Morality: I would define this word as adhering to a certain code of conduct in which there is no deviation from unless in extreme circumstances. In my opinion, if one has a strong moral code, he will do his utmost to treat others as he would want to be treated. We cannot invoke the word morality, without it being closely tied to such things as loyalty, honesty, respect, love and an overall attitude of wishing the highest good for all. We hear many people in our world today claiming that they have strong morals, yet they gossip in the workplace, are hard to get along with, are selfish and will trample over anyone who gets in the way of their personal fulfillment. Many individuals who fly the flag of religion high above their lives, still cheat, lie, steal, murder and use their fellow man/woman as a means to an end. Religion, or the subscribing to a certain list of rules given by an organization, does not necessarily make one moral.
Some say that it is possible to have morality without a concept of God in their lives. The argument is, that if one cannot be a good person without God, then one is truly not a good person at all or perhaps is weak in character. The claim is that religious people simply try to be good because of the threat of being punished in an eternal hell. There is some merit in this argument, because trying to be good is not being good. To act, or try to act in a certain way out of fear is a forced persona and does not come from the depths of the heart. However, we might also say that without God, the individual becomes the highest authority in his or her own life. If such an individual deems it necessary to harm another in some way, then what is to stop them from doing so? When we are our own highest authority, then we also become our highest priority. It then becomes very easy to take others for granted and have lack of respect for our fellow man because we then become an island unto ourselves. Such individuals will certainly fall into the old familiar cycles of betrayal, usery, hatred, murder, greed etc.
Morality is not necessarily refraining from murder and not causing physical mayhem in the world around us. Morality is also our motives, and how we view the exterior world around us. If we see our fellow human beings as inferior and treat them with a harsh attitude on a daily basis, then our morality has failed us. If we see others as just puppets in some grand psychological play that we manipulate, then we truly have no morality. If we use others for monetary gain or physical pleasures only, then we have no right to call ourselves good or moral. To hurt or harm someone is not necessarily to shed their blood; and when our priorities are such that we will betray, abandoned or hurt another to attain our personal goals, we have failed the test of being decent at heart. Morality considers the welfare of not only ourselves, but those around us. To verbally or emotionally run someone through with our actions or words are unacceptable actions under the moral code.
Most of us get our morals from our parents and those around us in society. And if one has no role models in their lives, they will make up their code of morality as they go along. But flawed morals are like a virus, and many times those which we model our lives after have also passed on to us the seeds of selfishness, greed and the attitude of looking out for number one. If humanity is to obtain world peace, that peace has to start in the home, the school, the workplace and the community. But how can we have global peace when we do not even seem to possess the common sense and fine morality to hold our own neighborhoods together? In order to possess such a moral code, there must be a source in which we can draw from that is above our imperfect ways of establishing morality. That source must have the power to change man's heart and therefore change his way of thinking. That source must inspire feelings of pure love and bring out the innate gentleness in the depths of man's soul. That source must then inspire human beings to want to love others as we have been loved. That source must be pure, kind and unconditional in its desire to want good for all. That source must have a true sense of equality for all sentient beings and not favor some over others. That source must be wise and generous and be able to show us the way to obtain our higher good without harming or destroying another. That source must inspire us to be moral out of love and not force a haphazard behavior of goodness out of fear of retribution. That source must be outside of and above the limited understanding of man, and able to show the human race a way of escape out of the vicious cycles that mankind continuously perpetuates. That source must be something higher than we currently know in our physical universe. Without our roots deeply philosophically and morally embedded in such a source, mankind will continue to pass on the damaged DNA of our limited ethics to the generations of the future. And we will not see world peace until that source is found by each of us.
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