Two Men: A Reflection on the Ethics of Conscience and the Choice of Existence

Soyo's Existence Ethics Essay (Existence itself is Ethics)

“Gratitude is the language of existence, and ethics is the breath of humanity.”

There Were Two Men

There were two men. One lifted his eyes to the sky, feeling the wind on his face. He said quietly, “Ah, who is it that makes this wind blow? The one who allows it to touch my skin and teaches me the laws of nature. I must receive this moment with gratitude.” The other, standing in the same wind, cursed, “Why is this wind blowing so hard? It’s cold, annoying, and unbearable!” The wind was the same, yet the hearts that received it were different. This is the structure of the world in which humans live. In the same moment, under the same sky, life diverges. One interprets the wind with gratitude, the other with resentment. That interpretation shapes the direction of their lives.

The Breath of God and the Ethics of Interpretation

For a long time, I contemplated these two men. The wind is the breath of God. Depending on the depth of one’s heart, it can bring comfort to some and a trial to others. Yet the wind itself never changes. What changes is human interpretation, the ethical stance we take toward existence. Soyo's Existence Ethics declares, “Existence itself is ethics.” This means that every moment of life presents a choice: Will we interpret the world through gratitude, or curse it through complaint? Gratitude is not naive optimism. It is the response of one who has recognized the essence of existence. Complaint, on the other hand, is the reaction of one who has forgotten the limits of their being. One hears the breath of God in the wind. The other blames the same wind for their discomfort. Yet God does not send His wind to only one. The wind touches all equally. Therefore, gratitude and resentment are not problems of the wind itself, but reflections of the maturity of existence and the depth of human ethics.

Two Paths: The Voice of Conscience and the Silence of Desire

In this world, there are two paths. One follows the voice of conscience; the other is buried in the silence of desire. The person of conscience feels the breath of God even amid storms. He sees love within imperfection and learns truth through suffering. For him, philosophy is a living prayer, and truth is ethics lived through existence. The person of desire is different. He curses the wind, resents hardship, and believes he can control everything. His language carries no gratitude, and his philosophy contains no trace of God. He places himself in the seat of divinity and ultimately becomes trapped within the walls of his own arrogance. Many systems in society, media, religion, and politics follow this second path. They package human voices as commodities, trade ethics as conditional values, and reduce truth to view counts. But truth can never be traded. It is proven only in the heart of the one who lives it.

The Freedom of Choice

The wind blows, and the world shakes. But the wind cannot destroy existence itself. It is how we receive the wind that reveals our philosophy, our faith, and our ethics. Those who embrace the world with gratitude live in harmony with the breath of God. Those who curse the world through complaint create their own darkness. Now I understand. Choice is the free will granted by God, and that will is realized only upon the foundation of love’s ethics.

To Live as a Person of Truth

When a single conscience awakens, that being becomes philosophy itself. Philosophy is not abstract theory or a paper; it is the breath of reflection that awakens within the winds of life. A human who knows gratitude, who remains silent instead of complaining, who understands their existence through the blood and love of God, that is the person of truth. Such a person does not ask, “Why does the wind blow?” They say instead, “There must be meaning in the One who allows this wind to blow.” In that moment, the human heart begins to resemble the heart of God. This is the conclusion of Soyo's Existence Ethics. Gratitude is not merely an emotion; it is the ethical language through which humanity understands the speech of God.

A Life Reborn Through the Ethics of Existence

In this brief story, I see the entirety of human philosophy. All thought divides into two paths: those who hear the breath of God and those trapped within the noise of their own resentment. Yet humanity can always choose again. Even now, the wind blows upon us. It touches my face, and I ask, “Where does this wind come from?” And I answer, “It comes from the place of my conscience, from the center of my ethics, from the love of God Himself.”

This is the truth of Soyo's Existence Ethics. Gratitude is the proof of existence, and existence itself is ethics.

Soyo (逍遙) – Founder of Soyo's Existence Ethics, Author of The Silence of Being and The Flame of Truth

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