Ethics As A Foundation

This talk and meditation focuses on ethics as a foundation for contemplative practice. They are brought to you by the Flourish Foundation, a social profit dedicated to inspiring systemic change through heartmind cultivation, promoting personal well-being, benevolent social action, and environmental stewardship.

Transcript

Ethics is really,

Really the ground for,

At least in the contemplative traditions.

It's the foundation for cultivating a steady mind,

A stable mind.

And upon that,

Using the stability of our attention to investigate and inquire deeper into our own experience.

And I'm always reminded of just an incredible insight that I think has really arisen out of people's experience in understanding subjectively the impact that leading an ethical way of life has.

And that is,

There's a form of ethics that we can say is really designed or embraced for the purpose of restraint,

For restraining ourselves from enacting any harm through our behavior,

Through whatever we may say,

Our speech,

Through our thoughts.

And this type of ethics,

It said that when it's fully embraced,

Restraint leads to the experience of non-remorse.

And non-remorse,

When we're not carrying around a guilty conscience,

That brings a sense of gladdening.

And gladdening brings forth a sense of tranquility.

And tranquility makes it very easy for the mind to settle,

To concentrate.

And when the mind is deeply concentrated,

Then,

As I said earlier,

It has the potential to bring forth very transformative insights.

So from the contemplative tradition,

Or contemplative traditions,

Ethics is very pragmatic in terms of,

If we're looking at what is a path or a process that I can engage in to truly transform my heart and mind,

We then can't leave out ethics.

It's absolutely indispensable.

And now shifting out of the contemplative traditions to more just what's happening right now,

And what value would ethics play in our world today?

And I know just even in the last year,

As many of you maybe have been surprised to see,

We've had a number of natural disasters in the United States and,

Of course,

Many other places around the globe.

But if we just look at the last few months and we look at the number of hurricanes that have moved across the Gulf of Mexico,

We look at the wildfires in the West,

And really the unprecedented degree of catastrophes that have been driven by natural disasters,

We can say really that's difficult to control for any one individual.

And it's a kind of suffering.

And,

Of course,

Now as we're getting deeper insights into climate science,

We can see that we human beings have contributed to this to some degree.

But we can also see that many of these natural disasters are very largely out of our control.

And there's a whole degree of suffering that many people experience because of this being displaced from their homes,

The loss of work,

Not having access to food,

Shelter,

Et cetera.

And we can say there's that degree of suffering that we experience.

But then we can see almost overwhelmingly.

So we have these natural disasters that create suffering,

But almost overwhelmingly,

We see a whole nother kind of suffering that's really driven by our human behavior.

And we see things,

I was reading that this year alone in 2020,

The rate of homicide in the United States has increased by close to 50%.

And we can look at the things happening in movements like Me Too,

People coming out and describing the atrocities they've experienced with things like sexual abuse,

Very,

Very prominent.

In a documentary I saw 2015 called The Hunting Ground I'll Never Forget,

I've spoken about this in education that despite our very sophisticated model of education,

And particularly when we look at the academics in many of the colleges,

And especially the United States is being recognized as some of the best academic institutions in the world,

It was surprising for me to learn when I watched this documentary,

The Hunting Ground,

They highlighted a very prestigious university on the West Coast,

And then probably one of the most prestigious universities on the East Coast.

And they found that one in five students in college experienced sexual assault.

And I thought,

But here we,

Here's the,

These institutions of higher learning.

And yet,

The irony is,

We may have all this,

This intellectual knowledge,

But it seems that in many ways,

We're stunted when it comes to developing our moral conscience,

A sense of ethics.

How do we interact with one another,

Without creating harm.

So when I look at this value of ethics,

I see again,

Both on the contemplative side,

There's a lot of opportunity if we're just interested in really exploring our human experience,

Developing meaningful insights,

Stabilizing our mind.

Ethics is very important.

But then if we step out of that,

And we look at just the impact on society,

So much suffering could be avoided if ethics were more prominent.

And so it's interesting then to consider for ourselves,

What are ways that we can cultivate ethics,

That we can stay in touch with our ethics.

And that's really what I wanted to focus on in the upcoming practice.

And before I describe that,

I'll just,

I'll just pause for a moment and define ethics from one particular context.

And certainly I wouldn't say it's the only way to understand ethics,

But we can understand ethics as a set of inner principles that allow us to self regulate and self monitor our behavior,

Our speech,

And our thinking.

So that we don't enact harm.

And that we can support our own and others well being.

And so it's nice to think about ethics,

Not just in terms of restraint,

But there's a whole practice of ethics that we could call,

Or has been called the ethics of virtue of really mindfully becoming aware of certain qualities,

Certain values that really support us.

And bringing forth our own and others well being.

So for the practice that we can focus on tonight or that I'll invite you to focus on is a practice we were having a conversation here a couple weeks ago about ethics.

And the question came up,

What do each of us do to support an ethical way of life.

And I thought it was an interesting question and I don't think it's a question that comes up,

Maybe very often at least not for myself and conversations.

People usually don't ask,

You know,

Like,

How are your ethics,

What are you doing to support them,

You know,

It's almost like we just assume that everyone's ethics are intact.

And then we're almost you know it's almost like a surprise when someone acts unethically.

So I thought it was a really wonderful question to ask and I was eager to hear what what do people do to support their ethics.

I mean,

It's just,

Again,

Assume that we've got that figured out already.

But what is there is there anything we can do to support our ethics.

And so,

And thinking about this for myself,

There's a very meaningful practice that I do,

Not every day,

But almost every day before I start my,

My meditation practice.

And it certainly is incorporated into meditation practice.

And it can also be in itself a meditation practice and that's how we'll approach it tonight.

But it's a kind of ethical review.

And it follows a particular framework that is based in something called what is called the four remedial powers.

And I just find this for myself,

Really practical and really useful.

And with these four remedial powers are there.

Guide posts for how we can reflect upon our own way of being in the world and become clear about anything that we may have been engaged in that was harmful,

Either right now or in the past.

And then it allows us upon that recognition,

We can develop what we can call a healthy sense of regret,

Which is simply just acknowledging that whatever we did was something that we would like to reconcile to fix.

We wish it would have had a different outcome.

And from a very healthy sense of regret,

Because I there's unhealthy regret that could easily go into to shame,

Or the unhealthy regret of regretting that you did something really kind for someone like oh,

I shouldn't have helped that person.

That would be unhealthy regret.

But this is the regret of recognizing I did something that was hurtful.

And I want to do better.

And so the the first remedial power is establishing this this regret,

Or you could even say remorse.

And then the second is upon that.

Can we authentically in ourselves,

Arouse a resolve and aspiration to do better and to act in a way that would in fact support our own and others well being to establish our,

Our own resolve.

And I know for myself.

Most often this comes up around my speech,

You know,

I've kind of haphazardly say something or I'm tired and maybe hangry,

The word of being hungry and,

And,

And feeling a little bit irritated,

And then maybe say something in a way that's either sarcastic or condescending or very sharp.

And recognizing that and then establishing the aspiration the resolve.

Could I speak in a way that's more constructive.

That's more kind,

More benevolent.

And then once we get to this second stage of establishing a resolve.

Then we're invited to consider what are the things I can rely upon the power of reliance.

Is there,

Is there some source of inspiration that I can go to,

To really bolster my capacity to act more ethically,

The next time around.

Is there anything that can help build my ethical capacity.

Maybe it's a set of practices,

Maybe it's a kindness practice or a compassion practice.

Maybe it's a particular book right now I'm reading ethics for a new millennium book that I read years ago,

And just drawing inspiration from that.

So,

Many things we can rely upon.

And then the fourth thing.

The fourth aspect of this of these four remedial powers is the power of reconciliation.

And this sometimes can be something we do outside of our reflection.

Maybe we,

We see there's an opportunity for reconciliation to go back in and check with someone and say,

Hey,

What I said yesterday or how I behaved yesterday.

I had time to reflect on that and actually,

It was regrettable.

And,

You know,

I just want to apologize.

And,

You know,

I hope to treat you more favorably,

Or with greater respect,

The next time around.

And sometimes we get the enjoyment of letting there be a reconciliation on both sides,

Maybe someone accepts our whatever we we offer in terms of our apology,

But sometimes not.

Sometimes people won't.

But at least in that way,

We're starting to create some repair.

Could be a set of practices that we do I remember,

As a,

As a kid I was very cruel to insects.

And in thinking about that,

My own ethics now of really trying my very best to not harm other beings.

I often save insects.

But I,

As I'm saving them.

I do it intentionally as a reconciliation for the cruelty that I created earlier in my life I used to,

To burn ants with a magnifying glass something not very proud of.

But,

And of course I can't go back and change that but I can starting today,

Start to change my behavior and I think I've saved many insects,

Since,

Since that time,

Many spiders and happy to save them when I see them.

And so,

Our reconciliation could could evolve and in many different ways.

But the key for this to,

To really create a shift and to to deepen our conscious,

Our conscience around ethics is giving ourselves the time to do it to really sit and rest.

And I know that in that process of going through this reflection.

It can be very powerful,

Very transformative so hence the name,

The four remedial powers.

But it's something that I would.

I feel inspired by it you practice it tonight and then you want to go back and practice it again and again,

Something that really grows with our attention over time,

And becomes a nice foundation for us to continue cultivating our ethics to refine our behavior.

So that'll be the practice that we engage in tonight.

And we'll start off just coming into the practice,

Really letting ourselves come in,

Developing a sense of relaxation and ease and then at some point.

I'll just mention the different phases as I've talked about them.

Now in greater length in the beginning.

And then just kind of see what comes up.

See what emerges.

And if nothing comes up.

So I don't want this to be forced and maybe you feel gosh,

My ethics are are completely sound right now.

I feel there's nothing you know that I can draw upon that feels regrettable.

Then what I would say is delight in that delight and the alignment,

The resonance that you have that you feel right now with ethics,

And that will be a good thing as well.

So those could be two,

Two options for for this exploration.

So we'll go ahead and start with a comfortable position.

That allows you to remain steady for about 20 minutes.

And once you've established a comfortable posture.

Relax deeply into the eyes.

And by relaxing into the eyes we may feel a natural affinity.

To draw our attention.

Back to our subjective experience.

And facilitate this shift by letting your awareness.

Rest and the immediate experience of the body.

And as you touch into the body.

Notice if there's any opportunity to relax.

And to seize the opportunity of relaxation.

Breathe into any areas of tension.

Welcoming a sense of expansion,

Breathing out inspiring the experience of release,

Letting go of any unnecessary tension.

Breathing in expanding breathing out releasing.

Breathing out.

And along with establishing a deeper sense of relaxation.

Enjoying the opportunity.

To rest and stillness.

Stepping out of the busyness of going somewhere,

Doing something,

Simply being.

And together with relaxation and stillness.

Bring forth a sense of wakefulness and we can do this from the bottom up.

By consolidating the expansion of the breath along the front of the spine and you could have a vivid imagination you could imagine crystal clear channel,

Running from the lower belly to the crown of the head.

And as you breathe in,

Drawing the expansion of the breath of this central channel of the body.

Carving out this pathway of invigoration of wakefulness.

And now along with relaxation stillness and wakefulness.

Let your breath settle into its natural rhythm.

And now along with relaxation.

And along with relaxing in the body and around the breath.

Bring forth a quality of relaxation in the space of the mind,

Letting the mind relax so that whatever comes to mind can simply come and go.

And now along with relaxation.

And now to engage in the four remedial powers.

It's very helpful to give ourselves a moment to steady our attention.

So that we can look deeply into our experience.

With few distractions.

To establish this steadiness of mind.

For a few minutes rest your attention.

Upon your breathing.

Sw downed.

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And again,

See what comes to heart and mind.

You might be surprised by your own inner wisdom,

Your own intuition.

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