We don’t know, we can’t know and never probably will know the full extent of consequences of things we do or not do. There are just too many variables to be sure and predict to whom your good or bad deed might reverberate something to push them into a ripple of their own.

Within the ethical meta space of lacking definition of one all-encompassing morality of conscious beings, asides from the religious traditions or cultural practices dependent on the accidental place of your birth or historical moment, the thing that remains true and is threaded through all of the theories on how to live a worthwhile, truly good and meaningful existence is – the universal imperative saying that the moral thing to do is the one which you would wish to become the universal rule. This is a good thing to consider when faced with difficult choices and decisions. Therefore you will not lie because, if lies become the universal behavior the whole structure of meaning predicated on truth and the truthfulness of language would implode and culture- dependent on the cumulative gathered knowledge to thrive – would crash and burn. Lie viewed as such becomes something entirely different and any justification you give yourself to tell a lie pales in comparison. You will not cheat because if cheating became the universal imperative the notion of trust would implode and without trust – for example that the community will take care of your children while you go out and make money, hunt or explore, or that promises, deals and contracts your personal or professional life stands upon are valid and binding –  the social fabric would unravel and you would end up in something resembling anarchy and apocalypse where there is every man for himself –  a world made only for sociopaths and those that have no problem with seeing everything burn down in flames if they can get an opportunistic benefit from it.

We are a center of the mandala rippling out. What we do matter. Waves float outwards and grow with each amplitude removed further from the center that created it, hitting interference from other waves making them higher or dampening them by collisions. The wave does not spread out uniformly but is contextual and, what the mathematicians would call, fuzzy. It is not neatly organized thig of smooth edges but a wild something with a loose structure and direction, it’s a tendency towards something. Sometimes what spreads out might seem bad at first mimicking the plunge just before another ripple rises and sometimes it will be obviously good showing itself as the highest point of the wave’s crest among the smoothness of the medium it traveled through. It matters what you do and how you do it, the intention behind your action and who it touches. Timing matters and people matter.

How many people will touch your days throughout a life and how many will touch theirs? Just try and put a rough estimate down. Ideas and motivation spread as wild fire. Don’t be afraid to reach out, ride someone else’s ripple way or invite people to combine with yours to make a stronger wave pattern. Things get changed by ordinary people. The social is not a static oily surface and good deeds make a difference. Do some good today and let it ripple out. You never know where it will end up. It might just came back to you as a kinder world the second time around.