Manners and moral codes may alter, but not the structures that underlie. Ethics are the invisible scaffolding upon which our actions are built and without which life would be insupportable. Ethical conduct follows an unwritten law that runs in every part of the world, forming a path for all action. Becoming sensitive to its dictates is like acquiring taste, poise, or insight. Its invisible lines run laser-straight from our soul to the object of our consideration. Sensing the dynamic of that tug is like sailing a ship and having to be attentive to the winds and currents that move our vessel.
Ethics uphold the rights, privileges, and identity of every living soul: a maintenance that stretches to include the soul of what we may previously have considered inanimate or lifeless – the land, growing things, animals. Our subtle interrelatedness to all life walks these ethical lines – when we forget that interrelatedness – we sever them. If any action that we undertake warps or threatens to sever the soul-lines of ethical connection, we may be sure that there is something intrinsically wrong with our idea or our approach..
p. 11, Celtic Spirit, Caitlin Matthews.