We know we have the capacity for love (the most remarkable) and for empathy. We also have a sense of truth and of honesty.
Honor, in my opinion, is right up there with all of those.
Love, honor, truth, honesty and empathy are all very important qualities that we are currently re-learning as a species.
Honor is a very interesting aspect of the human psyche. Honor, it seems, may not pay for much in the material world, but it is of vital importance in the spiritual development of an individual.
THE TIMES OF CHIVALRY
There used to be a time where honor was paramount.
Whether true or fantasy, in the time of knights, concepts like chivalry or honor-bound behavior were well and truly alive.
In those days long gone, a man or woman would put honor before material riches, face dangers honorably and even prefer physical death over a dishonorable outcome.
These were the days of noble behavior.
Today, although honor is still present in the psyche, many people tend to choose a life that for various reasons prefers material security and profit over honour.
WHAT IS HONOR?
And why is it so important?
Let’s first talk about what honor is not. Honor is not moral or morality. Morality is a learned concept that has been brainwashed into us and is a mental concept that serves to control people.
Honor, the way I experience it, is a sense of inner truth and love that will always guide me to right action in the world.
It is one of the most powerful inner archetypal aspect of the psyche.
If I act dishonorable, it is impossible to find inner peace until honor itself is restored. I might cover up my dishonorable behavior, I might lie to myself about it, I might distract myself as much as I want to but in the middle of the night in know that what I have done was not honorable.
So honor is an energy that necessary to feel fulfilled, courageous, clear and pure.
EXAMPLES OF ACTION BASED IN HONOR
Really, any action can be honorable or not, but mainly, in today’s society, the honor principle mostly refers to work, money, relationships, sexuality, communication and power.
WORK
How many people can honestly say that they have a work ethic based on honor?
Quite a few people do, actually, but many will, simply because of understandable material pressures, choose any work that pays the bills, even if the work demands many compromises and is hardly enjoyable.
In case you have that situation, the honor principle will ask you do the best you possibly can in your job, to fulfill the contract you signed. In that way, honor is served.
If, however, you complain and bicker about your work, you go against your own honor and would be better off to get another, more fulfilling job.
RELATIONSHIPS
Many people are prone lie to their partners or friends to keep some sort of surface peace. Keep up a facade.
Unfortunately, when you lie to cover up something else, that lie will fester inside you and destroy the love that is gently trying to grow in your life time. Honor will ask you to speak the truth.
Relationships are there to help us grow in love. Many love relationships actually start off this way but end up in something entirely different, which is not love.
Many so called love relationships are more like companionship or material arrangements until the kids have grown. Such relationships may assure the financial security of the family home but for sure does not teach the children about love and honor.
Why not? Because when love is not honored in a relationship, that relationship will go sour sooner or later and leave a sense of half-life in everybody that is involved.
Much better to have relationships that are based on honor, honesty, truth and love.
MONEY AND POWER
Currently this world is run by a slave-like “money for service” mentality. Many people are forced to forego their honor because of financial needs. That is understandable because a lack of money will bring up a lot of fears.
Many others however, are willingly foregoing their honor (and love/empathy) to create (insane) amounts of money to create a temporary and false sense of power.
However, there is more to us human beings than money-hunger and power-craving. We are also spiritual beings that thrive under the influence of love.
The truth is that unless you can truly look yourself into the eye (in the mirror, all by yourself and nobody around) and sense the honorable being that you are, you will never, ever grow near into what can be called a spiritually enlightened being.
Yes, you might have all the financial clout in the world, be a power broker that holds the stock market in your hands, but to be a truly loving, honorable, honest and truthful being is an entirely different matter.
There is nothing wrong with money, there is nothing wrong with power. I enjoy both. But unless all the money and power are used to create more love, truth and life, it is just a waste of precious resources.
SEXUALITY
There is a huge difference between a healthy, honorable sexuality and what is known as sex.
Sexual abuse and power abuse are the current keywords that are raging like wildfire through the acting- and political world.
Sex and power is what you mostly see on TV and the movies (alongside torture and other forms of abuse).
A healthy sexuality is very different. It is based on love and honor, grace and a natural flow of beauty.
COMMUNICATION
I wrote a lot about communication in my last blog. In short, talk about the good things in life, stay true to the situation you are in, acknowledge beauty when you see it.
Open up and show how beautiful you are. Be sincere and talk from your own inherent intelligence. Avoid becoming a talking robot.
This way, you honor love and life in communication.
Is a mother or father that sacrifices his or her whole life for the kids honorable? You bet!
Is a man or woman who follows her own inner truth, disregarding societal pressures and /or financial short-comings honorable? Absolutely!
Is a man or woman that creates a work ethic which is based on truth, love and professionalism honorable? Well, these are the people that I like to hang out with.
Is a man or woman who sacrifices everything in order to find true love in life honorable? Yes!!! This is maybe the rarest form of honor and it is certainly the most rewarding in terms of being fulfilled in life.
Now, in your own opinion, is what is written in newspapers honorable? Hmmm?
Are politicians honorable? Maybe they are, but it looks like most are being dragged down by political power play as they go along.
Is sports honorable? Our way of treating animals? Our banking system? You can make up your own mind.
EVERYBODY KNOWS HONOR!
Please notice that honor is certainly not a foreign concept.
Most movies are based on honor as their main theme, the superhero puts his/her own life on the line to selflessly save the world.
And we love the movies, Marvel is doing a great job as the fearless avengers and honorable agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. save the world over and over again.
But really, how about your own honor?
Do you honor your work mates? Do you honor you partner? Your friends?
Do you honor life?
Many people honor your ancestors? Easy, isn’t it? Easy to honor them, as they are not here anymore.
You honor your guru, teacher, professor, prime minister, the lineage and the tradition? Fair enough, if they were really all so honorable as they are made out to be.
But in the now, this life, here, to how many people have you said that you really honor their contribution to your life? Into their face (over a glass of wine maybe?)
And above all, do you honor yourself?
You have all the wisdom of the world in you. Do you honor that?
Do you honor the love that you are, the friend that you are, the contribution that you give to others?
Can you honor that you can change people’s lives for the better, that you are a wonderful partner, that you contribute to the truth of life?
Can you honor that you are truly exceptional, that there is nobody like you and that you have the power to change the world?
Can you see what you are doing when you live your life in harmony with the honor principle of honor ?
Love, life, truth, honesty and true knowledge of what life is all about are yours when you live your life in in honor.
And lastly, honor is stronger than even death, as you can learn from the Arthurian myth (King Arthur – This is not just a myth, because if you feel inside you know the truth of it)
So one day, when physical death becomes a reality for you, you can smile at death and know that you have lived a life of honor and love. When that happens you can let go of your physical being fulfilled.
In my experience, there is nothing that can give me more trouble than living an honorless, loveless life.
And there is nothing that gives me more peace and fulfillment than knowing that I have lived my life honoring love and and he great mystery of life itself.
Sincerely
