4th post in the 5 post series on, ‘What is Morality?’
This is Our thoughts are a combination of negative and positive emotions.
What makes a mindset a positive or negative disposition is the imbalance between these two vibes: If a person is more inclined to optimism, then it’s right to say that he/she has positive vibes; lingering bitterness in someone’s attitude, on the other hand, reflects negativity of character.
Most people swing between the two vibes all through life.  
Now, to understand this further, let’s try this – say to yourself, ‘I shall win the lottery tomorrow.’ See if this prediction comes true the next day.
Next, say to yourself, ‘I don’t think I’ll get the promotion ( or anything else you might be contesting for) .’
Chances are that your second forecast may come true, and it is because most of us lack ‘belief’ in accepting that we deserve better than what we have. Not just that, one almost feels ‘relieved’ when negative predictions come true since pessimistic emotions seem so much more natural, easier, and plausible to us. One even develops immunity to frustrations in life and becomes defeatist.  
It’s a proven fact, at least according to the science of psychology, that we, the humans, have a proclivity for pessimism. And that’s why usually when someone thinks or says something negative it usually comes true. In other words, we attract negativity, and when it manifests believe more in its existence and its place in our lives. Many get caught up in this vicious circle.
So, when we talk about developing a positive mindset, what does it actually mean? Do positive vibes kill negativity to replace it altogether? Or, is it about tilting the balance?
To decide the answer, understand what does negative mind means, and equally, what a positive mentality feels like.
In the shortest possible version- The negative mind is what generates a ‘dim view’ of things, and the positive mind generates a favorable view of things.
If I had low self-esteem or in fact even overestimated myself, then my mindset would emit negative vibes because I would be out of sync with my real and potential self. Equally, if I am an optimist and am grateful for my glass being half-full, my mindset would be vibrating at a higher frequency of positivity.
Most of us go through ups and downs, good and bad, and dark and bright experiences in life. What makes our disposition positive or negative is how we deal with situations. Also, temperament is defined by how long one lingers in the same zone of emotion – some people have the propensity to feel sorry for themselves perpetually: the victims. They would spend their entire life being morose. Others refuse to accept defeat easily, and never cease to try to succeed: the fighters. This does not connotate that a glum face can never manage to smile, or a heartening person couldn’t be disheartened sometimes.
So, to change negative thinking into positive vibrations would mean tilting the balance more towards optimism and hope. Also, to be negative about negativity too is positive.

Welcome to the third post in the series of ‘Moral qualities’.
Let’s start with searching for what could humility mean; for which I shall look into the meaning of the word first, followed by analysing humility as a concept.
The dictionary meaning of the word is most commonly described from ‘modest view of self’ to ‘meekness’; from ‘humbleness’ to ‘lack of pride’.
Since I am a practitioner of the Law of Attraction, I would naturally be inclined to consider ‘high regard’ for self, without being conceited. I think this definition is within the parameters of  ‘modesty’, without being ‘meek’.
Meekness is submissiveness which is overrated as a virtue by those institutes that would like to control- I think the readers are intelligent enough to understand what these establishments could be.
The only version of submitting-ness I agree with is to the will of the Universe, the Omni-energy.  So, positive submitting-ness- Yes! Submissiveness – A big fat No!
Now, let’s see what Humility could mean as a concept. One of the motivational quotes I’ve written says- ‘ I am nice, but not naive.’ So, in this light, humility could be to forgive but always remember ‘why’ someone needed your forgiveness in the first place, so you don’t get deceived or offended yet again. Mistakes can be time-consuming, and time is of prime essence in life- so setting yourself to be fooled again would be losing precious energy and time. Moving on to another aspect of humility, as described in textbooks – ‘lack of vanity’. I’ll say that I categorically agree with this translation of the word, in both its forms- egoism and egotism.
However, defining humility as ‘lack of pride’ doesn’t sit entirely comfortable with my moral sense. Pride signifies a sense of satisfaction with ‘own’ achievements. In this sense, it’s a recognition well earned. In fact, one should be ‘proud’ of own self with a positive mindset. The opposite of this would be low self-esteem, and I am sure a humble person should not feel ashamed of himself because someone else has imposed the thought on him or he is totally detached from the real ‘self’.
Now that the difference between vanity and pride is cleared up, time to move on to the last term of the analysis, relevant to this article.
Humility is also described as being ‘unassertive’ – unassertiveness can be defined as a person who would give up easily or without resistance. Assertiveness, on the other hand, would mean confidence, as an antonym. So, being ‘unassertive’ would mean a lack of confidence, which of course is a negative vibe, while confidence is a must quality to build belief in both, self and God.
Hence, humility is a noble trait, which is misinterpreted often under the guise of moral doctrine. In reality, humility is so different and so much more.
I am glad that my sense of humility made me a spiritual seeker, raising positive vibrations in the process. If this is not morality then what is?  

            The four main think tanks and campaigners of the Morality concept are: Religious institutes, Social establishment, Individual disposition, and Nature/Life conservationists. In this series of exploring the purpose of morality and its relevance in life, I would explore the different shades of morality that I have discovered or rediscovered. There are so many diverse understandings and numerous misunderstandings attached to the concept of Moral Consciousness.
             I choose Religion as the first model of morality for discussion in this article. While I’m not interested to write an essay on the history of religion, I would like to broadly discuss how the many branches of Religion have influenced the psychology of people and affected their day-to-day lives. All the religions around the world are founded on the concept of morality – ‘to be good, to be right, to be truthful, to be selfless, to be self-disciplined, and so on.’ But the cardinal principle of the religious theory rests on the concept of complete subordination to the Supreme entity, which is known by varied names, such as God, Bhagwan, Rabb, Allah, Nirankar, and many more. Humankind has tried to lock spirit’s aura in the institute of religion, and with that came the hierarchy of ‘controlled’ evolution of mind. Every religion has its own set of parables or ‘moral’ stories and examples to compete with the other religions in the current market. But all the fables speak of similar morals, as mentioned above. ‘To be good, or not to be’ decides whether a person is a moralist or a corrupted human being. This raises a serious spiritual dilemma: According to the theological expectations, a moral- religionist is a person who is expected to submit unconditionally to his/her belief ( blind faith, in other words). Usually, such an individual would aggressively follow what he has trained his mind to believe (Self- brainwash) and might not be open to debate or asking questions. So, what’s the morality in such thinking? Well, devotion in totality is moral, just as skepticism is immoral; acceptance is moral, just as questioning is immoral; moral is in the unreasoning, and logic is immoral. In other words, the strict code of religion is ‘fear’ – ‘One could face the wrath of an angry God, if one asks questions,’ ‘Unconditional devotion could be awarded, but defiance would be punished.’ If it’s not clear enough yet, then let me confess- I do not believe in the wrathful celestial-ness, and I do not see any morality in punishing people, rather than be offered a chance to improve and reintegrate. Even in the man-made social justice, we’ve reached the stage of rehabilitation, with however much success; at least we are trying for all the moral reasons. But the point here to make is – The divine justice must be surely much more sagacious than the ingenuity of the engineered law and order invented by the lowly humans. But the puritanical morality lies in the sinner being chastised.  
                        Blind faith, ritual routines, feeling perpetually guilty, accepting theory without questions, trying to strangulate sub-conscious voice, denying your life to improve, etc are but negative vibes and have no base in morality. It’s an unfortunate and misplaced morality preached by ritualistic religionists and has no connection with spirituality. I would dare as much to say that any religion without true moral values of spiritual-ness is like a heart with no pulse.
            This brings to another shade of morality in religion- ‘God is forgiving.’ As humankind, we’ve reached this stage after much endurance and persistence, as history would tell. The establishment of the religious lobby is indeed evolving; we must persevere as a long way to go yet. I much prefer this concept of the Omnipotent, as there is love in forgiveness, there is care in forgiveness, and there is generosity in forgiveness. A very moral form of spiritualism, and categorically resonates with my belief. The supreme entity within this concept is more like a parent figure than a dictating ruler. Evolving religiously is based on seeking moral guidance from divinity. Such guidance is received in weighing our karma/actions in life against moral reasoning. Morality here is based neither on punishment nor on the feeling of perpetual guilt. One grows the power of introspection and generates a common sense of right and wrong. This is called growing conscience. Once morality rises from within, it stays in the auto mode in life. For me, this is the perfect spiritual awareness. One could match it up with any compatible religion- some like to match blue with orange, others might prefer blue with white, and so on and so forth.
            Hence, it’s fair to conclude that before we become too enthusiastic about claiming that ‘God is one, but it’s MY God which is the ONE,’ we need to seek, and develop our understanding of what is being moral means. So, in the light of its basic definition that ‘ Morality is to recognise the difference between good and bad’,  here’s what I think moral-ness is, : ‘To be truthful to your own self and don’t waste precious energy to judge others’, ‘Find yourself in own heart before trying endlessly to win someone else’s,’ ‘Respect yourself before surrendering to a misconceived mysticism’, ‘Be patient with your concerns and open to skepticism’, ‘Accept that it’s dignified to recognise own pain and express it’, ‘It’s not greed to desire more to improve life’- This is my definition of moral mindset, which generates positive vibes and optimistic mindset. In other words, the moral sense evolves when a person conquers own self. God is in truth, God is in patience, God is in dignity, God redresses pain, God manifests your desires. Finding God is the supreme moral value one could achieve, and it all starts with finding your ownself. Be religious, as I am, but find the essence of religion in spirituality, not in invented dogma. I believe this is the core connection between religion and morality.