Man: An Ethical Animal

by John Diamond, M.D.

Ethics is the study of morality, and “the general study of goodness and the general study of right action constitute the main business of ethics.” It is my firm and passionate belief that each and all of us can always act rightly, out of “goodness,” for we all are inherently “good” – we all are Gods, we all are Buddhas, we all are Perfection. Our most basic drive is Love, but we also have the capacity to harm and kill in life-threatening situations. This has been essential for our survival throughout our evolution.

“Badness” is nothing more than the inappropriate employment of this defense mechanism. And it is activated by what I call ego-misprocessing: we believe, but wrongly, that our lives are threatened and then act accordingly.

If we did not misprocess the incoming information, we would always be “good,” we would always act ethically in accord with the God within, the Muse of Love. No one wants to be “bad.” Through misprocessing what is “bad” seems to him to be “good.” Misprocessing, and thus the “badness” that stems from it, is in a sense an illness, and “goodness” will prevail when the “illness” is overcome.

The cause invariably goes back to birth, and even before. Especially to the uncorrected bodily distortions created by the birthing process. These distortions lead to mental distortions, to misprocessing. Faulty body usage and faulty mental usage are one and the same.

Then superimposed on this are all the myriad psychological and physiological traumas of living; faulty nutrition, environmental assaults, and so on, and so on – all of them. The more these are controlled and overcome, the more Man is revealed as he really is – ethical. And only when ethical can he love, and worship.