“I never graduated from college. I got caught cheating in my ethics exam!”
Ethics, as per Wikipedia is, defined as a branch of  philosophy that involves regulating, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behaviour. It is also defined as that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. Now this sounds so simple, but how do we practice it? Day in and day out. How do I know if something I do or say is right or wrong? Aren’t these relative concepts? What is right for someone may be wrong for someone else. Can we ever define absolute right and wrong? Don’t they change with times and with cultures?
Let’s see if we can come up with some basic filters through which we can pass our thoughts, words and deeds to know if they are ethical. I am using thoughts and words too, since they denote the motives of an action. And they are subtle things which do as much damage or good as physical acts do.
1. Triple Filter There is a story about Socrates. In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”
“Hold on a m i n u t e , ” S o c r a t e s r e p l i e d . “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure  that what you are about to tell me is true?”
“Well, no,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…” “All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now, let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”
“Umm, no, on the contrary…” “So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about my friend, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left—the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?” “No, not really.”
“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?” Isn’t this a filter we can all use in our daily conversations? It is simple to apply. And words are the foundations for actions.
2. Filter of natural acceptance You might wonder if ethics are indeed universal. Let’s understand a little more deeply. Basically ethical living is nothing but living in harmony with yourself, your family, the society and the environment. Societies, governments and other organisations form rules and regulations, codes of conduct only for enabling harmonious operations. But there are rules of the land.
Individuals as well as organisations are bound to behave as per those rules. If rules don’t exist, we believe there might be chaos and anarchy. One of the rules of behaviour is to be on the right side of the law. Always follow rules and enable others to do the same. However, there are certain areas of life where there are no laws – and that is where the filter of natural acceptance comes handy.
The workshop on human values or Jeevan Vidya gives this filter or test for any action, word or thought. Is what I am doing acceptable to me?
To any human being (in fact living being may be the right word here, given the amount of damage being done to the environment, plants and animals)? Is this acceptable to anyone living at any time or any place in this world?
This process of questioning is what every thinker and philosopher has encouraged, in every century! Do not behave with preconditioned mind.
If you find yourself in a profession, which is doing something that does not pass the filter of natural acceptance or is trying to evade laws, you should not be part of that organisation.
Human needs

In every social or professional transaction between two or more persons, the end result should be a sense of fulfillment for all the parties. Such a sense will be felt if there is mutual trust and respect between the parties. Most conflicts occur when people feel a sense of violation of trust or respect. Similarly, the transaction must maintain justice. These words are not being used just to sound good. If you apply the filter of natural acceptance, you are bound to take actions that are beneficial.
Do you want to be related to people or compete with people? Do you want the feeling of prosperity? Do you want to be fearless? Do you want equality? Do you want others to be happy or do you want to make others happy? Do you want to compete with nature or be in a mutually fulfilling relationship with nature? Do you want to grow, evolve?
You can try out these questions with your friends, elders, even strangers! The answers will be universally same, if they are answered from your inner self, from your gut so to say!
Keep these answers in your mind, about other people with whom you interact. Know that underneath, every human being is same.
Usually, importance is given to having your own opinion, on being “unique”, being “special”. In reality, we’re usually just going with the flow, and not questioning the systems around us, forgetting that the system is made by us. We are as much a part of the system that we blame.
Ethics is nothing but becoming conscious of this oneness of human beings and nature. It is about giving up the conditioning that we receive through our culture, our scriptures, the stereotypes, the media, the belief system and environment. Most of the times these  conditioned responses come from our subconscious mind, and we just become perpetuators of the system.
Hence, the practice of thinking on your own – in terms of ‘natural acceptance’ is the key to living a life that promotes ethics. You will realise that every individual can live in this way and that is the only way you can show others what ethics is. Not by preaching. In fact, the only way you can influence anyone is by living these values yourself.
3. Exploitation vs. dignity Look at the history of mankind. There are thousands of examples of the ‘haves’ exploiting the ‘have nots’ . Now this ‘have’ can be moreof
· Physical strength
· Land
· Money
· Power
· Social Status
· Education
Though some people or countries may do it very blatantly, all of us are guilty of this exploitation at some level or the other in our lives. Notice how our behaviour with people more powerful than us in any way is different from people who are less powerful. Most often, we don’t do it consciously.
I was recently reminded of this behaviour by my niece who has stayed abroad for a decade now. She pointed out that our tone of voice itself is different when we talk to auto drivers, maid servants, security guards etc. In India, probably they also get used to this. However, she said in some other cultures, such people are also addressed as equals and also spoken to in polite terms. I really thought about her point and decided to speak politely to everyone in my daily routine.
So wherever you work or whichever situation you are in, ask yourself if you are feeling inferior or superior to the other person or persons. See if you would have handled the situation differently in the opposite case. You should neither exploit or be exploited. You may say, “ok, I can decide not to exploit someone but how can I control the other person, prevent him/her from taking advantage of me?”
Here is a where a bit of self-esteem comes in. Irrespective of your education, your skills and your social status – learn to value yourself as a human being. If you can learn to accept and love yourself, slowly you will see that others also value you. If you allow yourself to be treated shabbily, you will find people taking advantage of you. In short, treat others with dignity and treat yourself with dignity too!
4. Conflicts in relationships - fairness

While speaking or demanding service can be a mild form of exploitation, there are more violent forms as well.  In fact, in the natural acceptance filter, one of the key parameters is also ‘justice’, as mentioned above. Most conflicts that occur whether in the family, social, regional or linguistic in nature, or about religion, even at the international level have their root in some form of perceived injustice to a section of people.
We must be conscious of this fact. And ensure that what we say or do should result in a ‘fair’ dealing. It is also necessary sometimes to ensure that the fairness is explained. There is an old quote “It is not enough to be just. You should also appear to be so”. Also, we need to understand that equality is not always fairness.
A favourite picture of mine is this. How fair is this equal test?
Any relationship between two people must be based on mutual trust – which means each one never doubts the intentions of the other. Sometimes when problems crop up, they are to be seen as coming due to lack of knowledge to deal with it. This topic was dealt once in this magazine at great length.

5. Ethics in public domain - Corruption

The buzzword these days is corruption. The scams you hear of run into lakhs of crores. And the people who are accused have everything they can ask for. They are not doing it for their need, but for their greed. But isn’t there someone who is willingly feeding their greed?
Where does this start? It is like the popular ‘chicken and egg’ problem. Those who have to get things done from the system would say that the system is corrupt and they have no choice but to yield. Usually corruption sets in at any level because of three major reasons:
1. You are trying to get something which you are not entitled for – this can be anything from applying after a deadline to seeking favours where there is some chance of discretion by the official
2. You are trying to avoid a punishment or penalty that you have to go through
3. You don’t want to wait for things to happen in their ‘due’ course, you want fast action

My daughter insists on having all the papers with her when she drives. And if ever she is caught, she pays the challan or goes to the police station. She thinks that spending five minutes extra is always the right thing. She also works in an organisation which values ethics and honesty.
A fourth way corruption sets in is when people ‘gift’ out of ‘happiness’ for some work accomplished. After a while, those service providers expect others also to ‘gift’ them. This practice is seen in all the ‘inaams’ that we have to shell out during Dasara and Deepavali to the municipality workers, the postmen, the security guards etc. Even technicians and repairmen of telephones and electronic appliances expect a little tip with ‘happiness’ on the service completed. You may even ask how different is this from the ‘tip’ we have to shell out at hotels and restaurants?
I behave in three different ways here – sometimes a person really goes out of the way or beyond his duty to set things right for you or help you. Genuinely I feel like rewarding him. At other times, the reward expected by that person is a very small amount and you feel it’s OK to give. But sometimes, even if the amount is small, I get annoyed because the person is ‘outright demanding’ it. The most popular case is the auto drivers who demand more money. Sometimes they even claim the meter is not working. Even if it means a little inconvenience to self, I generally insist on getting into a proper auto. Once, however, I was floored by an auto driver who said, “Madam, you give us these lectures about honesty just for the sake of ten rupees. What are you able to do with companies who charge you high premiums for products or services which don’t cost so much?” Very true! How do we resolve such contradictions in our own value system?
Why do we give a ten percent tip to a waiter w i t h o u t batting an eyelid, just to maintain our ‘social  status’ while we quarrel with an auto driver?
The use of ‘agents’ - Recall your own e n c o u n t e r s w i t h g o v e r nme n t machinery like traffic police, v e h i c l e regi stration, driving licence, medical certificates, land/house registration etc. Using agents is also one form of encouraging corruption. Except that when in this case, you don’t directly give the bribes.
Even I used to use ‘agents’ to get things done and think that the premium I pay is a ‘service charge’ for the  many rounds I will have to do in that office. We employ agents also because we are ‘afraid’ that the regular process may be very difficult or cumbersome. However, recently I got a new car registered all by myself and realised that contrary to my beliefs, it was quite easy to follow the process and feel satisfied at the end.
Use of e-governance services reduces corruption Corruption happens whenever there is a human interaction. By minimising such interaction points, you can minimise bribing and flouting rules. Many citizen services are now available online and you should use them wherever possible. The use of internet is a great boon. You can get things done faster and easier!
6. Admitting mistakes To err is human….we have heard this quote hundreds of times. So the best of us also are
prone to make mistakes. Sometimes these mistakes are minor and the effects are reversible, however, some mistakes may cause irreversible damage. Whether a mistake is minor or major, the code of ethics is to have the courage to admit it.
In professional life, it is important to gain the skills and knowledge required to do your job. It is important to pay attention to the details. Never let something pass your hands without ensuring that it is done well. Never assume that the customer or the boss is anyway not going to look at it and so you can get away with mistakes.
You put in good work to meet your own standards and the professional standards, not because someone is going to catch you. If despite your efforts, mistakes have occurred, be upfront even if it means punishment or losing your job. Admit your mistake and try to correct it. Most important, never repeat it. When you are upfront, in most cases people are considerate. But you can’t repeat this behaviour – if you do it too often, others will give up on you.
7. Using resources at work place This is a very popular practice in India – to bring office pens, pencils and paper for kids at home. In fact, kids look forward to them! Do you think that is right? By now, you should
know the answer. Office supplies seem too obvious. Nowadays probably the office supplies are not tangible things like papers and pens. But how about using office time to do personal work? An occasional emergency is alright, but not often. Using office phones and internet for personal use is also unethical. Several offices do block social networking and music sites, but  many companies are quite liberal. That doesn’t mean employees should use those left and right. Also, be aware that all internet traffic and PBX  phone calls are logged in the company’s servers  and are open to audit. So don’t get caught on the wrong foot!
Here is a neat summary of how to practice ethics in your life…