"If one lives considerately and generously, one lives morally."
Stanley Kauffman, "Me You Them".
The New Republic, March 26, 2001, p. 26.
It's such a beautiful thought and probably the correct one. We tend to think of ourselves as an advanced people, thus requiring elaborate systems of thought, be they religious (Christian, Hindu etc.), literary (classical, romantic, post-modern etc.) or whatever. But isn't the ultimate system of thought/morality is hardwired into humanity?
I know that I'm not the first to have this idea, but I write this node as a call out to everyone who is looking for themselves -- don't let your belief system squash your humanity, make the system accept it as you define it on a daily basis.
As an example of daily morality, let me cite from my tradition, a tradition that sadly has a hard time acting this way sometimes:
John 4
In this chapter Christ drinks some water with a local whore. When his disciples return and find him with her they are stunned. They are holy men, and are concerned that he will be sullied by her presence. On top of that, she is a Samaritan and he is a Jew. Jews and Samaritans do not associate with each other. Yet Christ does so anyway. Why? There are several reasons but the reason for the purpose of this node is because it was the moral thing to do.