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A Question of
Ethics
By CinnamonMoon
The "right" thing. One
of the "right things" to do is follow the law of the
land, or the tribe/society in which you live. An ethical person
is going to demonstrate their perspectives through their character
and personality, through the actions they take on issues they
are confronted with. It's not always easy though. Social/Tribal
Law defines what is acceptable behavior or action taken within
that society based on the greater good of the whole. Spiritual
Law defines what is acceptable behavior or action taken within
the context of walking a spiritual path--again based on what
is considered the greater good of the whole. And then we have
Personal Law, the definitions we place on our own acceptable
behavior or action taken within the context of our own choices
and lives. Everything we do has a cause to initiate it, a reaction
to that cause or action, and a price to pay or blessing to be
received.
What determines the ethical approach
you take to a given challenge? When you're faced with a decision
as to whether or not you should act to change matters how do
you know when to stand back or step forward? How do you determine
that when you're not sure? I believe we all have an innate sense
of right and wrong but it becomes clouded in the grey areas
of life since things are not always black and white. It's at
these times that we have to make choices that can range from
minor to highly significant in the outcome and we need to see
ourselves as responsible for the actions we take or don't take.
Both directions may have drawbacks and repercussions we may
not care for. When faced with such decisions moral obligation,
tradition of family, social structure, religious foundations,
and personal views all start to conflict and often create a
state of mental chaos.
The best way I've found to resolve
such challenging decisions is to take a few steps back and drop
the emotional attachment to the issue at hand. This way I gain
a clearer picture of what is going on and resolution is often
obvious. When it isn't I begin a process of examining things
from seven separate perspectives...the Seven Sacred Directions.
I begin in the East, and look at things logically without attaching
myself to the issue, I see into the problem and try to come
up with options that can be examined for the best possible outcome.
Then I move to the South where I put my trust in Spirit to guide
the passions that create my desire to react in the first place.
I move then to the West to examine my relationship to the issue
and those involved and how the choice I make will affect them.
Next I move to the North where I look at my own spiritual foundations,
the teachings and experiences I've had over the years that would
help me understand the cycle and pattern I'm working with. From
there I look to the past, what have I learned from others who
have faced similar challenges? What choices did they make? Were
they (in my honest opinion) well founded or faulty? Why? I may
look at someone I admire and ask myself what they would do or
how they would react themselves. I might turn to someone older
and wiser who could offer me advice or who at some point in
my life set a good standard to follow. I look ahead next, examining
the potential outcomes very carefully. What am I willing to
experience as a result of my choice?
Will there be consequences that put
me in vulnerable situations later? Will there be an outcome
I could later regret? If so what would that mean to me on all
levels: mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual? What is
the lesson in this? With these insights I can bring in my perspectives
to draw a clearer conclusion. I know how I feel about the matter.
I know my own sense of right or wrong, and I act on it. We can't
always know the "karmic" lesson of others, their debt
or lessons in life that need to be fulfilled. What do you do
when there is doubt or uncertainty? Do you just wing it? Do
you go with a gut feeling? What do you do when there isn't time
to think it through from the overview and you have to make a
split-second decision?
Earthwalker:
Cinnamon,
Boy was this an eye opener for me. You asked:
“What
determines the ethical approach you take to a given challenge?
When you're faced with a decision as to whether or not you should
act to change matters how do you know when to stand back or
step forward? How do you determine that when you're not sure?”
And I wrote
my answer as follows before completely reading your full post.
The follow was the way I answered. When conflict exists between
what society expects and what I personally can accept for myself,
I do what I feel is right while respecting someone else’s
choice to make a different choice. As an example if I was chosen
for a jury where the punishment was death I would not serve
as a juror since I could not sentence someone to death. I have
no problem with life imprisonment but would not sentence someone
to death. To me there are higher laws than man made ones and
“my interpretation” of them is that killing in unacceptable.
I do however accept others or societal rights to their own interpretation.
If the problem is when to interfere especially when you are
not directly involved, I make an assessment. If the error will
effect primarily the surface of something and no one can be
hurt or nothing is underlying wrong and I am not directly involved,
I will remain silent. If the error can hurt someone or it can
have a major impact on the reliability of the outcomes I would
address it. I would point out my concerns to the parties involved.
If I was involved with the process and just told to sign off
anyway on a situation or to ignore a situation I didn’t
feel comfortable with, I simply would say No. Managers/ superiors
have the right to override subordinates decisions but they do
not have the right to force a subordinate to perform anything
they consider unethical. I typically hold fast in my opinion
and respect others rights to make a different choice. If push
comes to shove it usually simply comes down to asking your manager
quietly which letter of the word NO didn’t they understand?
I have
however assessed carefully whether this is something I cannot
do based on ethical grounds as opposed to something I simply
rather not do. In some cases I have been told you’ll either
do as I say or you’ll be fired and I just simply say that
maybe true but I still can’t do what you ask and you’ll
need to do what you have to do. But that I have to live with
myself and my choice and you’ll need to
live with yours as well. Quite frankly, I have never been fired
yet. Choices can create mental chaos and when neither direction
is right or wrong and there is no one better choice then I choose
what I feel is intuitively correct and live with the consequences
knowing that I did the best I could. However, first I have looked
at all the data there is available, second I worked through
all of my feelings to ensure that I am not biasing any decision,
thirdly I extract myself from the situation to ensure that the
decision is based not on personal preference and that personal
feelings aren’t causing me to choose one way and then I
look to what I feel is morally correct and look at several spiritual
traditions at times to ensure that there is not man made bias
there either. I also look over what the statistics show from
previous situations and what the probable outcome of the future
are. Then I make a decision. Usually the decision is clear but
when it is not and there truly is no right or wrong choice and
it is a life and death decision, I trust what I intuitively
feel is the correct path. I then read your complete response
putting decision in the context of the medicine wheel. It certainly
put what to me is a natural process into the context of the
medicine wheel and showed how it is really used. I "finally
understand" the medicine wheel. I fully understand the
process I use to arrive at decisions and the medicine wheel
is the same thing with structure. Thank you so much for this
post. I am excited!!!
I am so
excited about the medicine wheel It finally make sense in terms
of its use. It is a completely natural process and one I automatically
do when making decision but putting into the context of the
medicine wheel gives the process structure. It must be so wonderful
to be taught this as a child. While most of you won't like this
comparison to me it is important. I personally hated English
grammar in elementary school. To me all one did is memorize
rules and none of it meant much to me other than regurgitation
of fact. In ninth grade I had an ancient nun (she was probably
50) teach us grammar and all we did for one semester was diagram
sentences. I love it; it gave structure to rules and I could
visually see the rules and the interactions between the parts
of the sentences. To me it I finally understood the rules and
the interaction between them. The same insight just happened
with the wheel. It gave natural processes which I have been
using for years using different semantics structure and I finally
understand. I am sure that there is much more depth to the wheel
than just in this one area but I can easily see its expansion.
I got up this morning and read Sun Bears descriptions of the
other stones. I understand the anchor stones, the moons stones,
the Spirit path stones and the first three foundation stones
but am not sure of the other four clan stones (Turtle/Earth,
Frog/Water, Thunderbird/Fire, and Butterfly/Air). Some questions
came to me when thinking about the various stones as follows:
Are these the stones that one dances with when you dance the
wheel from each quadrant or are they the elements themselves
as foundation to life? How do the foundation stones interact
with the dance? How does one differentiate between the element
as represented by the quadrant and the element represented by
the foundation stone? When would you use the foundation stone
over the quadrant
stone? Do the spirit path and foundations stones move up and
down the shamanic trees as do the quadrant and moon stones or
are they more representative of specific realms? If anyone has
any thoughts I would appreciate them or if there are any specific
books on these I would appreciate the references. Thanks!
CinnamonMoon:
Earthwalker, I'm excited!!!
While this is only a practical use of the Wheel in mundane life
it's a valid one that serves us well. I like how the Wheel manifested
for you though and there you have one of my little "jiggles".
You also have a raw description of how the process of a path
unfolds. You have been given some very, very basic foundations
to the Wheel, seeing it in use brought them into perspective.
The next time you Dance that perspective will penetrate into
the symbology that you have already embraced and enhance it.
The time after that you'll take in the previous experiences
with you. Suddenly it is clear that the Wheel has become the
Lotus blossom and is unfolding for you. It's awesome to say
the least and it just keeps going.
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Libraries
are on this row
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INDEX
Page 3
(Main Section, Medicine Wheel, Native Languages &
Nations, Symbology)
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INDEX
Page 5
(Sacred Feminine & Masculine, Stones & Minerals)
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©
Copyright: Cinnamon Moon & River WildFire Moon (Founders.)
2000-date
All rights reserved.
Site
constructed by Dragonfly
Dezignz 1998-date
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