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โˆž conscience -> personalities? ->principles! โˆž

Posted: Tue, Oct 25, 2005 05:38:59 AM

it would be so nice to write in this forum that i always listened to my conscience, ignored personalities and applied a spiritual principle, but that would be far from honest. the truth is that i am human and far from being perfect or even saintly. a more apt description would be that i am an addict in recovery suffering from the human condition. sometimes i feel justified in ignoring someone who i find grating and irritating. sometimes i can rationalize disrespecting someone who is different. and justifications and rationalizations will only get me high again.
when i started this whole gig, i liked to say that i had no conscience, that i was an amoral asshole. but actually i did have a moral or two running around inside my head, but i medicated the voice of my conscience away, so i would not have to face the self-recrimination of behaving badly. my motives were always pure -- how could i use this person, or situation, to find the ways and means to get high.
today, i find myself in a variety of situations where situational ethics could be used, you know, sacrificing my spiritual principles for what may seem (at least to me) a greater good. after all, don’t i know that sometimes the ends justify the means! well ends and means, and situational ethics are topics for another day, today i am concerned with listening to my conscience, doing the next right thing, with total disregard of someone else‘s personality issues. nowhere in our literature does it say that i have to like everyone, merely that i do my best, right here and right now to put aside what i see as personality issues and treat each person i interact with, with the same respect that i desire. that in of itself is difficult enough, but you know what, today i am worth that effort!
∞ DT ∞

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Tao Te Ching

☯ The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao ☯

The Tao Teh King, or The Tao and Its Characteristics
by Lao-Tse
Translated by James Legge

Book 1

2) Therefore a wise prince, marching the whole day, does not go far
from his baggage waggons. Although he may have brilliant prospects
to look at, he quietly remains (in his proper place), indifferent
to them. How should the lord of a myriad chariots carry himself lightly
before the kingdom? If he do act lightly, he has lost his root (of
gravity); if he proceed to active movement, he will lose his throne.