THE ONE ETHIC by Richard Lee Van Der Voort, M.A.
Before beginning professional psychic consulting work in the mid-70s, I studied philosophy and became a university professor. And then I discovered Eastern philosophy and broadened my understanding. Philosophy concerns itself with the essential questions in human life: what is good, right, real and true, and how we know. When I was a child, my first generation American mother, an over-worked farm girl, took me with her to the Methodist church. She liked to hob nob with the folks and show off her new clothes, and me, her bright and shining son. But as I grew in mind, my Inner Destiny Plan steering me toward my future work as a psychic counselor, I took what the minister taught seriously, and that caused me to wonder about things. That was my meager introduction to philosophy. I had no one to ask about what puzzled me, so all my long life through I’ve studied and thought and tried to find out just what is good, right, real and true, and how we can know. Thank God for BOOKS and the Law of Attraction that put them into my hands even when very young.
Because of my early exposure to the Christian religion, I became acquainted with the Ten Commandments that Moses, according to Biblical legend, received from God on Mount Sinai. Each tablet etched a truth in human consciousness. Ten Thou Shalts and Shalt Nots were my early ethical guides. When I was a child, I had no idea other religions even existed, only the Catholic church next to Mrs. Chapp’s ice cream store where a single dip was only five cents, and the strict Lutheran Church a few streets back. I knew nothing of ancient China and India, let alone eastern philosophies such as Vedanta and Buddhism. All that came later. But before that, as a frightened kid, I was bombarded with psychic experiences I could not understand. My parents thought I was nuts. Later I thought the same about them!
I guess because of my home life I became something of a dissenter early, at least in one respect. The Commandment to “Honor thy mother and thy father” began to give me fits along with continuing psychic episodes. Parental behavior that I witnessed pained me as a kid growing up. Some of the things they did were not in accord with what I’d been taught was right and good, so I anguished over that one Commandment. In my generation, a child did not express his concerns and fears, so I was alone with my thoughts, dilemmas and wonderings. I suffered because I could no longer honor my parents. Only as an adult did I hear of a different way to interpret that supposedly Divine Command: act in such a way as to bring honor to one’s parents was the alternative view, not necessarily respect and honor one’s parents if they were not worthy.
In any case, as I grew and read, studied and pondered, and became formally educated, I found alternative philosophies of the east: Taoism of ancient China, the Buddhism of India that was a reaction to Hinduism, and Vedanta. Probable Truth and truths leapt out at me. Finally, I had things to think about. Alternatives to the brand of Christianity I grew up with. Only in later years did I formulate a philosophy that I came to call “Spiritual Eclecticism”, a position that allowed me to take Truth and truth wherever I found it, no matter its origin. Only later did I understand that Spirit was getting me ready to become a psychic counselor, teacher and helper in the world.
The range of Buddhist ethics was a delight to discover. And each area required a great deal of thought. Gautama the Buddha experienced, according to legend, a sacred revelation while meditating under the Bo tree. The ideas that purported to stop human pain and solve our ethical dilemmas are called the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path. The Four advises an attitude of non-attachment or desirelessness as the way out of human suffering.
The Eight describe the basic areas of conduct that we should concern ourselves with. To list, Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. Like the twelve houses of Astrology, the list covers all areas of human conduct. Even though ten is greater than eight, the Eight-fold Path is far more inclusive than the Ten Commandments, and that gave me as a budding professional psychic much to consider.
At another point in my life of thought, I found Vedanta among the many branches of Indian philosophy. The core ethical concept of that system is called “Ahimsa” which means, simply, DO NO HARM TO SELF OR OTHER. That injunction, I thought, requires a great deal of judgment. No wonder the Commandments that the Law Giver, Moses, brought down the mountain were particularized and far more specific. Ahimsa, a position that requires reverence for all of life, necessitates fine-tuned judgment, and not all people are capable of that.
For me, the concept of Ahimsa is the answer to all my ethical dilemmas. The One Law, DO NO HARM TO SELF OR OTHER, appears to be all-inclusive. It covers any behavior one can imagine. A person has only to judge what causes harm and what does not, then act or behave accordingly to fulfill the One Law. But, always the “but”, KNOWING and DOING can be two different things. As a psychic counselor I am ever-mindful of teaching that.
Close judgment and right behavior can be a tall order for those of us in the middle of the muddle of living. But for myself, I know of no more essential, all-inclusive guideline to Right Behavior than Ahimsa, or, DO NOT HARM TO SELF OR OTHER. Fortunately, however, the One Law is not mutually exclusive. It does not say that we cannot also follow the Ten Commandments of Christianity, and the 8-Fold Path of Buddhism. We can, and ought to. They are consistent. As a psychic consultant and “Spiritual Eclectic”, a term I coined for myself, I am free to take and espouse Truth and truth wherever I find it.
Richard Lee Van Der Voort, M.A. Please see my website that includes books, blogs and psychic services at http://psychicconsultingbyemail.com. For more information about psychic readings my e-mail my address is psychicmind.vandervoort231@gmail.com
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