Note: A small section after the article explains more about INIT and The Seven.

Our INIT group received a message from The Seven ethereal beings in the autumn of 1996 through a telephone answering device in Luxembourg. Here’s an important excerpt:

We, The Seven of the Rainbow People, have decided to help and support the way chosen by you in INIT. It is the way of morals, which means to understand, to acknowledge, to devise, and to act…. Your meeting in Tarrytown is a decisive one… to make true the dream of a strong international association based on morals and on ethics, by giving it not only a fundamental constitution… but also by strengthening love and friendship true, the best qualities of mankind. — hear the complete messge….

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There seem to be two main things that keep a group strong and stable:

1. Morals, which come from inside us (or in-beyond of us) in the form of finer spiritual values, and
2. Ethics, which come from the social groups around us.

Morals Let Us Shine From Within

Morals are what every living thing (presumably) uses to chart a stable course in life. It means:

• To understand (to have a general sense of) the perfection of the source with its built-in motivations for love, kindness, gratitude, and desire to serve,
• To acknowledge that perfection,
• To devise ways to make our lives (and our world) as perfect as we can in the present circumstances, and
• To act accordingly.

In which case, morals start within us (or, more accurately, in-beyond of us), then get shaped by our conscious choices. (At the end we’ll explore ways to fine-tune ourselves so that we typically make the right moral choices.)

Ethics Shape Us From the Outside

Ethics, on the other hand, are created largely outside of ourselves, by our groups and by society. Their purpose here on Terra is to try to keep things straight in a tangled world. They spell out what’s appropriate or inappropriate, right or wrong.

Like branches and stems that touch every leaf, flower, berry, and thorn in a thick, wild bramble, ethics in world society touch everyone and every group as they spell out rules, responsibilities, standards, and values at many levels:

• Global ethics (UN mandates, treaties, multinational policies…) deal with wars, basic human rights, use of the oceans, protection of the atmosphere and the environment, Internet stability, standards to promote compatibility, international business practices, and other concerns that affect the whole world.
• National ethics (highest government laws and policies) deal with transportation and communication networks, health and safety, education, welfare, military, firearms, addictive substances, epidemics, taxes, and other concerns that affect the whole country.
• Social ethics (state, provincial, and local laws and regulations) deal with roads and bridges, traffic, waste disposal, utilities, land use, taxes, and so on. Businesses, clubs, churches, neighborhoods, homeowners’ associations, and other groups all create their own ethical codes. Family ethics might include chores, bedtimes, dinnertimes, and other household rules. Together, all of these social groups weave a complex network of ethics (rights and wrongs) that urge social stability and touch us all.
• Personal ethics. Most of us have at least a basic sense of what society deems right and wrong—and within that we also follow our own unique ethics (shaped largely by our brains, hormones, and DNA) that evolve over time to fine-tune our habits for grooming, eating, getting dressed, exercising, staying healthy, sleeping, choosing friends, having sex, getting along with others, and so on.

Basically, all of these ethics are just a vast, multilevel network of rules of right and wrong, and they’re vital in a world of drama and conflict—a world like Terra… a sometimes contentious world with predators, parasites, and competitors. Most of us have at least a vague sense of what’s ethically right and wrong, and we try to live our lives accordingly… but it’s often a struggle.

Morals or Ethics: Which Is More Important

There’s really no contest between moral living and ethical living here on Terra, because we need both during a lifetime, for different reasons.

• Ethical living protects us from Earth’s dangers (and from being dangerous to others) by urging us to make the right (ethical) choice, which might not always be the right moral choice.
• Moral living attunes us to the perfection of the source so that by nature we tend to make the right (moral) choice, which might not always be the right ethical choice.

Competition is a good example of the moral/ethical dichotomy. Living on Earth often calls for a degree of competitiveness—trees compete for sunlight, animals compete for food and mating rights, and we humans compete for all sorts of reasons—which is ethically fine in most modern societies—even expected. However, competition is morally wrong (in the purest sense of the term “morals”). Competition generally has a win-lose outcome… and losing is at odds with the source, which flourishes on win-win, live-and-let-live relationships.

At least, that’s what I believe, based on what I’m coming to understand about the source. Life-energy emitted by the source seems to be a bundle of motivations and values that nourish the entire cosmos and urge everything to flourish with vitality, love, truth, knowledge, and other catalysts that ensure win-win (mutualistic) and live-and-let-live (commensalistic) behavior. Any sort of win-lose behavior (i.e. predatory, parasitic, and competitive behavior) is at odds with the cosmos, since it doesn’t resonate with the source.

It’s why life on Earth is such a moral-ethical struggle. Predators, parasites, and competitors go against the general rule throughout the cosmos, as explained below):

• No competitors. Imagine a civilization with no competitive sports, no crime, no drama… where everyone comes together in like-minded groups in which cooperation is a way of life. That would be a moral civilization, and most of us humans might find it a bit boring. Our bodies are built to handle the stress that comes from living among competitors. Our brains, DNA, and hormones can give us a little thrill in competitive situations… and we’ve come to accept that as normal. Hence the need for ethics, which decide which competitive activities are acceptable, and which are not.

• No predators. Or, imagine a civilization without predators, in which living things never stalk*, hurt, or kill each other, not even for food, since everyone and everything is nourished by free life-energy. Again, that seems to be the rule of the cosmos, but Terra is an exception. Most living things on Earth eat other living things to supplement their nourishment, which makes us all “immoral.” Being a vegetarian (eating only plants) doesn’t necessarily solve that problem, as scientists today are finding that plants are conscious, ethical beings too, and simply mowing a field can be traumatic to millions of plants. (However, Terra does seem to have devised ways for moral eating, such as milk, honey, nectar, fruit, and other substances designed mainly to be eaten.)
• No parasites. Or, imagine a civilization without parasites, in which living things never take what doesn’t belong to them. At first glance, the cosmos seems like a parasitic place—everything sucking life-energy from the source. Actually, though, everything belongs to the source, the source belongs to everything, and everything, ideally, receives all it needs to flourish in the form of life-energy. So it’s not really “parasitic.” On Earth we think in terms of ownership and possessions. The organs, tissues, and body fluids in an organism belong to the organism. The people, products, and resources of a nation belong to the nation, and so on. If we take what “belongs” to someone else (parasitic behavior), the results might include arguments, crime, war, and other causes of suffering.

*I use a broad definition of the word stalk: to devise ways to harm someone or something, and then to act on those impulses.

So Earth, with all of its predators, parasites, and competitors, isn’t a moral world. We might wonder, why even consider moral living during a lifetime? Is it even possible?

That’s why humanity down through the ages has come to rely on ethics as a back-up to morals. There are earthy situations when moral choices can be problematic… like a sparring partner turning the other cheek, or an honest politician succumbing to the popular lying and cheating of his opponent, or a peaceful country that’s attacked by an aggressive neighbor, or parents who learn that they’ve hired a predatory babysitter….

Sometimes we humans have to set aside our morals in order to protect ourselves against hostile forces that threaten our well-being and survival.

But even that’s debatable.

Pros and Cons of Moral Living on Terra

There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to living a moral life on Earth.

Pros

According to great spiritual teachers, the benefits of moral living are vast, even if they’re sometimes difficult… even painful. Let’s consider some practical examples of the advantages of moral living.

• Jesus and pacifism. When we’re subject to aggression (struck on the cheek, for example), Jesus of Nazareth said, simply, turn the other cheek. In other words, in the face of aggression, defuse the violence by not reacting. Become a pacifist. That’s a noticeable benefit of pacifism—deescalating conflict—but the invisible benefits are far greater, according to Jesus and other great masters. Moral living raises our spiritual vibration, which invites finer spiritual forces to support us in our daily lives. That fine vibration also acts as a homing signal to carry us to wonderful afterlife scenarios after we die… when we return to our spiritual roots.
• Buddha and nondesire. But pacifism isn’t the only way to reap those spiritual rewards; nondesire works too. When we crave money and other worldly things, it’s a sign that we’re neglecting the source with its life-energy—what many Buddhists call the universal life force. Gautama Buddha laid out steps to open the channels to the life force by overcoming our desires that keep us earthy and make us suffer. The benefits of following those steps? Inner peace amid Earth’s drama and, ultimately, enlightenment and oneness.
• Rumi and oneness. This 13^th Century Persian mystic said, “Don’t feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.” In other words, we can rise above Earth’s dramas by accessing the source of everything that rests at the center of our being. We’re never “lonely” when we feel a oneness with the all-that-is.

These are just a few examples (pacifism, nondesire, and oneness) of how moral living helps us enjoy mutualistic (win-win) and commensalistic (live-and-let-live) relationships with others, without being predatory, parasitic, or competitive. It lets us tread lightly on the planet during a lifetime, and then earns us a ticket to paradise after we die.

Cons

But there are drawbacks to moral living on Earth too, especially pure moral living, or being in harmony with the perfect source:

• Nondesire and poverty. Renouncing our desires for things could lead to poverty.
• Pacifism and vulnerability. Pacifists are more susceptible to predators, parasites, and competitors.
• Abstinence and alienation. Avoiding drugs and alcohol (which often stir up competitive, parasitic, and predatory behavior) can exclude us from social groups where people partake.
• Celibacy and its problems. Repressing our sexuality can cause physical tension and emotional distress.
• Fasting and hunger. If we refused to eat anything that had to suffer to become our food, most of us would probably starve. (… see the “Cattle Madness” article on pages 9 and 10 of this linked journal… )

A good working definition of morality on Earth, then, is 1) to understand the perfection of the source, 2) to acknowledge it, 3) to devise ways to live as morally as possible without causing suffering for others or for ourselves, and 4) to behave accordingly.

If we were to add another step tailored for us humans, it might be 5) Foster conscious contact with the source, if only for a few minutes, in order to experience peace. Meditation and contemplative prayer can help us to rise above the influences of our hormones and brains—to transcend our egos—in order to feel guided by oneness and a desire to serve. So… try to resonate with the source.

Striving To Resonate with the Source

Everything that’s right and good is embodied in the pure life-energy (or source light) that radiates from the center of everyone and everything, as suggested in this pulled-apart diagram of a person. That seems to be the simple truth at work throughout the cosmos: All is connected to the source. All is one. All is good.

Bad things happen here on Terra because our connection to the source is compromised. That’s why life in this wild world gets painful. Or as Cat Stevens says, it’s why ‘a lot of nice things turn bad out there.’

Only good is embodied in the source that shines at the center of everything, including us, so we can simply contact our inner light to know what’s right. There are techniques that we humans can use (especially meditation and contemplative prayer) to slowly foster a resonance with those stabilizing forces that shine brightly at the center of us… at the center of everything in the cosmos. (read more… )

Personal use of those techniques can bring us peace—a peace that spreads into the groups we belong to and out into world.

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Closing Note: More About INIT and The Seven

I helped Maggy and Jules Harsch-Fischbach arrange (with guidance from Juliet Hollister) the first annual meeting of INIT in 1995 (in Dartington, England). The couple had been receiving unprecedented spirit communications via TV, radio, computer, telephone, and other devices in recent years, and we hoped to spread those breakthroughs to a wider community of researchers.

The following year, shortly before our second meeting (here in the USA, in Tarrytown), we received the message (mentioned at the beginning) from The Seven ethereal beings who were facilitating our ITC bridge from behind the scenes.

The Seven told us on other occasions that they’d been watching and supporting humanity across the eons, and I’ve come to believe that they’re the same ethereal beings who’ve made their presence known to many cultures in many eras. They’re probably the Seven Archangels known by Jews, Christians, and Muslims; the seven matrikas and seven rishis known by Hindus, the seven happy gods of Japanese lore, the seven Hathors of ancient Egypt, and much, much more. It makes sense that if those Seven have been with us across the eons, their presence would have been known and talked about by our ancestors.