University of Utah, summer 2012
Exercise and Sport Science Fitness (ESSF) 1057 – Elementary Yoga
Instructor: Denise Druce
Assignment: Write a one page reflection about one of five universal morality yoga yamas and your experience in yoga this semester.
Is spam or junk email, also known as unsolicited bulk email, stealing? Are telephone and door knocking solicitors stealing your time? The yama Asteya means non-stealing, non-coveting, or non-entering into debt. According to Wikipedia, “These are a form of moral imperatives, commandments, rules or goals. Every religion has a code of conduct, or series of "do's and don'ts", and the Yamas represent one of the "don't" lists within Hinduism, and specifically, Raja Yoga”.
Related to junk email, time is another impressionable element of the definition of Asteya --- taking someone else’s time or attention when it was not freely given. Wow! How does this perspective of stealing by intrusive interruptions compare to extending invitations? If your child or friend demands some of your time is that stealing, or are they simply offering an invitation? On the other side of the coin, if we do not give our time to our child or friend are we stealing what they genuinely need from us? Maybe if the invitation is a polite offer that can be easily declined, it is not stealing. At the same time, if you leave your keys in the ignition, are you inviting someone to be tempted and steal your car? It seems like the consequences of Asteya implicate both parties. It appears selfishness and selflessness are close relatives of Asteya.
Is Asteya only applicable when some inanimate object is stolen? Some things that are stolen can be returned. Some things cannot be returned yet be compensated or paid for after the foul deed. Yet, some things that are stolen are irreplaceable and lost forever. For example, murder.
To expand the idea further, is Asteya like the higher Christian law of adultery, that is if you look on a woman and lust after her in your heart you have already committed adultery. How do our thoughts relate to stealing? Thoughts or the mind and more particularly the heart is a symbol for one’s true identity, courage, honesty, motives, loyalty, and moral character --- expressed in our behavior regardless of extenuating circumstances. The theft and injury of these thoughts therefore would be from and to oneself, to our own moral character.
Is stealing justified in some circumstances? The old adage, they took mine so I took theirs does not measure up to the spirit of the law in Asteya. This behavior is also known as revenge. Was Jean Valjean, in the book “Les Miserables” by Victor Hugo, justified for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving children? No, but that does not mean that justice requires punishment. Does Asteya mean that it would be stealing for us to withhold food from Valjean and his sister’s starving children? Who is the thief? Who is stealing from whom? Ouch!
Some will confuse the issue and twist the moral idea of stealing to avoid justice. They will now say that they are justified in stealing, but that too would be morally wrong. The key to answering the question about justice is to ask another question: are mercy and forgiveness also true principles similar to yamas Ahimsa or nonviolence and Daya or compassion? In other words, there is no justification for stealing. Simultaneously, the punishment for stealing can be mercy. For instance, after stealing the bishop’s silverware, we see the bishop giving mercy to Valjean instead of exercising justice and sending him back to prison. By the way a great movie was created from the book!
Another element of Yamas is the morality of right and wrong. Sadly many people in our society have lost their relative bearings to morality. Although a little complicated, relative bearing is a good analogy to the moral truths of yamas. Relative bearing is comparing the position of a physical object to the direction you are heading, like a lighthouse and a ship. So the truth in yama Asteya is something we can use in our personal life to help us know, and do what is right, in order to be happy.
Finally, this idea of yamas Asteya reminded me when Thomas S. Monson’s quoted David Brooks’ 2008 article in The New York Times, “If It Feels Right ...” where an “eminent Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith led a research team that conducted in-depth interviews with 230 young adults from across America … asking questions about right and wrong, moral dilemmas”.
“The default position, which most of them came back to again and again, is that moral choices are just a matter of individual taste. ‘It’s personal,’ the respondents typically said. ‘It’s up to the individual. Who am I to say?’
“Rejecting blind deference to authority, many of the young people have gone off to the other extreme [saying]: ‘I would do what I thought made me happy or how I felt. I have no other way of knowing what to do but how I internally feel.’”
We ask ourselves, are yamas like Asteya or stealing irrelevant and simply a matter of personal taste inconsequential to individual people or society? Are we without a moral conscience or responsibility to ourselves and others? Likewise, are the Ten Commandments true? My heart is shocked at the idea that some people believe there is no truth in Asteya or the belief that stealing is not morally wrong.
In conclusion, Asteya has made me think about honesty, ethics, stealing and my own behavior in a whole new light. May God help us --- your God and my God, regardless of religious differences --- to “Dare to Stand Alone” and “ever be courageous and prepared to stand for what we believe” is morally right. Stealing is never right. Justice, mercy, and forgiveness are always right, no matter what the circumstances.
Epilogue: Denise Druce is a fantastic Yoga instructor
with a superior talent of the awareness of each individual student. Also, she makes the course challenging yet gives
you the flexible to exercise at your own pace.
Feel free to comment and let me know what you think.
Thank you,
Michael Rybin~۩~
Architecture is a wonderful life ™
Copyright© 2012 Michael Rybin All Rights Reserved.
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