We’ve talked a lot about light and dark, about good and evil. But what makes them good and evil? What about truth and lies, honesty and dishonesty?
We were in the grocery the other day, and one of the items in our cart was a watermelon. I started to lift it up onto the conveyor belt when the cashier told me to leave it in the cart. She said she would get it without having to have it up there. I watched as all the groceries were scanned or weighed, and the total was brought up. I asked the girl if she had remembered to ring up the watermelon. As it turned out, she had not. I think my wife’s comment had something to do with the curse of being too honest.
Last year, I went to a seminar on hot stone massage. One of the promises the company made was that once we graduated, and worked on 10 bodies, we’d get a paper saying we were certified hot stone practitioners. I did my 10 bodies and kept proper notes. But when they taught us the style, they taught us to use powder instead of oil. The problem is that I prefer to receive this type of massage with oil, and my subjects prefer oil. I had lied up until I did my last practice body, telling them that I didn’t use oil. (They were looking for confirmation that their method was the best.) I reached a point that I just gave up on the certification. I feel I earned it as I have done all that they have asked time wise, and can do hot stone massage well, just not the way they wanted me to do it. But rather than lie about it, I just let it go.
I have always felt that one should be honest about things, and I try to be with everything I do from how I present myself to students and clients to how I fill out my taxes. I find being honest is a lot less effort than lying. This way I don’t have to keep track of which untruth I told to whom.
So, what does this have to do with light and dark and good and evil? To work in the light or the dark depends on one’s morality. What are they truly about? If one’s morals are of high standard, they will be honest, and helpful to others. They will put others before themselves. They will be forthright in how they interact with others. They will work in the light.
Those that lie and deceive, that think of themselves only, do not hold high morals. They do what they can to advance themselves without caring whom gets hurt. They work in the dark. They may not be truly evil, but they are not good either. They may not be Darth Vader, but they are not Yoda.
We all have degrees of good and evil within us. It is where our moral compass points that makes us stay to one side or the other. The old ‘do unto others...’ still holds true today. Truth should be valued. Honesty held in high regard. Good morals prized above all.
We should strive to be the best person that we can. We’ll make mistakes. We’ll do things that are not right, not good. But we will come back as we strive to be that proper, good person.
Strive to be in the right. Be the best person you can. As one advertisement goes... be all you can be. And by all means, stay in the light.