Responsibility

Responsibility means simply: to bear the consequences of one’s own action oneself. At the Kyborg Institute we understand it as a fixed part of a lived ethics – not as a burden, but as a conscious response to what happens around us.

What is responsibility?

In „Die Ethik des Neuen Menschen” D. Harald Alke describes responsibility thus: it presupposes the recognition of connections and is our response to the events in our environment. Our deeds, words and plans are a part of this environment – and work back on us.

Responsibility and karma

Responsibility is closely bound up with the law of cause and effect: every action triggers an effect that sooner or later comes back on ourselves. In Europe this was long called fate, in Asia karma – literally “action-cause”. And it is not only deeds that count: thoughts, feelings and omissions (the conscious not-acting) too are, in this sense, actions.

Responsibility includes oneself

Responsibility is directed towards the good of all – including ourselves. It is no call to self-sacrifice, but to clarity: to recognise, foster and meaningfully apply one’s own capacities. Thus it belongs to the voluntary, inner attitude out of which genuine loving-kindness too arises. That in this neither the individual nor the community stands above the other is explained by Collectivism & individualism.

What does that mean in practice?

• Recognise connections and act consciously, instead of looking away.
• Take the consequences of one’s own doing (and not-doing) seriously.
• Perceive responsibility towards oneself too – self-care belongs to it.

Autor: D. Harald Alke