unlockthedoortolearning

Ethics is not complicated it is simply “doing the right thing.”  It is not bound by culture, religion, or politics–it is simply doing the right thing in each and every situation, even when it’s hard.  Actually, especially when it’s hard.

Rush Kidder, founder of the Institute for Global Ethics, talks about “Ethical Fitness.”  He writes that one definition of ethics is:

“Obedience to the unenforceable.” Something is unenforceable if there is no rule or law forbidding it.  But there are some things most people would not do even though there is no law about it, such as scaring a baby or taking away a shopping cart from an older person.

A friend of mine met a person at church who had a very difficult life problem.  The person had stepped over the boundary from the “unenforceable” rule or law to the “enforceable” when the person participated in a scam to cheat Medicare and Medicaid out of 70 million dollars that was to be used to help the disabled and the poor.  The person probably should have read Rush Kidder’s book before work each day.  The person will not see the “get out of jail” card until the age of 72. Plenty of time to read now, wouldn’t you say?

So how do we keep ourselves from getting caught in this situation?  What will keep the temptation at bay, the wolf from the door, the shark from the surf board?  By living a life as prescribed in the teachings of Zen Buddhism.  You don’t have to be a Buddhist to do so.

This series on Zen and Ethics will be focused on these eight simple ideas and how to incorporate them into your life at work, at home, and at play.  Imagine what a wonderful world this would be if we all just followed these simple ideas day in and day out!

I hope you will take this journey with me and before you do anything and everything stop-think-inquire-listen-love (STILL).  Or as we used to say when I was a Unity minister, “Be still and know that I am God.”  Regardless of whether you believe in a God–God/Good only appears when we become STILL. So sit with me each day for 10-20 minutes and just be still.

Then make your decision.  Let me know what happens.

In gassho,

Shokai