Gospel koan 80.5

Proportional response

Koan 80.5

As lex talionis: a 'proposition in kind', reciprocity is open, proportional and just in all cases: collaborative, competitive or cooperative.

Summary exposition

The mechanism is a principle of proportional response that operates with ontological neutrality, applying its logic of equivalent return regardless of the interaction's emotional valence. For instance, in a market economy, a company’s innovation is met with a proportional response from a competitor, spurring a cycle of advancement that benefits all—a form of competitive reciprocity. The implication is that justice is not an external moral judgment but an inherent feature of this proportional feedback. The system is inherently just because it responds in kind, whether the context is friendship or rivalry. This includes the 'against' mode: hostility returned with hostility, competition met with competition. Reciprocity is the universal regulator that ensures neither the 'together' nor the 'against' dynamic can escalate without bound, as each action forward generates an action back that restores the dialectical equilibrium.

The Gospel of Being

by John Mackay

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