In Accordance with the Law
Basic Moral Education
The underlying principle taught within basic moral education is that when we express our good morals we are much happier and have far fewer problems than we otherwise would. Though occasionally we may get the impression that morality is something strict and repressive, in reality this is not true at all. It is poor morals which are confusing, repressive and cause problems.As you study this manual, you will read explanations of how and why good morals feel so good. Small chapters cover particular virtues and morals, and while each is numbered and certain ones precede others, it is good to understand that all morals are of equal benefit and value, and no one is better or worse than another.
This manual is intended to be read slowly, with
feelings.
All people have a natural love of morals and desire
for goodness.
Morals are not only evident in what we do, morals are also felt. Morals are good feelings.
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I. RESPECT
It is important to respect all people regardless of race, creed, or color. Having respect means remembering your good manners and being kind and considerate. If we do not respect others then many problems and headaches can arise; a husband and wife may argue, youngsters are more aggressive and tend to fight, and distrust results. With respect it is easier for us to develop real trust.
Having respect for people also means respecting the things they own. If we were to steal then not only is this illegal, but it means we are not showing respect to the person who owns that item. If perhaps we see someone wearing clothes that we do not like, then we should still respect the fact that this person likes them, and we should not say anything bad about those clothes. We are respectful by not calling a person names, mocking or starting trouble. If we did this, we would harm ourselves more than anyone else.If someone is disrespectful, lies and has other poor morals then we really shouldn't associate too closely with that person because it would only cause problems and waste time. Many mental problems result from disrespect, rudeness, and dishonesty.
We should always remember to respect elderly people. It is older, wiser people like our parents and grandparents who often have good advice because they’ve usually solved the same problems we have in their own lives.
II. HONESTY
To be honest is to be truthful and sincere. It is to refrain from saying things that are untrue. Honesty is valuable because it keeps real feelings of trust very strong. It also reduces mental problems.
Good humor is much better when we are honest because there is more trust, and we can be more open with each other when telling a joke. It's true that certain jokes involve making up stories that aren't true, but we should always make sure the person knows we are joking.If we lied about things we would not only find it harder to resolve troubles but we would experience more of them, which is why it’s better to forget about such things.
A person who lies a lot will find his or her mind becoming cluttered up with all sorts of untrue things. If a person lies, he confuses himself more than anyone else. People who consistently lie find it harder to remember things that are true and factual in general, which greatly interferes with their ability to do things. If a person lies or tries to harass someone, he harms his own situation much more than anyone else.
It’s always better for us to be honest when talking about things.If we find we did tell a lie, it only makes things worse if we continue with that lie. It’s wiser to simply stop lying and not do it again.
By being simple and honest we're happier, calmer and less confused about things in life. With honesty it's easier for us to study, have fun and earn money. Being dishonest is not an illness, it’s simply a bad habit.
III. COURAGE
Courage inspires us to do good. It is to promote kindness, love and honesty. Having courage and good morals creates calmness in any situation. Courage and love helps us resolve a difficulty in a good way which protects everyone involved. To have courage is to remain honest and faithful when in a situation where it might seem easier to lie and cheat. We have courage by supporting our family and friends, no matter what.
IV. TRUST
Trust is the foundation for all families and friendships. Trust inspires real love and greater happiness. Being trustworthy helps us understand each other better. It makes our friendships stronger. We develop trust by being honest and good, and by not harboring hatred or resentment towards anyone (including ourselves for mistakes we made in the past).
The most common cause for distrust is lying, where those individuals who hear the lie tend to distrust the person who told the lie. People then may question whether or not that person is telling the truth about other things as well. This is why it’s important not to lie, even when talking about minor things.It is also important not to make derogatory comments about people. We should avoid doing this because it can create distrust or embarrassment, often to the point where problems worsen. It is kindness, love and forgiveness which bring back trust within families, not dwelling on problems.
V. COMPASSION
Compassion is a highly civilized feeling. Compassion is part of love and kindness; it is how we truly understand and sympathize with people. To have compassion is to feel sorry for another person if they are sick or have problems, and that we are never happy to see anything bad happen to anyone.
Having compassion might be to help a friend focus on what's good in life when they are feeling sad, to help them forget about problems. If someone has an illness we must realize the person's body may be painful and uncomfortable, so we must be most compassionate with him or her.We should always be compassionate if a dispute or predicament arises. To try to solve a problem by mocking on someone or becoming aggressive is really a waste of time because it would only make problems worse.
VI. DIGNITY
To have dignity is to have composure, respect and to refrain from doing things which hurt people or cause problems. Being dignified is to understand that all people are good deep down inside. To have dignity is to be calm, nice and helpful. It is to conduct yourself in a way that is honorable and trustworthy. It is also to mind your own business, knowing you are only responsible for what you do, not for what someone else does.
A dignified person knows that superstition, resentment and lying creates a lot of headaches and wastes time, therefore we forget about such things.
VII. KINDNESS
To be kind is to be thoughtful and sincere. It is to be understanding and forgiving, not to hold grudges. To be kind is to be compassionate and helpful, to understand how someone else feels. It is to truly care about people. To be kind is to support your family and friends, no matter what. Mutual respect and kindness is what real friendship is based on. To try to create jealousy in others or to become jealous yourself is not only a waste of time, but it is rude.
We show kindness by not being selfish, by not being rude or interrupting when another person is speaking. Kindness is to focus on doing good, not to wish bad on others. Real kindness is to not think of yourself all the time, but to love others and help others do well. Kindness is appreciation and respect for other people's feelings as well as your own. It is to know that all people are good deep down inside.
VIII. SYMPATHY
Like compassion, sympathy is a highly civilized (non-violent) feeling. If we sympathize with someone having fun, we feel good ourselves. In other words, instead of becoming jealous over what someone has or what someone is doing, we can have sympathy and share a little in the same happiness they feel. It's always better to teach our children to have sympathy with each other rather than to compete against each other and have sibling rivalry.
If someone is sick then we must have sympathy, for we should realize ourselves how this must feel. We might offer to do something for that person they can't do themselves. It's important to remember that although an illness can make your body feel bad, it cannot make you feel like a bad person. No illness, drugs or alcohol can make a person break the law or commit a crime. To suggest otherwise would be incorrect grammar.
IX. FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness is one of the most prominent of morals and virtues. Forgiving someone does not mean we would allow ourselves to be taken advantage of, or that a person who did wrong would not still get in trouble, it just means that we are not hateful, aggressive or resentful in any manner.
The reason why it's wiser to forgive is because when we are resentful, holding grudges or hating then we really do more to hurt ourselves than anything else. Hating and holding grudges creates unhealthy stress and doesn't make us feel too good.It is also unwise for us to hold grudges against ourselves for mistakes of the past. We should of course realize what our mistakes were, so we don't make them again, but we must also forgive ourselves and not dwell on problems of the past. Many mental problems result when a person holds grudges and does not forgive and forget. To be carrying around grudges doesn't help things at all, it typically creates more difficulties. It also wastes time.
Occasionally a person does something wrong and will verbally admit to the wrong, earnestly asking another person to forgive him or her. By doing this, the person should offer no excuses but will simply say "I did wrong and I shouldn't have. I am sorry and I will not do it again".
The person admitting to the wrong should not hate himself or herself, nor dwell on the mistake, but he should act in a humble manner and not do it again. This is the sincerest way to resolve a personal problem, where the person does not try to blame his or her actions on someone else, on alcohol, drugs, or on an illness. The person accepts responsibility. Everyone makes mistakes, it's okay to admit you were wrong about something.
If a person says or does something unkind then it’s always more profitable to forgive him or her and use common sense to settle things. Because we forgive doesn’t mean we have to continue associating with that person. It just means we do not harbor any grudges or hatred. If we are ever attacked or threatened then we should certainly notify the police and possibly contact an attorney, but we need not become offensive or hateful. While animals often resort to aggression and violence when there are disputes, civilized people use common sense and forgiveness, and we obey the law.
One of the most common misconceptions that occurs regarding morals is that one person will hate another person for making a mistake, yet this is wrong. In fact, that person is having poor morals by being hateful and resentful.
If you find yourself hating someone, you do better by forgiving the person and forgetting about it. If someone is causing you problems, then don’t associate or do business with that person so much anymore. A person who hates becomes weaker and less able to do things properly. Forgiveness, honesty and love make a person happy, stronger and better able to do things in life.
X. LOVE
Love is one of the most important feelings that we share. To be loving is to be compassionate, kind and caring. It is to see the beauty and goodness in all people. It is to treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. Love inspires the things we say and the things we do. Love inspires us to invent and build, to create beautiful music, and to sing songs. Love includes respecting the thoughts and feelings of others, being honest, forgiving and more. Love is within you now, at this very moment.
Love is shared between friends, within families and to a greater extent between husband and wife or two other devoted partners. Love can certainly be felt by both men and women equally. It is love and kindness that make a man much more attractive to a woman than if he were selfish and rude. Real love and kindness heals all misunderstandings of the past.SEX AND LOVE
The word sex basically has two different meanings. One way of using the word sex is to denote whether someone is a man or woman, or a boy or girl. Another quite different meaning is when we use the word sex to describe sexual love, as when we say "If parents have sex then the wife may get pregnant".While sex is a very beautiful way for two people to share great love and affection, love usually doesn't include sex. Friends of different sexes can share great amounts of love and kindness without ever wanting to have sex with each other. A man can love a woman without any thought or desire of sexual love. And by saying this, we don't mean that he has to imagine she is unattractive or ugly. He can certainly be pleased by her beauty without even the thought of sexual love arising.
A woman can look upon a handsome man in the very same way, where she isn’t sexually attracted to him, just that she simply admires his handsomeness. There is much more to love than just sexual attractiveness. What's more important is the person himself or herself. Physical beauty and handsomeness, the shape of a woman's figure, or the muscles on a man, should be taken into account slightly, with real love being focused on the person. If only sexiness is considered then two people may become involved in a relationship based on sex alone, which usually doesn’t work out. This is because sexual lust is not genuine love, nor does it create real love.
Problems with relationships can occur because of disrespect, being dishonest or rude, failure to treat a partner equally, poor hygiene, or similar. The lack of money can also put great pressure on relationships, which is why it's important to learn valuable skills. A person cannot blame the government for not teaching him skills, he can learn these on his own.
Sex is not something that one person does to another person, or gets from another person. It is something beautiful and special that is shared between two people who love each other. It's good to look at everyone as a person, and not to consider sex when looking at another person unless they like us in the same way. No matter how beautiful or handsome someone is, it's better not to entertain sexual thoughts about anyone without knowing and liking that person for a long time, only if that person knows and likes you too in the same way. By understanding this, no man would ever consider rape.
The real pleasure of sex is not only the physically pleasurable feelings you feel, but also in giving pleasure to the other person as well. With mutual trust, love and cooperation we enjoy a sexual love within a devoted relationship with feelings that are incredibly wonderful; feelings that can hardly be described in words.
Anyone who constantly thinks about sex and watches pornography will become unhappy, confused and depressed. Lust doesn't make people feel good and happy, love and respect does.
One very beautiful part of love is that a woman may get pregnant and give birth to a baby. Taking care of children is quite a job in itself, one that should be respected and revered to the utmost. Children are the most precious part of a family, they bring love and joy to mothers and fathers like nothing else can.
While it is better for a woman to be married when she has children, we must always show great respect for a woman who has children even if she isn’t married. In fact, it is usually very hard on a woman to raise children by herself, especially if she must work.
SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as AIDS are generally carried by people who constantly have sex with lots and lots of different people. The more people a person has sex with, the greater the chance the person catches a disease. Some sexual diseases can cause blindness, the loss of the ability to have children, or worse. This is one of the reasons why older people warn young people not to have sex with lots of different people.Constantly having sex with different people takes the intimacy and privacy out of it, making sex far less enjoyable than it would be. The reason why there isn't real pleasure in such sexual relationships is because there is little trust, love and kindness being shared, and not much good humor either. Having sex with different people all the time can never compare with the wonderful feelings that loving sex within a devoted relationship brings.
Occasionally we may see a television program that makes it seem like people who constantly have sex with different people enjoy a good life and have few problems, but the fact is that much of TV is fiction, which means it isn't true. The actors and actresses we see playing television roles rarely do such things in real life. TV programs that show this often do so merely to attract attention, nothing more.
XI. HUMOR
As you know, humor is one of the best ways we share love and kindness. Humor is always funnier when we are honest and forgiving, not when we are rude or disrespectful. Sincere laughter inspires gladness and joy like nothing else can; it helps us to forget about problems. Laughter also makes us feel better when we are sick or injured.
Good humor actually makes us healthier, with honest laughter even being able to help our bodies heal up from injury and sickness quicker. Honest crying also works in the same rejuvenating manner, this is a proven medical fact. Humor which is based upon another person being attacked or harassed is usually not very funny. When people harass others or make derogatory remarks about people they really are putting themselves down.Many marriages have problems when there is little or no humor being shared within the family. Good humor usually disappears because of dishonesty, rudeness, violence, the holding of grudges or similar. What often happens when people are dishonest is that distrust arises, which makes humor less funny when it is told. The best humor is based around mutual honesty, trust, love and forgiveness.
If we come across a person who is rude and has other poor morals then we mustn't associate too closely with that person (we should also feel a little sorry for that person). Engaging in lying, hating or criminal behavior always puts a damper on good humor.
Good humor comes from a love within, a love towards all. It comes from a desire to see other people happy, not from seeing other people unhappy. If good humor has disappeared within a relationship then we can regain it again by making sure we are forgiving, compassionate and honest, and we must not dwell on problems of the past for this is a waste of time. While it usually takes time to rebuild the genuine trust needed for really good humor to return, it is certainly worth the wait.
XII. HUMILITY
To be humble is to be modest, innocent and sincere. It is to make sure we do not make someone feel low or belittled in any manner. We feel better when we are kind and helpful, not when we are trying to put someone down. To be proud or boastful wastes time because it usually creates animosity, resentment and jealousy more than anything else, which is why it's better to forget about such things. Being humble does not mean we would stop accomplishing things that other people cannot accomplish, it just means that we do not mock on people or belittle them because they are not accomplishing much in life right now. We instead would try to help them do better.
To be humble is to not consider yourself as being so much better or so much worse than anyone else. It is to understand all people are equal. To be humble is to avoid competing against people in a spiteful manner. Certainly you may be better at doing one thing or another than someone else, but we all have various interests and abilities that make us different. These differences do not mean that one person is a better person than another person.Many women are much better at baking meals and taking care of children than men are, but it’s incorrect grammar to say "Women are better than men" for this would be an incomplete sentence. It would be more proper to say "Women are better at taking care of children than men" or "Men are better at building things than women", but this wouldn't mean men are better than women, or women are better than men.
XIII. MONEY
Whenever you spend your money remember that you are helping the person or business who receives your money, so it's good to purchase things from your friends and others who have good morals. This money helps them stay in business and expand. If we spend money in places where people are dishonest then we may be denying that money from people who deserve our financial support more.
Many serious problems arise if we forget the importance of money. This can result in people neglecting their families, debts accumulating and other serious things like homelessness, poverty and despair. Thus, we can see the importance of learning valuable skills and working steadily at a job. Though we sometimes may work with people who are rude, nonetheless we must always use manners ourselves and treat our customers and co-workers with respect. Our personal likes and dislikes must be taken into account secondly, with the main focus being on doing our job properly. When we get paid we must remember to save our money and not to spend it on wasteful, trivial things. Money is very important in life.There are also problems that can arise if we think too much about getting money. People may engage in illegal activities to get money wrongfully. Or, a person may focus so much of his or her attention on money that they forsake genuine kindness, love and compassion, often to the point where they become unhappy and discontent inside (where they tend to lose their sense of humor). The way to resolve this sort of problem is to not pursue money to the extent where love and kindness, or friends and family, are pushed aside. On the contrary, money is used to help support our friends and family.
XIV. LAWS
Having good morals and abiding by the rules and laws which have been established enables us all to have more happiness and enjoyment than we could possibly have without them. All of the laws in the United States of America are based upon morals. One of our main Constitutional rights is Freedom of Speech. This allows us to speak about any topic we like without fear of being incarcerated, as long as we do not threaten to harm anyone. If a person breaks the law then he or she either does not have good morals or is not using common sense.
Some people may forget this, but it can be illegal to lie; especially when running a business, when speaking to a policeman or when testifying in court. If a lie is told in court this is legally called perjury, which has penalties that include jail and fines. If a lie is told to a policeman this can be considered "making false statements" which has serious penalties. If a lie is told while business is being conducted then this can be called fraud, with penalties that include jail and confiscation of assets to pay back any money wrongfully taken.LAW SUITS
Civil law suits are used as a means for people to settle disputes without becoming aggressive or violent. If someone takes something from us or harms us physically, then the civilized way to solve the problem is to sue that person or company in civil court rather than to become aggressive and violent as animals do.The Constitution guarantees us the right to file a law suit if we are harmed or suffer damages.
XV. VIOLENCE
It is important to know that the use of violence always creates more problems than it can ever possibly solve. If a person harasses someone, the person doing the harassing always harms himself more than the person he is trying to harass. This is because he is the one doing it. It is the person engaging in the immorality who harms his own situation more than anyone else’s.Violence is basically aggression and hostility; amoral acts which are uncivilized and vulgar. A person who is violent, hateful and resentful is actually weaker and less able to do things than a person who is kind, loving and honest.
This is what makes us civilized: that we care about others less fortunate than ourselves, that we protect the weak and help the sick to get better, and that we hate no one.
Plainly put, we do much better when we realize that we all have a natural love of morals and desire for goodness. And, that when we work together, with love, we always have much more fun in life.
We need only to forgive people and use common sense when there is a problem to be able to forget hatred and aggression entirely.
GLOSSARY
Courage = bravery, fortitude, spirit, gallantry.Respect = admiration, consideration, esteem, regard.
Honesty = honor, integrity, fidelity, sincerity.
Trust = confidence, faith, care, belief.
Compassion = sympathy, grace, charity, mercy.
Dignity = stateliness, reserve, composure, honor.
Kindness = thoughtfulness, consideration, generosity.
Sympathy = compassion, support, approval.
Forgiveness = grace, mercy, understanding.
Love = admiration, charity, kindness, respect.
Humor = joke, amusement, wit, comedy.
Humility = modesty, innocence, humbleness.
Money = currency, funds, wealth.
Laws = rules, statutes, principles, constitution.
Violence = chaos, disorder, brutality, savagery.
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