When I was 16 my stepmother's peeps offered me a joint (weed). Since before I was born my father smoked (and sold) marijuana...still does. It was assumed that when I was old enough to hang with the adults I could join in, like a rights-of-passage ritual. When it happened I said, "No, thanks." There was no one stopping me and no reason not to except I had this idea in my head that I wanted to live a certain way. No one said to me smoking weed was wrong and there was nothing stopping me from picking up my Pop's habit. I decided for myself that wasn't for me.

As I matured, I added more things to my list of "don't dos" and that included church/religion to everyone's surprise because I was so active in church and interested in the Bible. There was no wrong or right, bad or good. I was not judging anyone who did these things but I started to know what my path was and what made sense for me to engage in (or not). Along the way I simply rebelled against anything that I felt made no sense for me.

Soon my life began to change...it began to suit me better. I was doing things based on how I wanted to live. Then, I discovered my inner self (purpose) and found the path to love...that took over 30 years.

I discovered that even the most religious or righteous could break their own codes while judging others who did the same. I found that priests and others could call themselves moral and harm others without a thought. Fathers (and mothers) could harm their children without thinking...anyone and everyone knew the rules and some even knew how to bend them to suit their needs. They were all conditioned to know right from wrong and, yet, they sought ways to destroy their environment, their loved ones, etc. without a single thought as to the consequences.

I observed that most people who seek power or act based on ego often preach morality but practice something else. Behind the ego is fear. Humans were/are destroying the planet based on fear like it's okay but killing another human is wrong. Having compassion and reverence for life requires valuing all things and oneself. When this is fostered it is less likely that a person will kill or harm someone or something else.

If folks can get past the fear they might discover that even in the midst of event there is peace and there are opportunities to love and trust in the universe. Without fear there is no reason to kill or harm others, no reason to seek power over others or judge what others do (out of fear).

We'll never see eye-to-eye because I don't see morality as innate. Once judgement is involved it becomes part of the illusion that we think protects us from the world.