1: Treat others as you would like them to treat you, or
2: Do not treat others in ways that you would not like to be treated.
This concept describes an expectation, or at least the hope of positive return,
'Do unto others' ... is a concept that essentially no religion misses entirely
Not a single one of these versions of the golden rule requires a God, relying on the people themselves.
One can imagine, long ago, once the cavemen had had their fill of food, sitting under shelter by the fire.- talking or indicating a similar policy, if not at least to preserve themselves.
A short story worth remembering.
A Bedouin came to the prophet, grabbed the stirrup of his camel and said: O the messenger of God! Teach me something to go to heaven with it.
Prophet said: “As you would have people do to you, do to them; and what you dislike to be done to you, don't do to them. Now let the stirrup go!
and -
己所不欲，勿施於人。
子貢問曰：“有一言而可以終身行之者乎”？子曰：“其恕乎！己所不欲、勿施於人。
Confucianism - "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others."
The idea is - before acting in a way which might harm another person, try to imagine yourself in their position, and consider whether you would want that same action.
If you don't want to be in such a position, the other person probably wouldn't either, and so you probably should not do it.
With many thousands of years in the retelling of this 'rule' it is obviously a hope or desire of many; Worth considering acting on, for your own protection and advantage.
Just be careful, not everyone thinks like this, - think of the very hungry scared cavemen.
pic courtesy of www.public-domain-image.com
