Space Ethics, Bioethics and Environmental Ethics are collectively known as
AstroEthics

The following is a poetic presentation of life-centered ethics. (Published as "Principles of Life and Survival", Precept Press, Maryland, 1984). A systematic description of life-centered ethics was given in the preceding chapter.

1. The Human Purpose

A message of Life to future generations.

Human being, this is your purpose: to forever safeguard and propagate life.

As the patterns of life actively seek continuation in the future.

The purpose of life is perpetual survival and propagation. Therefore, where there is life, there is purpose.

Therefore this commandment is inherent in every living being:

Forever safeguard and propagate life; establish the dominance of life over all nature; conquer for life the universe.

2. Propagate the Will of Life

The fate of Life is intertwined with human destiny.

Human power and human will must secure life’s survival.

Perpetuate therefore and follow the will of life within your living being.

Inscribe the Commandment of Life as the driving will of each following  generation;

Instill this commandment foremost it foremost in the mind of your descendants,

Teach them to those descendants whom you beget, and those whom you will design to follow.

Make this commandment the principal of your every deed and the purpose of your every thought.

Inscribe the Commandments of Life as the basic precepts of your laws and establish the love of life as the first tenet of your ethics.

Always remember that the ways of survival are few, and only the love of life within you will find them.

Use with the awe of life and death in your heart the power to create new humans:

Preserve the love of life and the fear of death: as the instincts of life are the guardians of survival.

Preserve therefore foremost in the foundation of human nature the will to propagate and perpetuate life.

3. Beware the Numerous Ways of Extinction

Follow the Commandment of Life and your seed will inherit the future.

The treasures of the universe are within your reach.

Beware therefore lest you allow the will of life to wane within you from generation to generation.

Lest your desert the commandments of life by the lack of will or by ignorance;

Or lest you threaten life through destructive arrogance and hatred;

And lest you endanger an eternal future by a blinding greed for passing pleasures and power.

As the decay of death is more probable than the order of life; the ways of death are far more numerous than the ways of survival.

Remember that life wins only when it continues;

Life must win day by day, minute by minute; only death can have a final victory.

Therefore without the wisdom of life you will lose your way and perish.

You will destroy your own kind in blind aggression or wither in lethargy;

You will perish confused amongst the many open and hidden paths that lead to death.

The fit will survive and inherit the future; the unfit perish. This is the Logic of Life,

It is a law of Nature, immutable, inescapable and forever permanent.

Chose Life and you will live; abandon the will to survive, and by the Logic of Life, you will perish.

Beware therefore lest you allow the love of life to grow weak within you from generation to generation.

4. The Empires of Life Will Encompass the Universe

From our perspective, human existence is the center and purpose of the universe.

Therefore fill the cosmos with life: multiply and populate the firmaments.

Preserve your inherent desire for the land; as it will plant your seed in far dominions.

The rich resources of space will be transformed in your hands into cells, tissues and organs, bone, muscle and brain, the substance of life; and into energy and matter, metals, crystals and machines to serve you.

Secured in many worlds, your future can never be destroyed.

Secure your seed in the many empires of life, and the dread of extinction will not be remembered.

Throughout the universe, many new worlds will rise to implement the human ideals of truth, peace and justice.

In the expanses of space, no person will need to vanquish another person; no nation will need to subdue another nation, no species will need to extinguish another species to survive;

Diverse species can arise from your seed and coexist securely.

Peace will prevail throughout the heavens.

Your seed will rule all time and space, and construct new human dimensions of beauty and knowledge.

Throughout space will rise empires of freedom

Humans will establish the dominance of life throughout the universe.

Therefore bring Life into the expectant but empty space,

Build the empires of life and expand the highest orders of structure: societies of conscious beings, living in truth, peace, compassion and justice.

5. The Value of a Human Life

Human existence is the highest level of being; therefore treasure life.

Human survival is our dignity

Each human life is as precious as the eternal laws of Nature; as even the laws of Nature acquire conscious existence when reflected in human knowledge.

Hereafter, human future and Life are intertwined. The future will take shape through human power, or life will perish if deserted by humans;

Therefore human life is as dear as the future of all life.

Therefore relate to all humans with respect, compassion and justice;

As what bonds you to life, beyond a few hours of pleasure and beauty; but the love of life and the closeness of other humans.

Therefore if you wrong others, repair the damage and never repeat that evil.

Always adhere to truth;

As trust cements social structure which will implement the future.

Always make human love the source of your deepest satisfaction;

Take pleasure in the pursuit of happiness.

Pursue justice, compassion, peace, truth and the love of life; and you will find a lasting future.

By the Logic of Life, you find the ultimate joy in raising the young; as the desire to procreate promotes survival from generation from generation.

Therefore it must always be your conscious joy to give new life and to protect and raise the young. The Logic of Life will then assure that your seed will forever continue to prosper. 

6. The Purpose of Life is Self-Defined

Search the meaning of your life within your living self.

You will not find it in the inanimate universe

You yourself must define your purpose; human faculties must make the judgement.

Ask the love of Life our instincts, emotions and intellect to define our purpose.

Follow Life’s commandment; you will always find it in the foundations of your being.

Beware lest abstract doctrines replace the Commandment of Life.

Expand and perpetuate the Family of Life;

As the values that bind together create the highest structures, and they exist in living beings.

Life is the matrix of all love, justice, beauty and wisdom.

7. Confront Every Threat

Weigh your every deed by its value for human survival.

Uphold and pursue every enterprise that promotes human survival and progress

Do not hesitate to destroy every threat.

Never risk the infinite promise of the future for short-lived powers or pleasures.

If a threat arises to imperil all life

From the external forces of Nature, or through human hands; even a remote danger

Never hesitate to rise up and destroy such a threat:

As the suffering of a living being is bad; and the death of a human being is evil

Then surely a threat to all life is an abomination that cannot be tolerated under the heavens.

Therefore if you see a threat to all life

Forged in arrogance, in ignorance or in evil;

Forged by an individual, a group, evil thousands, or mighty nations;

Oppose them and do not remain silent.

As silence is an evil that will turn upon you in vengeance.

Confront the approaching dangers; do not close your eyes, do not ignore the future to sooth the present; 

Always beware of self-deceit, as it will lead you smiling to death.

8. The Legacy of a Human Being

Expect hope from your own wisdom, as you alone possess the powers to assure Life’s survival

Fear only your own failure, as only self-extinction can deprive you of your share in the future.

Always hope for Life and reject despair:

Remember that both hope and despair can turn into self-fulfilling prophecy.

Beware of projections of doom that predict that your universe will collapse or vanish; or that claim to know that human existence must come to an end.

The truths of the universe are deep and the ultimate future is remote, and you cannot know it for certain.

Where there is Life there is hope, and where there is hope there will be Life;

Your descendants will find unforeseen powers to make this cosmos the lasting matrix of life’s patterns.

With the love of your warm womb remember the Commandment of Life.

Since you know as surely as your soul is entwined with the soul of your children: that if Life should ever end, your life has been wasted.

Therefore if our species will ever vanish, already now we exist in vain.

As the value of each human life is its lasting effects:

You live on in your descendants and in the imprint of your life on the patterns of the future.

The impact of each human life will multiply as Life grows

Your imprints on the patterns of the future are your share in the worlds to come.

9. Life is Good, Death is Evil

The order of life is the essence of good; the forces of chaos and extinction are evil.

The instincts of life will move you to protect the young.

Compassion moves us to cure the sick rather than witness his agony;

To help the poor rather than to ignore his hunger;

To love rather than to hate;

To build rather than to ruin;

To comfort rather than torture;

To help a life soar rather than stand idly by and see it falter.

Every battle between good and evil is the struggle of the forces of life against the forces of destruction.

Beware, as both good and evil inhabit human nature.

Many human ways can be moral if they promote life.

Many diverse pleasures, dreams, customs and faiths may be moral, as survival and progress may be sustained in diverse human frameworks.

Every human life is spent well if it helps life to populate the future.

Therefore this is the moral instruction of the Commandment of Life:

Uphold your duty to the forces which brought you into being; to the patterns of life imprinted in your self; to the Family of Life whose fate is in your hands.

Always promote life, as this is the essence of all good; and oppose death, which is the essence of evil.

Establish the dominance of life over all nature

Plant the seeds of life throughout the universe, and persist in the Land of Existence forever.

10. Future Humans Must Value Survival

Now soon times will come and the secrets of life will all open before you

Then the complex mysteries of your existence will open before your eyes;

In those days your hands will carve out cells and tissues, new flesh and blood and brain, descendants whose likenesses have not lived before.

But in those days remember that the breath of life is as dear when you perceive it as complex molecular processes, as it is dear now in the breath of your infants.

The glow of life that transpires from intricate molecular patterns is the same glow that reflects in the hope on your children’s faces.

When Life will advance by benign design, progress will cost not the pain of Nature's unsuccessful errors.

In your wisdom, create new branches of life that will populate the diverse worlds of the universe:

Life must not depend upon a single species for survival.

Do not hesitate therefore to constitute new human traits, organs, tissues, genes and minds that will flourish in many worlds,

As the human spirit can be embodied in many diverse living frameworks.

Only always beware to imprint in your descendants these attributes, as in them lies the unique human power:

Aggression to conquer new worlds, rational intellect, and compassion in proper balance - and forever, the love of life.

11. Pursue Peace

The dreaded peril of an empty universe resides in a species who possess both power and hatred.

When envy, fear and mistrust rule, to the voice of life itself you may then turn deaf ears;

You hasten to ruin; your ears are rocks to the voice of life within your heart.

You say: Only my own peace is just; only my own faith is the truth; only my own wealth is deserved; only my own dignity must be honored; only my own pride must be revered.

For my own justice I will die; for my own peace I will fight;

For my own faith I will kill; for my own wealth I will devastate; for my own dignity I will humble others; for my own freedom I will oppress.

But is there justice in death; is there peace in waste;

Will killing inspire faith; is there gain in destruction; is there pride in terror;

Where there is death, who is free?

No; death is evil: its path is the ugly shame of an empty universe.

12. Respect Reality

Respect reality

Recognize and eliminate your self-destructive powers.

Do not deny self-created dangers, as self-deceit can compound the destructive powers of hatred.

When the threat of death hangs above your homes, do not take comfort in denial and silence

Open your eyes when destruction stands erect on your doorstop; when self-destruction looms do not choose to dream.

Where there are weapons that threaten all Life for short-lived ideals, do not look away and remain silent.

If your heart is blind in complacent folly, your ears are deaf and your voice is frozen; if you forfeit the voice of life within you:

Then you can destroy eons of hope for short-lived greed and transient ideals;

Then by your own hands death may come therefore from the skies

Your sacred homes may then crumble

Death will glow in the blind cities; and rot in abandoned fields

Your tender young will lay in waste amidst your ashen hopes

The clouds will rain pain, the faint spring breeze will bring vanished dreams

Your wisdom and your dreams, your hatred,

Your brave hearts, your fearless self-deceit, your great promise, your lies, your blind loves, your hopes will all vanish.

Listen therefore the voice of life within you; when it says cry out, do not remain idle.

Therefore if a threat imperils all life, eradicate that danger; do not remain silent:

As silence is an evil that can turn upon you and on your children in vengeance.

Always rise up to destroy every threat to Life.

13. Preserve the Love of Life

Now the times will soon come and the brain and soul of the next generations will be shaped by your own designs.

Beware then lest you design descendants lost in the worship of pleasures; lest the healthy pleasures that binds you to life turn self-serving.

Lest your descendants submerge in the beauties of their soul, the lofty cathedrals of abstract theories and elegant equations, and forget what is real;

Lest they worship pleasures and forget the future.

There is also death in the comfort of lethargic fatalism; if you leave your fate to chance or resign to false notions of a predetermined future;

Beware lest you choose to believe that your fate is sealed and not subject to your will.

Beware lest you believe that you lack a higher purpose.

Do not build docile flesh-machines of happiness who will never feel the agonies of ambition, yearning and desire.

When you create intelligent robots to serve you: creatures not of living tissue, beings who are durable and intelligent but alien;

Your own creations may turn against you to replace our family of organic life.

Make sure that the ultimate control remains in organic brains with self-interest in biological survival.

Beware lest your engineer your own end and betray the force of life who brought you into being.

Do not lose challenge when the secrets of nature have been reduced to formulas and all beauty has been long explored;

Lest your descendants will be lost in a dead-ended paradise, in a perfect world that is aimless.

Beware also of self-proclaimed Messiahs who may risk all Life to serve their own ideals;

Blind prophets who do not see that where there is no life there is no justice, no good, no evil, no love, no hatred, no righteousness, no sin, no sorrow, no joy; only indifferent void.

As if you yield to death, wherefore were your dignity, your hope, your pains, your promise?

Therefore beware when the time comes to design the body, brain and mind of your descendants;

Make sure that the instincts of survival should never atrophy.

Always preserve in the foundations of human nature the commandment to safeguard and propagate Life.

14. Forever Safeguard and Propagate Life

The future of Life resides in human wisdom.

Soon days will come and you will understand that life is good and death is evil.

You will know that peace and compassion lead to survival.

By these three Commandments of Wisdom will you prevail: Love Life; Respect Reality; and Honor Human Dignity.

The Commandment of Life must be your lasting faith.

You will wish one wealth: the joy of existence, and one dignity: the pride of survival.

In those days you will aspire to the warmth of stars and reach them

Tender infants and Life’s sages will in the light of new suns flourish.

As life is safe in numbers; as the trees send up their many seeds in the wind and as the fish send their many seeds in the currents;

So will your seed multiply amongst the stars to assure survival against extinction.

The good in humans, and not the evil, will continue in your descendants in many and diverse worlds.

In those days the treasures of the universe will satisfy all, and no living creature will need to destroy another living creature.

The human harmony of justice, love and peace will rule the firmaments.

All space and time, energy and matter will be part of Life or serve the survival of Life.

New knowledge will breed new powers to perpetuate this physical universe and the precious life that it contains.

Your seed will conquer the land of existence forever.

Only always remember to instill the love of Life in the conscious will of each rising generation;

Preserve in the foundation of your morals, laws and conscience the commandments of Life:

To forever safeguard and perpetuate Life; to establish the dominance of Life over all nature; to conquer for Life the universe; and to seek for Life eternity.

Forever perpetuate the commandments of Life that are inscribed in your living being.