Morality may be a measure of the relationship one has with oneself. Ethics may be a measure of the relationship that one has with others.

My mother’s influence on me showed clearly. Morally, she was an example of a happy, adjusted, self-sacrificing, loving person.

My dad, on the other hand, was a supremely ethical person. He taught us and was an exemplar of ethical behavior. His relations with others were kind, compassionate, empathetic and honest.

I liked these notions as a son, because they introduced no middlemen into my moral nature; and no higher authority. Also, no so-called “higher principles” into my ethical behavior. The heart knows how to act toward oneself and others – it speaks to us in whispers and the uprisings of conscience.

Humans dwell in moral and ethical states. In emotional, psychological and reflective states.

Take self-absorption. This is an immoral condition, while highly negative states, because of their contagiousness, can be unethical.

In the West, we speak of “mental hygiene” and “mental illness,” but the mind, being a “fourth-dimensional organ,” cannot be ill, injured or require medical care.

More often it is the transmissive organ of the brain that is injured or one’s consciousness that is barely developed; or karma that requires some sort of rebalancing.

Raphael O’Suna

Haiku