self-actualised individuals whose actions promote sanity and justice because they’re based on self-awareness, a sense of individual responsibility and the capacity for selfless action, compassion and concern for others.

Sure there are more but that’s doesn’t seem like too bad a place to start.

By Ben