Seasons of the Soul

Ethics in America

This article was written when George Bush was president. It certainly applies to what's going on now as well!

 

Recently the news has been full of breaches of ethics in religion, business, and other areas where we have depended on authority figures to protect us, grow our investments, and uphold our trust

Our President commented that we need to develop a new code of ethics, and I was somewhat taken aback. As I looked up ethics in Webster’s College Dictionary, it stated that in addition to ethics being “a system or set of moral principles governing human action, ethics is the branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of action and the goodness and badness of motives and ends.”

In my mind, this states clearly that we already have clear guidelines to ethics, and rather than creating new ethics, we need to return to the ones we’ve had all along.

Somewhere in the rush to succeed and achieve, a group of people have determined that the highest authority they have to account to is their own agenda. They have forgotten that they belong to a larger body, and have responsibility to society as a whole.

I have observed through the years how the concept of ethical behavior has been altered to fit whatever the person not behaving ethically wants it to be. We experienced this mincing of technicalities with our last president, and the door was opened long before his indiscretions by people in positions of power behaving unethically.

In the 1980s there was an excellent series on PBS called Ethics in America. It looked at some of the hard questions facing different sectors in our country and how ethics were often bent to justify desired goals by companies, military, politicians, and other groups.

The problem with bending ethics is that somebody always gets hurt in order to satisfy someone else’s desire. When we choose not to abide by a moral code of ethics, we jeopardize our reputation and we put our populace and economy at risk. Once trust is betrayed, it is difficult to regain.

As I look out at the ethical failings in the larger world around me, I also have to look within and ask where my own ethics need strengthening. Where do I bend moral concepts to justify my own actions? If I long for an ethical world, I must help build it. As an individual, I can uphold values that affirm the Golden Rule of treating others as I would have them treat me. And as a citizen, I can hold those in positions of authority accountable for their actions. Our individual voices become a collective power to be reckoned with. And if each of us will not accept injustice and unethical behavior within or without, changes will take place.

We don’t have to create new ethics; we just need to live by the ones we already have.

Gift from a Wounded Bird

 

 

Not only do plants provide us with incredible lessons, but all nature. My friend, Bea shared something that happened to her when a bird flew into a plate glass window at her house. Here’s Bea’s description.

“The day it happened, the bird smashed into the big picture window, and he fell to the ground, his head all twisted and turned. He looked as though his neck was broken and my husband also thought it had a broken neck.

"I went outside and sat in front of the ground and prayed with him for a long time. There was never a flicker of movement on the bird. At one point, I went in and got my Lamsa bible and read some from the book. I continued to talk and pray to him and there was no response.

"About 3 1/2 hours later it was getting dark and my husband wanted me to come in. I said no. He brought out a blanket and I sat on the blanket. I started talking to the bird. I told him I couldn't bring him in the house because I was afraid I would hurt him picking him up. I told him there were a lot of cats around and he couldn't stay there all night. Then I would say "come on, breathe, move those wings, etc." I kept saying this.

Over 4 hours went by and it was really damp and getting very dark. I told him about the time and that I could not stay there much longer. All this talk was interspersed with prayer. I thought I saw a little movement on the eye lid and I started encouraging him to breathe. He opened his eyes. I started saying, "Move those wings, you can do it. Come on move those wings. Breathe. Stand up." He just flapped his wings a couple of times, turned his head and looked at me, peep, and flew off.

"It was shortly after that in the exact spot I had 7 asparagus plants. I loved asparagus and was very excited about them. I transplanted them in the garden. The next year I got more asparagus. The following year it was crocus, then it was a beautiful orange lily, one year a Veronica, then came the Star Gazer, this year it is a lovely, pink Flox. My neighbor comes over to see what new gift I receive each year. It is quite amazing, and makes me realize how important it is for us to be conscious and communicate with nature.”

The story Bea tells illustrates the necessity of recognizing our inter-relatedness to all living things. As we deal honorably with other life forms, nature responds in kind. Perhaps our wild weather patterns, animal diseases, and other imbalances are all results of our collective attitudes of unconsciousness towards the earth on which we live. What might happen if we began to treat everything and everyone with equal respect and dignity? As we utilize the gifts of nature, might we experience some broader miracle if we were to show concern and pray for or with all that we take for granted?

In order to affect major change, it is said that only a meaningful minority is required. Through perceptual adjustment, we can be that, and as such...just imagine! If concern for one little bird brought the gift of so many different flowers year after year, what might our concern for the water, mountains, air, and our food chain bring?... Just imagine!

To Weed or Not to Weed

 

 

A few years ago as spring became summer, I was busy pulling weeds from my garden. And in so doing, I noted that plants which had been thriving when the weeds were present suddenly drooped and even died when the weeds were removed. I was shocked! Yet, a weed is a weed is a weed, so I continued pulling them out.

I noticed that a little avocado tree I’d transplanted from a pot was being buffeted by strong afternoon winds in its new location. I thought perhaps I’d planted it in the wrong place, but noted that it held its own in spite of the buffeting it took.

One day, something new was growing on the wind side of the plant. I observed a group of weeds surrounding the avocado tree only on the wind side, and when the wind came up, it was protected by its new neighbors. As I watched other parts of my wildflower garden emerging, I noted that weeds grew interspersed with flowers. And where the weeds were, the plants were thriving. This led me to believe that the plants and weeds have a symbiotic relationship to one another, but I wanted confirmation from a friend of mine who has very strong ties to earth, plants, and nature spirits. Her name is Penny Kelly, and she wrote The Elves of Lily Hill Farm. Her story is pretty remarkable, as she encountered nature spirits who helped her grow incredible grape vineyards and more…but that’s another story.

Penny responded with the following: “Your observation about weeds having a symbiotic relationship with other plants is pretty astute. They do! They not only provide shade and windblock, the root mass of each plant puts out both oils (every plant makes its own oils) and plant-specific "humic acids" which it uses to dissolve minerals out of the soil, then uptake those minerals to build more plant structure. Lots of weeds put out acids and oils that nearby plants can also use, which makes the whole bunch of them healthier. Weeds also are specialists at utilizing certain elements in the soil. EG. Dandelions are magnesium hogs. So dandelions grow abundantly wherever there is too much magnesium in the soil. They uptake the extra magnesium and help balance the soil. Pull the dandelion and your soil remains unbalanced. The result is that other plants that do not grow as well in magnesium-heavy soils will not do as well. All weeds perform this kind of service/function. Another example, if you plant potatoes where you had your corn last year, the potatoes will not have any scab because the corn leaves certain chemical factors in the soil that are quite beneficial to potatoes.”

I no longer feel it is necessary to pull weeds. Unless they are violating walking space or overcrowding an area, I leave them alone. We’ve been sold such a bill of goods about using herbicides, insecticides, and all the other chemical products that merely keep nature from doing its work for the sake of some visual idea of “beauty”. What can be more wonderful than nature at work, doing the job her Creator intended? I have a totally different relationship to “weeds” in the garden now, and I’m also transferring that understanding to what I think of as weeds in my life.

 

What is a weed?

A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered!

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Justice

 

 

In the Babemba tribe of South Africa, when a person acts irresponsibly or unjustly, they are placed in the center of the village, alone and unfettered. All work ceases, and every man, woman and child in the village gathers in a large circle around the accused individual

Then each person in the tribe, regardless of age, begins to talk out loud to the accused, one at a time, about all the good things the person in the center of the circle has done in their lifetime

Every incident, every experience that can be recalled with any detail and accuracy is recounted. All the positive attributes, good deeds, strengths and kindnesses are recited carefully and at length. No one is permitted to fabricate, exaggerate or be facetious about the person’s accomplishments or the positive aspects of their personality.

The tribal ceremony often lasts several days and does not cease until everyone is drained of every positive comment they can muster about the person in question.

At the end, the tribal circle is broken, a joyous celebration takes place, and the person is symbolically and literally welcomed back into the tribe.