The Ethics of Awakening

It is, I believe, as Mencius, the grandson of Confucius, says, that just as water unobstructed will flow downhill, we, given the chance to be what we are, will extend ourselves in kindness.  So, the real and lasting practice for each of us is to remove what obstructs us so that we can be who we are, holding nothing back.  If we can work toward this kind of authenticity, then the living kindness--the water of compassion--will naturally flow.  We do not need discipline to be kind, just an open heart. 

-Mark Nepo - The Book of Awakening

As we enter the third week of our Essential Spirituality series we turn to the theme of "living ethically." At first blush, any discussion of ethics and morality would seem to be tainted from the start by subjectivity and relativism --so as to make it incompatible as a universal spiritual practice. I had to struggle to find the deeper vein of truth in this topic. Here's what came through.

In our post-modern world, ideas of right and wrong, and lofty principles of righteous living are summarily rejected by our radical insistence upon personal freedom in all matters of choice.  We value a plurality of viewpoints over a strict dictum. Anything that resembles a sweeping mandate, whether it's pointed at the way we think, feel, or act, is distrusted because we see fallacy in a one-size-fits-all moral code. This hyper need for independence is not all good for us (my moral judgment).  The downside is easily recognizable. Absent any foundation upon which to evaluate questions of right and wrong we are left hanging on legitimate ethical questions. An attitude of what's wrong for you may be right for me preserves personal choice but it ignores a fundamental fact that supersedes any man made code. What gets ignored is the interconnectedness of all life. 

Acting from personal preferences does not occur in a vacuum.  The ripples of our choices, our words, our silence, our actions and inactions reach and impact people, ecologies and economies.  Nature has not forgotten this fact. Unburdened by questions of right and wrong, nature operates according to an unspoken ethic of coexistence -  instinct without awareness. It needs no legislation or mandate - its innate wisdom conducts its affairs so as to support life - engender growth, diversity, harmony and abundance for everybody and  everything in the neighborhood.

Of course, we have that natural wisdom within us as well. Perhaps it's been clouded by free will taken to the point of hypervigilance in a post modern world. Yet this tendency that moved us into greater levels of independence perhaps is now turning back on itself by eroding the awareness of our intrinsic dependence on each other and our environment. We are a global tribe on a fragile homeland. Our shared humanity and the Life spirit is the golden thread that inextricably links us together.  This is a fundamental law of Life, not a choice. If we reject the Law, we will not find freedom - only more suffering. Only truth frees us.

Beyond, or perhaps beneath, the post modern impulse to do as we please, is an evolutionary impulse, that motivates us from a deeper awareness of who we truly are and our relationship to the whole of life. As the boundaries of me and you dissolve so will notions of separate interests. This is the basis for an evolved morality in which clear conscious understanding motivates clear and compelling right action. We can become more sensitive and recognize this thread of interconnectedness running though our lives and our relationships.  This alone might bring us to the height of ethical living - rooted not in external maxims but our own internal knowing. It will probably also be the day we are most free and most happy.