A tiny spark of wisdom

Do you have a code?
I do.
What do I mean?
My code is a way of life. It determines what I can do and what I can’t. I’m not talking about following laws, rituals, or beliefs. The Law says you cannot kill another. Many of you might say that you couldn’t kill another human being. Bullshit! Picture this – I’m in your home, walking toward you child with a knife in my hand and you have a shotgun. Would you let me kill you child just so you could avoid killing a man? I don’t think so. Any man or woman is capable of killing given the right situation. Show me a man that says he can’t kill and I’ll show you a liar.
Laws have nothing to do with the code.
The code is what we let ourselves do and what we will not let ourselves do. I’m not talking about breaking laws – a man who lives as part of society should honour the society’s law that’s just right.
A code has to be adamantine; unbreakable no matter the cost – and it will cost you dearly; believe me I know. But one thing you won’t have is regret. Regret is merely the consequence of a decision you know to be wrong. Don’t misunderstand me; I have regrets, many of them – I wasn’t born with the code it has slowly built itself over the years like a jigsaw puzzle – you can’t tell exactly what it is until the final piece is in place. But there are advantages to the code. It frees me from uncertainty it makes some choices no choice at all.

I will tell you what my code is; I don’t expect you to follow it or to believe. I am not all knowing and I am most certainly not perfect but I seldom make the same mistake twice and I have found… Harmony of a sort. If you are interested then read on.

1. However noble your actions they must bring no harm to an innocent. Violence can be a necessity but never against an innocent.

2. No matter whom the person or their situation never set yourself above another but never allow another to demean you. If one looks down on another they do but lower themselves.

3. Never judge another – judgements are cast in stone; unalterable. Use your senses, your knowledge and your instinct to form an opinion. Opinions are fluid and can always change.

4. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. That feeling, that doubt is instinct; always listen to instinct – it will never fail you.

5. Don’t fear death. If you believe as I do that there is more than this existence it is merely the passage to the next incarnation. If you believe that this life is it then death is an end to pain; the final release.

6. Never stop learning, never stop growing, never stop fighting. Life is not bliss; life is the stormy ocean with swells and troughs embrace the bad for without it how would we appreciate what is good?

7. Never be ashamed of who you are. You are part of the great song like any other; they have their part and you yours; no-one’s part is more important than another’s. Every note is important in the melody of the great song.

8. All we can do is find our path and follow it. Sometimes you will have to fight, sometimes you will have to run and sometimes you will have to ask. It is never pleasant to do any but sometimes it is necessary. Trust your instinct to know when it is necessary.

9. If something must be done then do it; don’t waste energy asking yourself if you can do it – convince yourself that you will fail and failure will follow.

This is my code; the iron bands that bind my life. They do not give me happiness they do not bring me joy but every day when I wake, every day I follow my path they light my way; they straighten my back they sustain me. And if I am wrong? Then in the fullness of time I will answer for my mistakes; I will not flinch nor deny. I will not run nor will I hide for this is my code. Embrace it if you will, follow it if you dare or be wise and humble enough to find your own.