More On Civil Disobedience Chapter I part II

 



Ethics

 

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Personal Laws

A broad regard for the Ten Commandments is the foundation of a serviceable set of ethics. Your ethics are the laws you set for yourself to govern your thoughts and actions. Most of us set fairly high ethics to live up to but the trick is to practice them, in thought, in speech and in deed. We are free to uphold or disregard our ethics, but regard for them leads to prosperity while forsaking them invites disgrace. If in my dealings I encounter a person of lessor station or abilities I will not take advantage of this fact in my dealings with her, nor regard myself as her superior. Nor will I exert myself to help her except to treat her with the dignity all people deserve. These are examples of my personal ethics, and I practice them to my best ability. Other personal ethics I practice include: I will not steal (except ideas), I will not harm others, I will not eat meat from a cow or a pig, I will work every day, I will do each job to the best of my ability and I will not complain except to someone who can solve my problem.

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The Value of 0

Ethics help us to sort out which problems are caused by others and which are our own. Independence demands that we solve our own problems. Most problems may be considered as equations. Write down the elements of your problem. Consider your own relationship to each element. Factor yourself out of the equation and you are left with the essence of what must be changed to solve the problem. In applying this method we often find ourselves as the prime element in our problem equations. Happiness comes when I=0 within our problems.

 

Religion

 

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Earth is Church

Most of us mine our religion for our ethics. Life is my religion, and the Earth is my church. Although I do not subscribe to any religion I respect every church and fervently hope that every devout person will find favor in God’s eyes. To become dogmatic I should describe myself as a Presbyterian/Buddhist. In my heart I believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that he died for my sins. Unfortunately most churches deify his death and forget the lessons of his life: Loving all people, accepting them without judgement, easing their suffering, encouraging them to expand their minds and believe in his message of a better life to come. Jesus kicked the moneylenders out of the church, and I would too if I wuz you.

Churches too often tailor their rhetoric to what they perceive as their members needs and ability to comprehend. My research indicates to me that the same is true of all religions, and that bureaucratic churches are merely holdovers from a time when you were lucky if your government could protect you from invasion and enslavement, let alone provide you with social services.

 

 

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Reconcile With the Unknown

The purpose of religion is to reconcile us with the unknown. The questions outside of birth and death are beyond our kin. They have no answers on our entire planet. There is no authority we can turn to, but still we ask, If I’m good will I go to heaven? If I sin will I go to hell? Did I live before? Will I be born again? Will my actions in life affect my life after death? These questions arise when our ethics are based on commandments rather than on understandings. Religions have given us models to study in education and medicine and do untold quantities of good works in this world to ease suffering in all levels of our society.

It was genius to separate church and state for the governance of our nation. Better if we are all free to choose which path to take in our lives’ journey.

 

 

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Self Realization

Religion helps us conquer our fears and can promote self-realization and participation in the improvement of society. It helps us realize that everything we have comes from a higher power that is beyond supplication or comprehension. As we repay God’s bounty by giving to a church we repay personkind, our community, our family and most of all ourselves. The Buddhists call this Kharma, a Christian might express it “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.” It’s the same thing and simply means that hard work is rewarding while slacking off sets you back. Elevations of mind, proper exercise of freedom, work and planning and right livelihood all combines to provide a sort of heaven here on earth.

Beliefs and Experience

 

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Listen Politely

Belief is uncertain by nature. Beliefs are the sum of our knowledge and experience and we must test them routinely in the course of our practice. Incorrect beliefs are the basis of all misfortune. Testing our beliefs leads to greater knowledge and understanding. When you have tested your beliefs and gained understanding you must trust (believe) what you have learned. This is not to say you should quit testing. Even when we have settled on a fact we should listen politely to another expressing it or its opposite because she may have a different slant we hadn’t considered. Dismissing another persons story with “been there, done that” certainly can save us time but doesn’t leave us any the wiser.



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Use it or Lose it

The difference between the wisest and the most foolish of us is only one of degree. Understanding is the foundation of wisdom and the greatest fool may grasp the deepest wisdom if it is expressed to her clearly. Sadly understanding can be fleeting and it can be said of understanding and knowledge, “use it or lose it.” Understanding can save us from making or repeating mistakes and is surely the key to prosperity.

Understanding

 

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Inventory

So let us take stock of our intellect. Our education, deportment, hygiene, ethics, religion, beliefs and experience have brought us our understanding which we in turn manifest as our personality. Let us determine how well our personality serves us in our quest for happiness, security, employment and prosperity. My method for doing so is this: list your requirements for each category, subtract those elements you have already achieved, the remainder is what you must consider deeply to have whatever you want whenever you want it. How much of your deficit is self inflicted? How much could be achieved by more work and more training, education or opportunity? What can you give up to achieve your goals? These are only a few of the questions we must ask ourselves continuously if we are to have prosperity. We cannot do it perfectly, so we practice.

Practice

 

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Labor of the Mind

The practice brings us peace, even while we are still far from prosperity. Peace is essential to freedom. Freedom is the only thing worth fighting and dying for. The demands of war constrain and suffocate freedom and the affairs of bankers and politicians are no justification for it. Understanding any complex question is not difficult if we consider it completely, without pre conceived beliefs to blind us to its solution. It is merely labor of the mind. You may begin practicing immediately and apply my method to any topic of interest to you. It will bring rewards and soon you will find opportunities for practice in every aspect of your life. Practice understanding, practice compassion, practice medicine or practice the bongo drums. Whatever it is that you desire, analyze it and seek a path to its fulfillment.



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Anything You Want

Do you wish to live in another locale? Do you want to find a more fulfilling career or relationship with your spouse or to find the person of your dreams? Do you want education or medical attention, or simply to be left alone in peace? All of these and anything else you may name may be achieved by practicing the method I have described.

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Yearning of the Heart

Be aware that practice is work. This labor of the mind to fulfill the yearning of the heart can take a toll upon the body. In working our brain we may even forget to breathe. When your thinking becomes cloudy and answers do not come, return to your breath. Be aware that you are breathing in and recognize that you are breathing out. Repeat this simple exercise and make it the foundation of your practice. Your body will respond to it and give you strength and endurance. It will bring you in touch with your body and allow you to recognize the subtle signals it sends us. If we perceive them, read them and respond to them, these signals are invaluable in maintaining both our physical and mental health.

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Fire of the Spirit

The strength to pursue our practice is fueled by the fire of our spirit. Our absolute confidence and unbridled determination to do God’s will constitute the spirit. Spirit is an invisible, intangible force that may be felt in any individual and is what drives us to overcome hardships, ease suffering and create Art.

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Purity of the Soul

Finally we arrive at the soul. The soul is that intangible part of us which is akin to God. It is the ultimate reason for our practice. The Earth is my church and life is my prayer. Every word I speak, every action I take I perform for God’s consideration in hope that it will please her. This is the key to purity of the soul. To grasp this concept is to grasp wisdom. To practice is to practice wisdom.

Drugs

 

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Medicine for Healing

This realization is medicine for our ailing planet. The damage that we do to it we do for good reason. Good reason at least to people who do not practice or are constrained by false beliefs, insufficient education or unformed personalities. Medicine has effects and side effects. The effects of practice are happiness and security; its side effects are employment and prosperity. Slash and burn agriculture is medicine for impoverished peasants in developing countries. Its effects are employment and happiness for the peasants and produce to feed a hungry nation. Its side effects are its temporary nature, the diminution of our rain forests and the extinction of species of life on this planet who were also made by God and who must have the same right to exist that we maintain.

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Healing the Spirit

The horrible nature of the activities of humanity is taxing to the spirit. Although they seem insolvable as individual issues, when each is placed in perspective their solutions are evident.

We need more practice. Our collective actions create enormous suffering among people at all levels of society. Rich and poor, young and old, because we suffer we seek to ease our pain with distractions that impede our practice. The more distracted we become the less able we are to ease our own suffering. It is a spiral that infects the spirit and leaves us depressed and ineffective. To heal the spirit we must examine how we deal with our suffering.