Summer Swim illustration courtesy of Weather Girl Shop on Etsy
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about all the systems that surround us. Just take a look at the booklet that comes with a new charge card and imagine the intricate web that supports all those terms & conditions. Now, expand that to the level of the IRS and you’ll come to appreciate the sheer weight of these systems set in place to manage life. When I began reflecting about this month’s business ethics topic, I naturally folded it into my current line of thinking. I saw it as a grid like energy pattern set up between 2 parties. In this grid is all the information that’s needed to help the people of the world conduct business with one another. As a small business owner, I then imagined how this grid helped me to interact with my customers. What I asked myself next was quite intriguing, “Why do I need any system between myself and others?” I was curious, so I continued exploring.
I’m a visual thinker and so I often see things in my mind as I begin asking questions. I saw “business ethics” as a sphere of coded information buzzing around, but I wanted to know what was behind all those words. Looking deeper beyond the symbols of information, the bubble popped open and I very clearly saw what was in the center—the individual. You stand at the very core of your business ethics—nothing else. If you remove all the systems that surround you, what is left behind is just you standing on the Earth beneath the Creator (insert whatever words resonates with you). Keeping it very simple, you stand in your own 100% personal liability under Universal Law of Do No Harm. It’s a reset button that wakes us up from the duality of existence and opens our eyes to meaning of the Mayan greeting In La Kesh—I am another you.
