Morality - Three Kinds of Perception…

Posted on June 28, 2008
Filed Under Awareness, Fake Culture, Society, Spirituality |

The whole thing with morality is increasingly up in the air these days. Morality is a contested subject which will almost always end in as many arguments as a discussion about religion or politics. Yet what is rarely realised is that when discussing morality people are almost always talking at cross-purpose. You see there are at least three types of morality, these are as follows:

Social Morality: This changes with the wind. Social morality are the beliefs and ideals of the time…they are always present within society at almost all levels. The prevailing social ideals towards morality almost always heavily imprint an individual as they grow-up. It’s an obvious point, but this is why different generations have different perceptions or ’standards’ towards morality. “Young people now-a-days just have no decency!”, it’s common enough to hear that sort of thing. For the most part social morality is heavily influenced by law, rules, regulations, various institutions and belief systems. Most religions have a core based upon social morality.

Personal Morality: Every one has their own unique perspective, their own beliefs and ideals. What one person finds acceptable another finds reprehensible. This one obviously causes a lot of disagreements, some individuals personal morality is in perfect alignment with social morality, whilst other people have totally different standards for their personal morality. As with social morality, our personal morality is in a constant state of flux. It changes as we change; as we develop and evolve or as we meet positive or negative experiences, it affects our personal morality - which will shift towards better or worse.

Morality: I won’t give this one a label, because labels induce pre-conceived notions in people, therefore it is simply ‘morality’. Within reach of all of us - we have access to an innate ‘morality’ that is built into the fabric of reality itself. Most people are aware of this ‘morality’ even if only on a subtle level. Most people turn their backs on it, because of what it means. Morality tells us what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, it isn’t any form of higher law, and it isn’t really divine though I guess it could be viewed in that way. When you take away both personal and social morality; that is to say - when you have silenced the your own ego as well as the Ego of society - then you will feel a very different kind of morality within you. This is what the Tao speaks of, it is what the Buddhists have long known. We truly do have an awareness of the natural order of things, yet we forget this when we let the distracting noise of egotism and the domination of ideas get in the way.

Why is it so difficult for us to see these things clearly? The answer is pretty obvious; we fill our heads with ideas, thoughts and noise, and then we attach meanings and symbols to these things. We create an artificial world. In the end we lose sight of what is real and what is true - and even find ourselves asking things like ‘What is the truth?’

As an individual we discover our identity within the constructed artificial world of Maya. And this serves us well because it strengths us, and teaches us about the physical world. From this we have developed science, technology and all manner of things. Yet we cannot rely on these things to guide us regarding morality. Once we have identified the world of Maya, it is very easy to get scared and try and flee back into the construct. Yet the only way for us to grow, and find peace is to truly open ourselves to what stands outside of the illusions.

Comments

3 Responses to “Morality - Three Kinds of Perception…”

Mustafa on July 2nd, 2008 12:00 pm

I love your blog and your writing! You should write more often. A personal request, I find your articles about meditation & spirituality the best, please write more about your experiences while meditating. And thank you for providing the brainwave entrainment files!
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Marcus on July 2nd, 2008 9:48 pm

Thanks for your comments Mustafa! I hope to get back to more regular positing very soon, I’ve had a number of other projects I have been involved with - but should shortly have a bit more time for this site again. I actually look forward to writing more here.
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Riverwolf on July 5th, 2008 9:06 pm

A good breakdown of how we view morality. Years ago, I wasn’t open to this perspective but now, fortunately, it all seems crystal clear. However, once you reach these conclusions about morality, many people assume you have no morals at all. Others question how you can have morals without a particular deity handing them down from Heaven. But trying to explain rarely does any good. It seems some people will reach this point in their morality while others will never come close. Fascinating…
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