Ethics Before the Mind
La ética antes de la mente
A reflection on how genuine ethical choice arises not from fixed rules but from a living, moment-by-moment discernment that precedes the thinking mind.
Ethics Before the Mind
A reflection on how genuine ethical choice arises not from fixed rules but from a living, moment-by-moment discernment that precedes the thinking mind.
Relying solely on the past would give us only laws. You can learn from the past, certainly, but knowing what is right or wrong right now can only come from right now. It is always a moment-by-moment, situation-based matter. The real question is: where does the ethical choice come from? It comes from before the mind, or let us say, from outside the mind.
The purpose of laws
In the past, some things needed laws. The Ten Commandments, for example, existed until people could discern for themselves. "Thou shall not kill" is a pretty good principle, especially when killing was habitual for pretty much any reason one wished. By doing that work, by holding to "thou shall not kill," one had to face the intensity of feeling: the desire for revenge, for instance. That confrontation would separate us from identification with the human animal, the purely instinctual being, so that what could be seen is that what we are is not only a human animal.
Living discernment versus the book of rules
The system of law is actually quite well developed in this sense. There is an awareness that there needs to be a trial, that there needs to be a group of people who make a choice in the moment. If you remove that, then you are left with a book that tells you what to do in any situation, and you will have to fit every situation into some part of that book. The system is set up so that at least there is a possibility of a discerning group of people who can make an ethical choice.
It is the same for us at every moment. Are we choosing from the belief in being only a human animal, or are we choosing from that which is mysterious? When it is more the latter, there is an experience of flow, there is well-being, and there is a sense that choosing is happening. There is more of a movement that is harmonious.
The surfer as metaphor
A lot of metaphors point to this. Consider the sense of a surfer. I have never actually stood on a board or surfed a wave, but it is a good metaphor because we can all intuitively relate to the sense of what that would be like, even if we have never surfed. There is a lot of movement happening. There is a feeling of doing it, and simultaneously there is a present seeing, an observing of that doing, where one is not the one doing. Both happen at the same time.
We have all experienced this in different ways, especially with our hobbies or in moments where we felt deep well-being. And so we pursue the hobbies. But we can also realize that what we taste in those moments is always possible.