Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom Bring A Compassionate Attitude

The more you practice the three trainings of ethics, meditation, and wisdom, the more difficult it will become for you to act in a way that is contrary to an ethical, compassionate attitude. Ethics arise naturally out of contemplating the three trainings. — Martine Batchelor, Meditation for Life.

I feel like I’ve written before about practice, practice, and practice. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers he talks a lot about his ten thousand hour rule of practice to become an expert. Imagine spending 10,000 hours practicing ethics, meditation, and ethics?

But most of us don’t have a spare ten thousand hours to “contemplate our navel,” as a friend once used to  describe meditation. Needless to say he hadn’t tried meditation and prayer as a discipline.

But wouldn’t it be nice to incorporate a few thoughts of ethics, meditation, and wisdom into our daily routine. Add to that a moment or two of pure compassion for a neighbor and the hours will start mounting up. How hard is it to write a note to a friend once a day?

We all fantasize at times about coming back after our demise to read our obituary or being a fly on the wall at our own funeral. Wouldn’t it be nice to hear, “He/She cared!”

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About the author

Webb Hubbell is the former Associate Attorney General of The United States. His novels, When Men Betray, Ginger Snaps, A Game of Inches, The Eighteenth Green, and The East End are published by Beaufort Books and are available online or at your local bookstore. When Men Betray won one of the IndieFab awards for best novel in 2014. Ginger Snaps and The Eighteenth Green won the IPPY Awards Gold Medal for best suspense/thriller. His latest, “Light of Day” will be on the bookstands soon.