Good spiritual manners are worth having

"Good manners are just a way of showing other people that we have respect for them." Bill Kelly

- ARUNA LADVA

There was a time when manners were taught at school. We were taught how to behave, how to sit, how to speak, and so on. Politeness and good manners were a given and was the way we showed respect for one another. It seems with so-called new freedoms, manners have gone out the window.

Nowadays there is an immense amount of cyber bullying and trolling, where the culprit can remain anonymous and stay hidden, whilst the victim is left vulnerable, defenseless, and open to more of the same. There seems to be no accountability for the actions of the troublemakers.I wonder, would those individuals speak to people like that if they were literally in front of their victim and had to face the consequences of their actions - probably not. What gives us the permission to behave so badly 'online' simply because we can hide in the shadows? Ego and jealousy, born from a lack of self-worth and self-esteem, will not allow someone to appreciate the success of another.

We need to return to having good manners. Yes, it would be good to see a return to basic good manners, those of not slurping soup, and not interrupting others, speaking softly and not shouting, not pushing in and having a general bonhomie. However, there is another layer of manners, we could call it spiritual good manners, where the soul operates from a place of conscience and treats others as they would like to be treated. In other words, if we do not want to receive anything negative or abusive, then to be very mindful not to dish it out too freely to others. What happened to brotherly goodwill and good wishes and pure feelings?