Morality the Harmonic Chord

[Molly Brogan]

"Love thy neighbor as thyself" or the golden rule, can be found with
slight variations throughout philosophy and religion, here are a few:

Judaism: “…thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”, Leviticus 19:18

Islam: “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” Number 13 of Imam “Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths.”

Native American Spirituality: “All things are our relatives; what we do to everything, we do to ourselves. All is really One.” Black Elk

Shinto: “The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there your own form”

Confucianism: “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you” Analects 15:23

Why is this important? Why is morality essential to the fabric of our lives? It prescribes consistency and allows our actions to be in harmony with our desires. It provides an internal compass that we can use to navigate society. How we apply the golden rule, or how we are able to treat others the way we ourselves would like to be treated, tests our moral coherence.

What do YOU think?

[Michael]

Molly, I have answered some of your, 'What do you think?' posts. But, in my experience, you never tell us how you view the issues you raise. So, what do you think?

[Trevor]

This gets me to thinking that the people who profess to believe in this are not following this rule. How many terrorists omit this in favour of something that is not in their religious writings? What are they saying when they blow themselves and others up with them?

[Molly Brogan]

Originally Posted by Michael

Molly, I have answered some of your, 'What do you think?' posts. But, in my experience, you never tell us how you view the issues you raise. So, what do you think?

Thanks for asking, Michael. I do like to let the conversation unfold without limiting it by more of my ideas, but am always glad to participate. I think that morality is not something that can be imposed on a group without evoking anarchy from suppression at some point. I think morality is an inside out process, that naturally arises when we live from our feeling of connection to everyone and all that is. I think that what these religious writings are trying to tell us is that we need to be living from this place within us to find peace and joy in our lives. I find it remarkable that so many of the worlds religions teach this, but not surprising that many people do not fully understand it. It takes a big leap of faith to know that we ourselves are responsible for creating peace and joy in our lives and our life circumstances do not dictate it.

Here is a link to find more world religions that recommend this golden rule:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm

[Michael]

Originally Posted by Molly Brogan

Thanks for asking, Michael. I do like to let the conversation unfold without limiting it by more of my ideas, but am always glad to participate. I think that morality is not something that can be imposed on a group without evoking anarchy from suppression at some point. I think morality is an inside out process, that naturally arises when we live from our feeling of connection to everyone and all that is. I think that what these religious writings are trying to tell us is that we need to be living from this place within us to find peace and joy in our lives. I find it remarkable that so many of the worlds religions teach this, but not surprising that many people do not fully understand it. It takes a big leap of faith to know that we ourselves are responsible for creating peace and joy in our lives and our life circumstances do not dictate it.

Here is a link to find more world religions that recommend this golden rule:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/reciproc.htm

Thank you for responding, Molly. Your observation on the imposition of moralty gives rise to complexity . The imposition of morality invokes Newton's Third Law and has within itself the inevitability of the creation of its opposite. Such imposition is also immoral in itself.

Of course, not all morality is imposed. It is my observation that many belief systems arise from the inter-action of mystical visions and enviromental and socio-cultural conditions. These teachings tend have a strong relationship to the inner world of the people of such cultures and give rise to religion in which the living mystical truth becomes fossilised and is reduced to being a social tool.

This seems to be the fate of most religions. Two exceptions that spring to mind is the perenial shamanism of the world's peoples and certain elements of Buddhism, though even here I have my doubts.

I understand what you mean when you say that morality is an inside out process, very elegant, and I agree with you on this. When it is an outside in process it becomes ideology. This tells us that we have to learn to take absolute responsibility for ourselves and what we do. Though I have a problem with the whole concept of morality when applied in a social context as it is dualistic in nature and gives us the tools to judge others. The morality you describe is collective. True morality is intensly personal and is most frequently seen as immoral to religionists.

Though I do think that much of the original mystical writings from which religions grow can be excellent reminders of the truths we all already know but have forgotten. Inner morality is the revival of true memory and the begining of realising what we truly are.

As for finding a place of joy, if we search for joy we miss the rest and that too is part and parcel of what we are. Happiness and unhappiness is another judgement scale.

On our life circumstances, I believe we chose those, or our karma does, before we are born. Such a concept requires that we re-appraise our universal concept of 'morality'.

I don't see the Harmonic Chord as moralistic, in my experience it is a spiritual lifebelt, something to hang on to when the storm rises. It is not theoretical.

Actually, I suspect that it also relates to your concept of 'collective' souls which is referred to on your blog. I have a feeling that such soul collectives are formed before we are born, with groups of souls coming in over years, even centuries, to bring about conditions suitable for the growth of all.

[Thomas Knierim]

Originally Posted by Molly Brogan

I think that morality is not something that can be imposed on a group without evoking anarchy from suppression at some point.

That's debatable because if not morality then at least ethical conduct is imposed on individuals by society all the time. The entire legal profession rests on the imposition of ethical rules. Resulting anarchy is the exception.

The imposition of ethical conduct is of course only a crutch for true morality, which comes -as you rightly say- from inside out. A reasonably developed human being surely recognises the truth of the golden rule.

I don't think it takes "a leap of faith" to understand that we ourselves are responsible for creating peace and joy, as you say. Any sensible person would understand that. A person who doesn't understand that cannot be called sensible.

What is more troubling is that people have difficulties to see how to do that. I don't mean outright criminals, but just the average John Doe who lacks understanding, in particular understanding of his own conditioning, to achieve peace and joy. I mean, how many people do you actually see experiencing peace and joy? Certainly a minority on this planet.

Cheers, Thomas

[Molly Brogan]

I think that we are multi dimensional, and it is in perfect order that we are experiencing everything we are. Joy does not eliminate fear or apprehension from our experience. Transcending rationality does not mean we eliminate it from our thinking, it means that we include higher levels of logic and awareness. Strictly joy might be a bore, but an overriding joy stemming from a heart of compassion or a non dual viewpoint might be wonderul. Most of the people I know live life as such. More and more all the time.

[vicente]

Originally Posted by Molly Brogan

"Love thy neighbor as thyself" What do YOU think?

That's a tough one. I have neighbors who are druggies, S&M addicts, obessed Sports fans, Cub scout leaders, Mormons, politicians, etc....I certainly would not want them loving me as they do themselves.

Osho said:
"Morality can only be imposed from without when we are asleep. It can only be pseudo, false, a façade, it cannot become your real being…morality is bound to be nothing but a deep suppression. You cannot do anything while asleep; you can only suppress. And through morality, you will become false. You will not be a person, but simply a "persona"—just a pseudo-entity. . . . Only a dishonest person can be moral."


"The preachers have convinced the whole world that "you are all sinners." This is good for them because unless you are convinced, their profession cannot continue. You must be sinners; only then can churches, temples and mosques continue to prosper. Your being in sin is their success. [Churches] are built on your guilt, on your sin, on your inferiority complex. Thus, they have created an inferior humanity. "


"We condemn the real and we enforce the unreal, because the unreal is going to be helpful in an unreal society and the unreal is going to be convenient…A child is born in a society, and a society is already there with its fixed rules, regulations, behaviors and moralities which the child has to learn.


When he will grow he will become false. Then children will be born to him, and he will help make them false, and this goes on and on. What to do?"

[GuitarCrazyo]

There was one question in particular there that I did not see as a morality question. If your spouses sibling hits on you, do you tell your spouse? Personally, I answered no because I would deal with the situation, make sure they knew where they stood and that it never would happen again. There would be no need to inform my spouse, which could start a bigger problem. I dont think dealing with a situation means I have a lack of morals.

What do you think?