Wednesday, April 09, 2008
The Moral Compass
Yesterday, I used the word "moral compass" in my post. Lest anyone get the wrong impression, I should add that by this term I mean the (in my view) almost innate, spontaneous response to events which arises naturally, and is not based on some memorized code of action or imposed teachings. Christine Arpita has captured this notion beautifully in her response:
. . . (I) see the moral compass as being an innate expression of our true nature... rather than something that is thought or culturally learned. The "light unto ourselves" being, in my view, our own inner light that, when excessive thought is relaxed, just shines naturally on its own - right action being simply natural action... which by its very nature is nothing other than compassion. So, I don't believe that Boddhisattvas base their actions on "what they believe", rather right action - that affirms and supports "the whole" simply arises as their nature expression of 'Buddha Nature'. This in my view of what Bodhisattvas are, and what they do - whether they are farmers, prostitutes, politicians, teachers, activists, etc - regardless of the culture they live in.
The weather vane (whale) above illustrates this notion. It swings easily with the wind, following its natural capacity for appropriate response. We too should be like the whale--allowing our true nature to follow the appropriate course, not because someone told us to be this way, but because this is who we are.
However, I would add, that (to me) the injunction to "be a light unto yourselves" does indeed include the responsibility to consider carefully all thought systems and teachings, texts and admonitions, lest we be led astray by false doctrine or inauthentic "authorities." We should not follow blindly, just because because someone in high position insists that "this is final truth." As I wrote in a poem some time back:
Reality is always
soft clay,
ever shifting and changing
its shape.
Fire it into form, and
at the very moment
you are hailing it as
final truth,
it will break in your hands.
(from Marrow of Flame
