Code of Ethics

I feel that my code of ethics may be a good model for an awareness of respect and an acceptable guideline in which to live by. This is a code of ethics I wrote years ago and felt that it would be nice to share. It is a reccomendation only and people are free to critique it.

Honor the land and the ancestors as aspects of sacred creation, i.e. aspects of the source.
As a model, my code of ethics has many virtues.

1 Receive strangers and outsiders with a loving heart and as members of the human family.

2. Always treat your guests with honor and consideration. Give your best food, your best blankets, the best part of your house, and your best service to your guests.

3. Respect: Respect means "to feel or show honor or esteem for someone or something; to consider the well being of, or treat someone or something with deference or courtesy."

a. Treat every person from the tiniest child to the oldest elder with respect at all times.

b. Special respect should be given to elders, parents, teachers, and community leaders.

c. No person should be made to feel put down by you; avoid hurting other hearts as you would avoid deadly poison.

d. Touch nothing that belongs to someone else (especially sacred objects) without permission or an understanding between you.

e. Respect the privacy of every person; never intrude on a person's private or quiet moment or personal space.

f. Never walk between people that are conversing.

g. Never interrupt people who are conversing.

h. Never speak about others in a negative way, weather they are present or not.

i. Treat the earth and other aspects of her with a deep respect. Show deep respect for the mineral world, the plant world, and the animal world. Do not pollute our earth; rise up with wisdom to defend her.

j. Show respect for the beliefs and religions of others.

k. Listen with courtesy to what others say, even if you feel that what they are saying is worthless, listen with your heart.

l. Respect the wisdom of the people in counsel. Once you give an idea to a council meeting it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the people. Respect demands that you listen intently to the ideas of others in council and that you do not insist that your idea prevails. Indeed you should freely support the ides of others if they are true and good, even if those are quite different from the ones you have contributed. The clash of ideas brings forth the spark of truth.

4. The hurt of one is the hurt of all; the honor of one is the honor of all.

5. Do not fill yourself with your own affairs, true happiness comes only to those who help others and share in friendship together.

6. Observe moderation and balance in all things.

7. Know those things that lead to your well-being and those things that lead to being harmed. When in doubt ask an elder or a friend for advice.

8. Listen to and follow the guidance given to your heart. Expect guidance to come in many forms: in meditation, dreams, times of quiet solitude, and in the words and deeds of elders and friends.

9. Continuously seek new and inventive ways to benefit the environment.