For whosoever hath to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hash.

Matthew 13:12

As has been shown, Ethical Therapy consists entirely in teaching persons to value objective truth above all things, including their own happiness. Ethical Therapy is not, properly speaking, psychotherapy, since its sole beneficiaries are those who are already healthier than the norm. It is a type of ethical transference. It will in no way help psychotics whose disease usually has an organic basis. It will in no way help the highly neurotic, who are that way only because they are unethical. The unethical can only become more unethical. Only ethical persons have the potential for creative growth. Ethical Therapy is a way of making the healthy healthier and inoculating them permanently against all neuroses. If it is medicine, then it is preventive medicine. However, Ethical Therapy is related philosophically and practically to many of the traditional forms of psychotherapy. These relationships will now be discussed.

 

Religion and Ethical Therapy

Religion is the oldest form of psychotherapy and psychofraud. Religion and Ethical Therapy share the common goals of giving meaning and purpose to life. Ethical Therapy does it through the pursuit of the sole basic goal of objective truth. Religion does it through the pursuit of a goal of inner enlightenment through nonscientific means (nirvana, sanctifying grace, etc.), usually followed by a heavenly reward after death. Religion promises that the best of life comes after death. Ethical Therapy accepts only one life, since there is no scientific evidence for life after death, and in science all theories and hypotheses are assumed probably false until proven true.

Ethical Therapy and religion each seek to create a unified model which explains everything in the universe. Ethical Therapy does it through science and the general theory of evolution (50, 51). Religion does it through revelation and theism.

Religion and Ethical Therapy share a common concern with the future of man and not just with the present. Both share the view that (1) man is more than the sum of his parts and that (2) there is something greater than man and man may eventually join with it, i.e., God and higher states of evolution for religion and Ethical Therapy, respectively (50).

Religion stresses faith. Ethical Therapy stresses doubt, i.e., scientific method and objective verifiability. Religion is based on man's emotional needs. Ethical Therapy is based on reason and the single, deliberately chosen rational goal of objective truth. Religion offers certainty and absolute truth. Ethical Therapy is relativistic and offers only probable truth.

Religion seeks to predict and control the environment through prayer; Ethical Therapy, through research and experimentation. The former stems from a reliance on supernatural authority, the latter from a reliance on science, technology, and objective verification. However, both religion and Ethical Therapy value artistic creativity. Ethical Therapy values any artistic expression which is not objectively harmful.

The incompatibility between religion and Ethical Therapy stems from the incompatibility between natural and supernatural goals. Religion stresses the immortality of the soul and that ultimate reality is beyond this life. The view of Ethical Therapy is that the soul, i.e., mind, probably dies with our bodies and that only the truth we engender in others survives our lives. Religion is concerned with the next world; Ethical Therapy, with this world. Religion is based on authority; Ethical Therapy rejects all authority not supported by scientific evidence.

 

Classical Psychotherapy and Ethical Therapy

Classical Psychotherapy is any therapy which has been significantly influenced by the teaching of Freud. Classical Psychotherapy and Ethical Therapy share the following basic assumptions:

• 1. The existence of unconscious processes.
• 2. The fact that most and probably all complex human behavior is learned, although there may be some modulation by instinct.
• 3. Recognition of the emotional basis of most human behavior including neuroses.
• 4. Recognition of innate needs and instincts.

Classical and Ethical Therapy have the following contradictory assumptions and points of view:

Classical Psychotherapy	Ethical Therapy
Childhood events are of greatest importance in producing neuroses.	Neuroses can be produced at any age in persons who are not moral entirely by an accumulation of bad habits which lead to unethical, i.e., destructive behavior, which in turn leads to the orientation of one's life entirely toward the pursuit of happiness.
Environmental factors are of overwhelming importance in determining what is learned.	In our society, heredity is at least as important as environment in determining what is learned.
Human behavior can be understood from clinical observations of sick persons.	Human behavior can be understood only by controlled experimentation on healthy, as well as sick, persons.
A healthy person is one who can cope with life and does not engage in destructive behavior.	A healthy person is a creative person. Uncreative persons are never healthy. The healthier the person, the greater will be his ability to create.
A healthy person has and expresses the full range of human emotions.	In general, the healthier and more ethical a person is the less emotional he will be. A completely healthy person, i.e., a moral person, neither feels nor expresses any emotion other than ethical love, which in the strict sense of the word is not an emotion.
Ultimately all human decisions are based on irrational human needs.	Healthy, unneurotic persons base their decisions entirely on a logical, not necessarily correct, analysis of what will maximize objective truth. The emotional component is present only insofar as the person is neurotic.

Although classical psychotherapy and Ethical Therapy share certain common objectives, such as helping persons cope better with life in general and their emotions in particular, there are more incompatible than compatible goals between them. Classical psychotherapy seeks to make persons happy and well adjusted to their environment. Ethical Therapy is indifferent to any person's happiness and seeks to make all persons dissatisfied with their environment. Ethical Therapy seeks to inculcate the desire to be always changing the environment in such a way that objective truth is constantly growing at its maximum rate. One should never be satisfied with the rate at which truth is expanding. One must always be filled with creative dissatisfaction.

Classical psychotherapy assumes that there is no single unifying goal for mankind, but that each person will seek to pursue his own emotionally determined interests which may conflict with other persons' emotionally determined interests. Ethical Therapy considers total, infinite, objective truth as the sole goal compatible with human health and survival. Furthermore, there is never any conflict of interest between persons who pursue objective truth for themsleves and others as their sole goal. There are only differences in method, which can be resolved entirely by logic and science.

 

Behavior Therapy and Ethical Therapy

Behaviorism is considered synonymous with Skinnerism. Psychologists such as Eysenck (38, 39), who use behavioral techniques but reject many of Skinner's theses, are not, properly speaking, behaviorists. Behavior therapy and Ethical Therapy share these common assumptions:

• 1. The purpose of behavioral science is to predict and control human behavior.
• 2. All behavior is learned.
• 3. At present, the only scientific knowledge we have about an organism, other than ourselves, is what can be objectively measured and observed.
• 4. Human behavior is modifiable by conditioning.

Behavior therapy and Ethical Therapy have the following contradictory assumptions and goals:

Behavior Therapy	Ethical Therapy
It is possible to develop a science of behavior solely by observing behavior. Introspection is valueless.	A science of behavior requires establishing relationships between behavior and all physical, biological and psychosocial processes. Introspection is valuable if it leads to an increasing ability to predict and control objective behavior.
There is no such thing as mind, since we cannot objectively measure or observe it. A science of behavior must be free of the concept of mind.	Mind is an effect of the body which we can each directly perceive in ourselves. Denying the existence of mind is worse than denying the existence of gravity because we cannot observe it but only its effects, i.e., the behavior of masses and not what causes that behavior. To develop a science of behavior without the concept of mind is worse than developing a science of dynamics without the concept of gravity. Furthermore, we know that we can modify our objective behavior by our subjective behavior of thinking. Thinking, a purely mental process, is probably our most important type of behavior. Ultimately there should be established a one-to-one correspondence between all mind states and brain states.
Since all behavior is learned, a person is entirely a product of his environment. In identical environments all persons would behave identically.	All behavior is learned, but the capacity to learn is largely inherited. Only persons who are biologically identical, i.e., identical twins, might behave identically in identical environments.
The full gamut of human potential exists within each person. Therefore, with the proper environment we can produce any type of human behavior in any person.	The full gamut of human potential does not exist within each person, although there may be a certain common denominator of behavior among all persons. High intelligence and great creative genius are primarily genetic phenomena. Therefore, although we may turn a congenital genius into an idiot, we probably cannot turn a congenital idiot into a genius.
Experiments with statistically matched groups are not necessary since our approach is such that we control all variables. Any behavioral changes must be due to our efforts.	We can never be sure that we have controlled all the variables. Therefore, we must do statistically controlled experiments.
Our only goal is to increase our ability to predict and control human behavior, not necessarily toward any particular end. "Give us the specifications and we will give you the person."	Our only goal is to increase the ability of the human race to predict and control its total environment—physical, biological and psychosocial. We wish to increase all persons' capability to create as individuals and to increase the total creativity of the human race without limit.
Although we do not have a specific goal for society, but rather only a method for achieving it, in general we wish to use conditioning techniques to create a happy, peaceful and well-adjusted community.	We are indifferent as to whether a society is happy, peaceful or well-adjusted. Our only concern is that objective truth is being maximized. A society in which objective truth is maximized may be the most peaceful and happy. However, this is merely a trivial biproduct of our basic goal. We do not wish to be well-adjusted in the sense of being satisfied with our place in life and the way things are organized. We want a society filled with creative tension and dissatisfaction with the status quo. We want a society evolving at its maximum possible rate and not smugly stagnating; such a society will produce an inner peace amidst the outer turmoil.

 

Humanistic Psychology and Ethical Therapy

Humanistic psychology and Ethical Therapy share the following assumptions:

• 1. All behavior is natural in the sense that it is the product of natural laws.
• 2. Persons are born with certain innate needs which must be satisfied if the person is to become healthy, i.e., ethical.
• 3. All behavior results from an effort to satisfy certain needs.
• 4. We often are not conscious of what needs we are satisfying.
• 5. Although all of us have certain characteristics in common, each of us is unique and should be treated uniquely.
• 6. Needs common to all human beings at some time during their development are the needs for (a) security, (b) love, and (c) self-esteem.
• 7. The need for creativity (self-actualization) is the highest human need and will manifest itself only if the lower needs have been satisfied to some extent.

Humanistic psychology and Ethical Therapy are incompatible in the following assumptions and goals:

Humanistic Psychology	Ethical Therapy
A person is more than the net effect of his heredity and his environment. There is something in man which transcends nature.	A person is completely determined by his heredity and his total environment. The total environment includes all the natural forces in the universe and their interactive effects. Nothing transcends nature. All is a part of nature (50).
When the basic needs have been satisfied, a person will naturally and automatically gravitate toward the satisfaction of the higher needs until he is self-actualizing.	Although the satisfaction of basic needs is a necessary condition for ethical development, it is not a sufficient condition. If a person is not in an ethical environment, he can stagnate by concentrating on pleasurable activity which does not necessarily increase objective truth. This can occur without any outside coercion, because man has an infinite appetite for sensual pleasure. He must be given proper ethical guidance to go beyond the pleasure principle.
Since all neuroses are a product of some unsatisfied needs, we need only discover these needs and satisfy them in order to make a person healthy.	Neuroses may be produced by unsatisfied needs, but the most common cause is due to valuing happiness above truth. Therefore, merely satisfying needs will not eliminate neuroses and make a person ethical. Only ethical persons can engender ethics in one another and in themselves. Children are all born ethical but may become unethical if their unethical behavior is reinforced and their ethical behavior is not rewarded. This can occur through chance or through membership in an unethical social group or family.
The goal of humanistic psychology is to make persons self-actualizing so that they can do their own thing in their own way and not have anxieties about basic needs.	The goal of Ethical Therapy is to make persons desire the expansion of objective truth above all things. In so doing, persons will become self-actualizing and free of anxiety. However, these are side effects and not goals. It is possible to be self-actualizing and unethical, e.g., Hitler and Stalin. It is possible to be devoid of anxiety and lack both ethics and self-actualization, e.g., lobotomized, tranquilized and otherwise drugged persons.
Although we value experimentation, we think that there is also much to be learned by clinical methods, insight, and subjectivity.	Only controlled experimentation can lead to constantly increasing understanding of nature and the expansion of objective truth. Any other approach is valid only insofar as it can be supported by controlled experiments.

 

Unique Factors in Ethical Therapy

Ethical Therapy is unique in the following factors:

• 1. Objective truth is the sole goal.
• 2. Ethical Therapy is derived from an objective, scientific system of ethics, which is
• a. compatible with human nature,
• b. compatible with the basic evolutionary process and laws of nature,
• c. compatible with the basic ethical objectives of all major religions.
• 3. The emphasis is on a single goal and not on a particular method; this provides
• a. flexibility of method
• b. complete compatibility with scientific method.
• 4. Ethical Therapy is the only system which is truly universal in its applications and implications. For example:
• a. There are no conflicts possible between persons who pursue objective truth as a basic goal, contrasted with persons who pursue happiness as a basic goal, who will always have conflicts.
• b. Ethical Therapy is applicable to different sentient species—the only possible common ethical system for the space age.
• c. It is applicable through all time and space.
• d. Ethical Therapy unifies all the social sciences in terms of a single, objective criterion (the growth in objective truth) which can be used as an indicator of progresses and optimality (50, 51).

 

Practice

Any ethical person can practice Ethical Therapy by helping himself and others navigate to and through the threshold of morality. The more ethical and intelligent the practitioner, the more effective he or she will be in creating morality and ending neuroses. Because of the fundamental importance to Ethical Therapy of having a unified, evolutionary, ethical perspective of the universe, only persons with a broad, deep understanding of the physical, biological and psychosocial sciences are likely to be highly effective Ethical Therapists. Because Ethical Therapy is a form of education and not necessarily a medical treatment, persons seeking the help of an Ethical Therapist are regarded as students and not as patients.

The first obligation of the Ethical Therapist is to engender an evolutionary ethical perspective in his students. Toward this end he should serve as an educational counsellor helping his students acquire a thorough, integrated background in mathematics, physical science, biology, psychosocial science and their applications. The Science Education Extension and the Institute of Integrated Science exist for this purpose. Through these organizations, any ethical person, independently of his or her current ability, education or economic means, may acquire the intellectual and ethical background to become a fully creative scientific generalist.

At the same time that the student is learning integrated science, the Ethical Therapist can be helping him to (1) analyze his everyday actions in ethical terms, (2) see his emotional behavior and feelings as the consequence of his primitive need for happiness, and (3) increasingly value objective truth above happiness. In this way the Ethical Therapist is providing (1) ethical friendship, (2) emotional catharsis, (3) positive suggestion, and (4) reinforcement of ethical behavior. These are factors which seem to have a creative effect in various forms of psychotherapy and are also common to Ethical Therapy. In this sense, Ethical Therapy may have considerable overlap with eclectic and behavior therapies as practiced by ethical persons. However, the emphasis in Ethical Therapy is always on helping the student apply ethical principles to every facet of his life and not on any particular method.

An Ethical Therapist also does not sell his friendship but gives it freely to any ethical person and denies it to any unethical person to the best of his judgement. The selling of friendship is probably as ineffective in providing ethical growth as the sale of sex is in providing emotional growth, i.e., in satisfying our need for love. For this reason Ethical Therapists seem to be most effective when they are not professional psychotherapists, but rather, objectively creative persons who earn their living through other means and use their non-remunerative time in more formalized Ethical Therapy. However, this does not preclude professional psychotherapists also serving as Ethical Therapists.

Seeing Ethical Therapy both in its unique aspects and in its relationships to other systems which purport to provide inner peace or increase creativity, we are left with the same uncertainties which any form of therapy, physical or psychical, should arouse in us: How can we know that it works?