Appropriate Actions Undertaken Respectfully
By: Graeme Wilson
If there are no stock solutions to problems, and one chooses to evaluate their
life through reflecting on experiences in order to find the learning
contained within, rather than adopting a system of beliefs devised by others, then
just how can one know that the way they are acting is ‘ok’ in the bigger
picture.
For several years now I have struggled to accept concepts of ethics
and morality. The problem has arisen while seeking to find ways beyond
duality, and think outside of polarities. It has therefore become very difficult
to just label things with moral tags of good or evil, right
or wrong.
For me, the concepts of morals and ethics have become almost dirty words. I
suppose it is the way many people claim to be morally or ethically superior, or
have figured the “correct way” that we should all act and live.
It has become fairly normal for me to act more intuitively. If something feels
right, and I’m fairly certain I’m coming from a centred and balanced place
within myself, then it is okay for me to act or be involved in an experience.
Initially this was a struggle. It took time to get a sense of feelings and
emotions, and then to accept it was okay to act on a feeling without having
reverted to analysing it against a predefined set of standards (my own, my
cultures, or those of another belief system).
On a deeply esoteric level, it can said that we can never act wrong.
As we draw to ourselves situations and people with whom we have experiences
with, we are also drawn to others to fulfil their learning needs. Jung pointed
out that “the psychological rule says that when an inner situation is
not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate. That is to say, when the
individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner
contradictions, the world must perforce act out the conflict and be torn into
opposite halves.”
This makes thing somewhat difficult from a moral standpoint. However, if we
are acting consciously, we can play a far more active and aware role in these
situations, and we will learn from all our interactions, the good and the bad,
positive and negative.
Someone acting from a black magic perspective may be seeking out power
over others, however they are locked within a polarity, where they will be
acting out fate to the individuals who are unconsciously drawn into this
dance or interplay. All involved become actors, or perhaps if totally unaware of
the forces at play they are more aptly mannequins, controlled by unconscious
energies and currents. So to judge a situation as black/evil or white/good
means also to be analysing it by polarities.
So where does that leave us?
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
gives three definitions for the word ethics as:
Ethics (noun)
1. a. A set of principles of right conduct.
b. A theory or a system of moral values: “An ethic of service is at war
with a craving for gain” (Gregg Easterbrook).
2. ethics (used with a sing. verb) The study of the general nature of morals
and of the specific moral choices to be made by a person; moral philosophy.
3. ethics (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The rules or standards governing
the conduct of a person or the members of a profession: medical ethics.
So basically ethics relates to morals, rules, and standards governing “right
conduct”. So what about morals? The definitions given are as follows:
Moral (adjective)
1. Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or badness of human
action and character: moral scrutiny; a moral quandary.
2. Teaching or exhibiting goodness or correctness of character and behavior:
a moral lesson.
3. Conforming to standards of what is right or just in behavior; virtuous: a
moral life.
4. Arising from conscience or the sense of right and wrong: a moral
obligation.
5. Having psychological rather than physical or tangible effects: a moral
victory; moral support.
6. Based on strong likelihood or firm conviction, rather than on the actual
evidence: a moral certainty.
Moral (noun)
1. The lesson or principle contained in or taught by a fable, a story, or an
event.
2. A concisely expressed precept or general truth; a maxim.
3. morals Rules or habits of conduct, especially of sexual conduct,
with reference to standards of right and wrong: a person of loose morals; a
decline in the public morals.
To me, there are a lot of loaded words in those definitions; Judgement,
moral lessons, conformity, obligation, habits, and
the good old polarities right and wrong. As a noun, a morality
based on finding the lesson or principle contained with an event (ie. experience
in our own life) would make some sense.
So where does this leave us, when trying to maximise our learning, and seek
to work and live beyond, balanced, or synthesised with regards to polarities?
There is another layer to the etymology of the words to be explored, back to
the Indo-European roots of the words.
Ethics is traced back to the Greek word ethos, meaning “character”.
It is further traced back to the Indo-European root s(w)e-.
There are some curious and interesting words stemming from this, following on
from the definition:
Pronoun of the third person and reflexive (referring back to the subject of
the sentence); further appearing in various forms referring to the social group
as an entity, “(we our-)selves.”
It is outside the scope of this essay to explore that fully, however it is
worth noting the concept of “the social group as an entity” and
the esoteric concept of an egregore or group mind.
What catches my attention is some of the derivatives: self, gossip, suicide,
secret, sober, sullen, ethic, and idiot. It is of particular note that self
is of a similar root, as it is really an ethic or morality of Self conduct that
makes sense to me. As a group or society thing, it still feels best to me if it
is a group of willing Selves, who choose to be together, free of obligation,
conducting their affairs in a way that recognises their own Self as sacred.
The word moral is traced back to the Latin word moralis, from mos,
or mor-, meaning “custom”. This in itself is traced back
to the Indo-European root me-1
meaning “Expressing certain qualities of mind.”. If we consider
that the mind in recent years has become exclusively considered the intellect,
then it is easy to see the parallels in the polarities existent within the
intellect, and the polarisation of morals, being considered rights and wrongs.
Morals it seems to me are a construct of intellectualising life, rather than
living it.
Recently, when trying to explain to someone about my belief that life isn’t
as black and white as many people think, and magic specifically is something
beyond (or seeking to go beyond) polarities, and transcend the lower disruptive
and conflicting interplay we experience in the physical, it occurred to me that
there are two concepts I can and do work with. I feel comfortable with the word appropriate
when considering if it is right or wrong to do something. I also feel
comfortable if the action I take is done with respect for both myself and
all other beings concerned.
The etymology of appropriate traces back to the Latin appropriare
meaning “to make one’s own”, from the Latin ad- and proprius,
meaning “own”. This gives a sense of ownership to an action,
that it was undertaken purposefully and consciously, in the understanding that I
am acting in the way I feel is right for this situation.
Respect traces back to the Latin word respectus, from re-
and specere meaning “to look at”. This in turn stems
from the Indo-European root spek- meaning “to observe”,
with it’s oldest form said to mean “becoming”. If we are
centred within our Self, we are indeed conscious observers of both the inner and
outer world. Observing can be done without judgement. If we combine the
observation and becoming aspects, then we could say that acting with respect to
others is an observation that each being is becoming (or growing, evolving) in
it’s own unique way, and that we are mindful of this.
So here then is an intellectualised outline of acting on a feeling - as I own
my feelings (they are mine, as I am feeling them), I also take ownership of my
actions, which are undertaken by my Self with respect to others. The outcomes of
these actions entail a learning, both for myself, and also for whomever I
interact with - should each of us choose to learn from the events and
experiences. Outcomes may be positive or negative if viewed in a polarised
manner, however if free of this judgements then the actions have occurred in the
present time (the Now) guided by feelings, and owned by me, the actor
(outer) and observer (inner), and whatever has happened has happened. Because I
have taken ownership of my actions, and acted respectfully, based on how I felt
was appropriate at the time, I cannot act ‘wrong’ (or for that matter ‘right’) -
I can just act, observe, learn, and grow.
So perhaps I do have an ethic that I live by at this stage in my life. It
could be summed up as “Appropriate actions undertaken
respectfully.”
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