In my previous post, I talked about why I think that drawing ethics from a dogmatic supernaturally inspired source isn’t really a very good idea. In this post, I’d like to talk a little about why I think that ethics drawn from a secular source are more meaningful. I also think that as Buddhism has a long history of doing just that, it has an awful lot to bring to the table in this process.
Why do I think this? When we hand the responsibility over to a third party to decide our morals, or forgive us, this takes quite a lot away from us as Human Beings. We can no longer claim to be masters of our own destinies, we cannot evolve our morality in any meaningful way and we still have responsibility for our actions. This is because we are the ones who chose to let someone else drive and then willingly went along for the ride.
Speaking from the viewpoint of this Secular Buddhist, it’s much more meaningful to take this power back for ourselves. Buddhist ethics are based in a clear minded view of the world in this moment, as it is. Not coloured by dogma or beliefs, by superstitions or agendas. We have to actually think about the issues as they are in this moment, justify what we think and why we think that way rationally and without recourse to dogma. We have to consider the feelings of others, we must practise empathy and consider the Karma that our actions produce for ourselves and others. This leads to a greater consideration for the humanity of others and underlines our deep and powerful connection to those around us.
It also brings me back to something I’ve covered in a previous posts, the idea of forgiveness and compassion starting with ourselves. When forgiveness is doled out by another, we’re not required to understand or forgive and we’re not really able to, not even for ourselves. When we are the ones doing the forgiving, we are required to understand that we’re imperfect, limited and fallible. Coming from that position, accepting that we are flawed and imperfect, we can learn to forgive ourselves. Once we can do that, we’re in a much better position to use that same understanding to begin to forgive others.
