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In many countries today, we live under the perception that we have freedom. Of course, few of us have ever sat down to ponder just what ‘freedom’ means. If we did, we’d soon discover some pretty interesting things. One of the things we’d discover is that we live our lives according to an enormous amount of rules, most of which we’ve never examined.

Some of these rules are very superficial, such as paying taxes. We may obey, but we don’t like it. Other rules are more ingrained, such as being polite to other people in a social context. We usually have integrated these rules into our psyche, but it’s not too hard to observe them if they’re pointed out to us. Finally, there are rules that are so ingrained that we can’t imagine life could function without them. These are the rules that make up our basic ideas about the world, such as the rule that states that life is not worthwhile unless there is something to look forward to in the future.

But let’s not get too deep. Let’s stick to an example of a superficial rule – one that seems pretty easy to understand. Here it is:

If you’re a woman, you do not go to a good, Christian wedding barefoot, wearing only a bra and a skirt.

At a recent wedding that Rebecca and I attended, there was a woman who was wearing quite a bit more than this. She was wearing a nice dress, shoes, and gloves. But her dress was cut quite low, revealing her ample bosom. This woman was getting some pretty nasty looks from the others attending the wedding.

And then Rebecca appeared. It would be safe to say that Rebecca was wearing only half the clothes that the first woman was wearing. In only her bra, Rebecca was displaying even more of her cleavage, and nothing at all was covering her belly. But instead of scandalous looks, people suddenly started cheering and clapping with delight.

The difference, of course, was that Rebecca was doing a belly-dance performance. In fact, she has performed at no less than four weddings, each time wearing little more than ‘lingerie’.

The point here is that we often live as if our morals and rules are unbendable realities. But if we examine them, we’ll soon find that they are very situational.

Even our most sacred morals are discovered to be adaptable. We teach our children that it’s wrong to kill other people, but when they turn eighteen and join the military, they’ll suddenly learn how to kill people in the most efficient manner possible. We can teach that stealing is wrong, but the human story is one of marching into other people’s home countries and taking what was formerly theirs. This form of stealing, of course, is sanctioned by the conquering country.

People often argue that humans need morals in order to keep ourselves in check. The assumption, I assume, is that we’re all slavering beasts, just waiting for any excuse to steal, kill, rape, or otherwise mistreat our fellow human beings. For many millennia we’ve been working under this assumption. We do our best to craft a moral society, then we selectively apply those morals, and then we complain that our society is becoming morally corrupt.

I’m not sure about you, but if I was living in a society with no rules, laws, or enforced moral codes, I doubt I’d suddenly turn into a monster. Perhaps that’s because I was brought up with good moral codes, but perhaps it’s because I’ve examined all my morals and decided that I am better off without them.

In fact, it’s the morals themselves that can sometimes cause the trouble. You can examine this in yourself if you look carefully enough. When we live by unexamined rules, we often harbor a secret desire to break free – which entails breaking the rules. This creates a state of inner conflict, and that inner conflict manifests as emotional turmoil, violence, and a willingness to harm others in order to achieve our desires.

When we examine these rules, we discover the shocking truth – that trying to hold to these morals creates the very tension that causes us to break them. We see that the evil of the world is a self-created problem, each of us contributing, even if we’re doing our best to be upright and principled.

We see it everywhere – the same people who preach about morals are often the ones who also practice immoral deeds. Using our morals as shields of righteousness, we either rationalize or hide our actions. Sometimes the harm we inflict is great, such as a leader waging war on another country. But often the harm is much more subtle, such as the self-violence we inflict when we hold ourselves to certain standards of behavior.

Non-dualism is about examining these rules and standards. It’s about fully maturing as human beings, about examining everything we’ve been taught and finding what lies at the heart of this very moment. When we’re children, we learn what’s right and wrong, but then, as we become adults, we can learn the true nature of these moral codes if we only take the time to examine them. To come full circle, we abandon our clinging to these concepts, and discover that our natural behavior is so compassionate that morals can never compare.

With non-dualism, we also discover that we can move perfectly within the present situation as it unfolds. When we discover what freedom truly means, we can fully blossom into our compassionate, loving selves.

It’s really that simple.

For those who would like to learn more about Rebecca’s belly dance troupe, visit her website at sahajadance.com.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 2nd, 2008 at 2:44 am and is filed under Understanding Dualism. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be queued for moderation and posted as quickly as possible.