Native American
Traditional Code of Ethics
- Each morning upon rising and each evening before sleeping, give
thanks for the life within you and all life, for the good things the Creator
has given you and for the opportunity to grow a little more each day.
Consider your thoughts and actions of the past day and seek for the courage
and strength to be a better person. Seek for the things that will benefit
others (everyone).
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- Respect: Respect means "To feel or show honor or esteem for someone
or something; to consider the well being of, or to treat someone or something
with deference or courtesy.". Showing respect is a basic law of life.
- Treat every person from the tiniest child to the oldest elder
with respect at all times.
- Special respect should be given to Elders, Parents, Teachers,
and Community Leaders.
- No person shall be made to feel "Put Down" by you; avoid hurting
others hearts as you would avoid a deadly poison.
- Touch nothing that belongs to someone else (especially Sacred
Objects) without permission, or an understanding between you.
- Respect the privacy of every person, never intrude on a person's
quiet moment or personal space.
- Never walk between people that are conversing.
- Never interrupt people that are conversing.
- Speak in a soft voice, especially when you are in the presence
of Elders, Strangers or others to whom special respect is due.
- Do not speak unless invited to do so at gatherings where Elders
are present (except to ask what is expected of you, should you be in
doubt).
- Never speak about others in a negative way, whether they are
present or not.
- Treat the earth and all her aspects as your mother.
Show deep respect for the mineral world, the plant world, and the animal
world. Do nothing to pollute our mother, rise up, in wisdom to defend
her.
- Show deep respect for the beliefs and religion of others.
- Listen with courtesy to what others say, even if you feel that
what they are saying is worthless. Listen with your heart.
- Respect the wisdom of the people in council. Once you give an
idea to a council meeting, it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to
the people. Respect demands that you listen intently to the ideas of
others in council and that you do not insist that your idea prevail.
Indeed you should freely support the ideas of others if they are true and
good, even if those ideas are quite different from the ones you have
contributed. This clash of ideas brings forth the Spark of Truth.
- Once a council has decided something in unity, respect demands
that no one speak secretly against what has been decided. If the council
has made an error, that error will become apparent to everyone in its
own time.
- Be truthful at all times, under all conditions.
- Always treat your guests with honor and consideration. Give of
your best food, your best blankets, the best part of your house, and the
best service to your guests.
- The hurt of one is the hurt of all, the honor
of one is the honor of all.
- Receive strangers and outsiders with a loving heart and as members
of the human family.
- All the races and tribes in the world are
like the different colored flowers of one meadow. All are beautiful.
As children of the Creator they must all be respected.
- To serve others, to be of some use to family, community, nation
and the world is one of the main purposes for which human beings have
been created. Do not fill yourself with your own
affairs and forget your most important talks. True happiness
comes only to those who dedicate their lives to the service of others.
- Observe moderation and balance in all things.
- Know those things that lead to your well-being, and those things
that lead to your destruction.
- Listen to and follow the guidance given to your heart. Expect
Guidance to come in many forms; in prayer, in dreams, in times of quiet
solitude, and in the words and deeds of wise Elders and friends.
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