Personal Ethics

What do we mean when we use this term? It is easy to let this term become overused and fall into the ever expanding volume of the "trite" archives along with phrases like "family values" or "personal responsibility". Those phrases, along with so many others like them are great catch phrases because they conjure up pictures and tones of voice and feeling that are generally positive. However, there is one major flaw in this - they truly conjure up very different experiences for each person. So when we say we are all working towards having more family values, WHAT values exactly are those? There is this illusion that many are on the same page so to speak, when in fact they are all off in their own worlds working for different outcomes. 

I would like to get a handle on this phrase before it too, meets this same linguistic association  fate of it's predecessors - and really consider what it is, and how it can really be measured by tangible standards.

Ironically, the best way to do this, is to get it clear from the outset that personal ethics will be interpreted and demonstrated differently by each individual. This is of course, not to say that that here are no standards which are the same, like "don't cause someone to feel paranoid", which can be done in a myriad of ways like lying, stealing, or causing deliberate physical or emotional harm. For the sake of this writing I am referring to the relativism of the state of mind one must have in order to demonstrate what they consider to be ethical or not.

To start off - people have a way they can operate in the world where they are totally clear- they are completely aware of how they are when they are the most connected to themselves and to that which is greater than themselves. Some call it God, some call it nature- whatever that is, it is a state everyone has access to and gets to, more or less often. Some experience it when they are in "the zone" in a sport like biking, swing dancing, or perhaps when they have witnessed or been present to the birth of a child. Like this, there is an internal sense, or compass, if you will as to what is a fit and a match for them, and what isn't. It takes practice to know when you are operating this way-- a dancer needs a dance lesson, an athlete needs to practice- and someone who wants to develop their own internal compass needs to learn how they do this for themselves by noticing when they are there and when they aren't. 

It simply comes down to a knowing that certain behaviors support them in being this way, others do not. From this standpoint, personal ethics are the behaviors that support the connection and alignment. And, that they can only be demonstrated, i.e., they are only present tin the actions taken by an individual, not as static concepts.  For example, when appropriate, kindness can support this stance but kindness can only happen when one person is being kind to another- otherwise it doesn't exist. 

All this does make trying to define this a bit tricky- and yet at the same time makes it easier to get a sense of, which after all I think is why ultimately, people want the definition to begin with.

I am sure there is more to say here, and I will probably say it eventually, but for now at least, to you the visitor who has landed here in search of some perspective you may not have considered before, that you will be find this useful.

miked@mythoself.com

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