Vice (Miami and Elsewhere)

"Try to make people moral, and you lay the groundwork for vice."

-- Lao Tzu

People don't want to be moral, they want to be natural. Morality is a mental construct, an overlay, based on fear and control. Anytime that you try and "make" people be anything, you are bound to be met with resistance and resentment. This inevitable "r & r" may then surface as so-called "vice." It's as if the subconscious mind is saying, "Oh, you don't want me to do that, well, hey, how about this?"

All true ethical behavior begins within. It is not about attempting to follow some external, moral code. At the deepest level each of us know what is right and what is wrong, and what just doesn't really matter. If you want to teach people anything, don't teach them external codes of morality, teach them how to go within and access their own internal wisdom.

So, just for today, base your behavior on your own insight rather than upon the dictates of others, be they friends, relatives, therapists or gurus. Access your innate sense of what is appropriate for you right here and right now. Be a law unto yourself -- authentic and true.