Consciousness is essential for ethical living
Can we live without rules and laws? This question has been debated by philosophers, social scientists, psychologists and many others involved in studying human behaviour and motivations for a long time.
Most cultures and religions teach some doctrine or codes on the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ of how to live life and treat others. Some countries have very heavy punishments for some offences that hardly warrant jail time in others. For example, in some countries, there are heavy fines or even jail time for littering. In contrast, there are other countries without such laws that are very clean by default, both in public and private places.
Generally speaking, rules and laws are substitutes for ethical living. When a person has an internal set of standards and live by those standards, there is usually no need for laws or rules to compel them to behave in a certain way.
To develop such ethical standard of living, we usually need to have (or at least develop) awareness and consciousness, both of others and ourselves. Our souls desire truth, love and justice, which is why many of us feel disgusted when we come across premeditated crimes against others, especially of bodily harm and those against children. By the same token, we are drawn to and desire connection with others.
People who have experienced the connectedness that we share as human beings will tend to look at others with a more conscious light and tend to treat others better. This is because it shifts us from being self-centric to people-centric once we realise that we are not the centre of the universe but one of the gazillion of stars that make up this world we are in.
So how do we develop such consciousness? One way is to attempt to open ourselves to others. This can take the form of sitting and meditating on the true nature of other people (i.e. who they really are beyond our ideas about them). Any reactivity that we feel is taken note of and can serve as a signpost for us to look deeper within ourselves to identify our triggers, biases and fixed attitudes about others.
Another way is genuinely attempting to look at things from others’ points of view. One of the essential ingredients of treating others better is to be able to take on another person’s point of view. It does not mean that we agree with their points of view but be able to honestly accept that others can and do have perspectives that differ from ours.
Developing an ethical standard and treating others better does not mean we ignore the setting of boundaries. Just like laws are there to protect people from those who have disregard for others, boundaries serve to protect us from those who do not or cannot seem to subscribe to ethical standards of behaviour.
Finally, ethical living is a journey of the heart. It requires us to open up our hearts to others instead of being stuck in our minds and fixed ideas. It is only through the opening of our hearts that we develop affinity with and ethics towards others. If you feel that you are struggling with ethical behaviours in any way, don’t be afraid to seek help. It is well worth realigning yourself to an ethical way of being and living, adding to the betterment of yourself and the world at large.