Ethics are learned from the exemplary lives of those before us,
philosophers, and well-known figures. Ethics can also be learned from ordinary people around us. And ethics also come from our wisdom. We can learn ethics from many sources, and apply them to our lives.
ADEQUATE MORALITY
There is a principle that everyone must accept: the higher the position, the more virtuous the person must be. Teachers must be more ethical than their students. Parents must be more moral than their children. Monks must have higher virtues than their followers. Leaders must have higher ethics than their people.
That principle, that requirement, is very fair, very natural. If we forget this principle, we will be left behind. If our ethics are not adequate for our position, we will lose that position. In feudalism, kings were designated to be saints, saintly kings. It was a tribute to a king, but also an expectation from the people for the king. The king stood in the highest position in a nation, thus, he was required to be of the highest virtue. And what do we call the most virtuous person, if not a saint?
We are often influenced by the Western thinking where everyone is equal under the law, where an ordinary citizen is the same as a leader. Realistically, leaders are extremely different from ordinary people. Everyone is human with the same basic needs, but the roles and responsibilities of leaders are very different. Due to such differences, leaders are required to have high moral qualities compared to ordinary people.
It is considered normal if any citizen steals, but it is a serious offense if an official commits theft. Obviously, people require officials to have higher virtues. That is the principle of adequate morality.
He who has chosen the path of being a government official must have his own way to constantly improve his own moral qualities correspondingly to his position. Morality declines if it is not worked on everyday. Human's natural bad traits will take dominance gradually if we do nothing about it. We need to work to control and constrain them.
To improve one's own morality, one needs a suitable self-cultivation method that is scientific, psychological, and in accordance with the law of karma.
Government officials must remind themselves of the many necessary codes of ethics every single day: I will be patient during hardship, I will love my people, I will constrain my greed, I will be loyal to my country... By saying this to ourselves every day, good ethics will become our nature.
The belief in the fairness of karma is also a deciding factor for good morality. It is not complete if we speak about morality without mentioning the law of karma. Karma is not only spiritual but also scientific. He who is moral must believe in karma. People will respect officials who strongly believe in karma. And that is the real power of spirituality.
Officials must also have their ways to keep calm in the face of pressures. Officials have a large amount of duties to take care of, in which there will be difficulties. They don't get paid enough. Their time is always running out. Their mind is under lots of pressure. If they do not have firm virtues, they will easily change for the worse.
Ethics are learned from the exemplary lives of those before us, philosophers, and well-known figures. Ethics can also be learned from ordinary people around us. And ethics also come from our wisdom. We can learn ethics from many sources, and apply them to our lives.
We should continuously improve our ethics and we will see the grateful look in the eyes of people around us.
Written by:
Janna
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