We teach students many lessons on morality and yet when they grow up, many of them turn into criminals, become greedy, and bully others. In fact, many of the well-known terrorists have been well-educated. The people who colonized the world were more educated than the native people. The well-read people turn out to be more selfish than the poor uneducated people. Where do we lose the track?
Morality can't be imposed. Morality is a natural framework for an aware mind to operate. If we are aware that all living beings have genesis in the same consciousness, to manifest different possibilities, then why would we harm anybody? Why would one arm harm the other one? Why would one leg hit at the other leg? The moment we are aware that the accumulation of food makes our body heavy and reduces our capacity to walk and work, why would we accumulate weight? If we are aware that we are just a guest in this body for a short time to fulfill the purpose of this life, why would we be concerned about death? In fact, death is just like checking out of a hotel. We do not become sad while checking out of the hotel, in fact, we become happy returning home having fulfilled the task we checked in to the hotel. Why would we be concerned about piling up wealth, when we know that soon we will switch over to a new body?
Wisdom and education are two very different things. Wisdom comes with awareness. Being aware of the wider realities of life. While, on the other hand, education is the awareness of details within a frame. Until and unless we become wise, morality will never come naturally to us. There would always be conflicts between our urge to protect "whatever limited we identify with" and the "larger and wider". Why would somebody accumulate billions while so many are dying on empty stomachs? Because he has never established a connection with that poor person. He has closed his framework and isolated himself on an island of "ego". Why would somebody exert powers to exploit others? Why would somebody bully others? Why would somebody be jealous? All these would happen only when we are confined to our island of ego and unable to see how we all are connected.
In that state of isolation, morality is just a trade-off. We try to behave morally because society appreciates that. We want to get that social validation at the cost of personal discomfort. That is why we attend the cremations and try to show sympathy with the people in trouble. At the core of our hearts, we do not feel for others. At max, we keep calculating as to whether our island of ego is affected in any way due to the troubles others are facing.
When we become aware of the larger reality, we come out of the island of ego. We come to the mainland and connect with the masses. In that state, morality is not imposed; rather, it comes naturally. Why would we accumulate money madly? We become aware that the needs of this body are minimal, and most things in this world that require huge amounts of money to be spent actually harm us in the long term. Why would we be tempted by power? We know that power is all about responsibility and comes naturally when we care for people. Why would we harm anybody when all the people around us share the same consciousness that has given birth to us? Why would we bully anybody when we know that others are our own extension? Why would there be competition? Can there be competition with the people we love? Thus, I feel what we need is "awareness of reality" rather than "lessons on morality." The moment we become aware of reality, morality is a natural outcome. The problem in most cases is that parents are themselves on their "islands of ego" and try to impart "lessons on morality" to their kids, but the "intelligent" minds of kids understand these dichotomies very quickly and reject all these lessons.
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