Is Space Ethical?

   When I write this piece, I am writing slightly tongue in cheek. I am reflecting on this idea that the so-called "Mindfulness Movement" in America started by Jon Kabat-Zinn and others might be overshadowing other aspects of spirituality, by focusing only on awareness and concentration. Some people might say that being mindful can also make one very good and competition and killing, rather than using mindfulness to create healthy space for compassion and generosity.
   As I reflected on this idea, I wonder, is there not something ethical in the act of making space for mind? In other words, I wonder whether the space we make when we meditate is not also a kind of honoring of other beings, in and of itself.. Is it possible that the experience of meditative practice itself already contains a kind of 'ethical stance' within it? Or is all 'ethics' really just based on reflection on rules and precepts?
      I myself am not even sure how to answer this question, but I will venture a few guesses. I think there is something already compassionate and nurturing about the experience of making space for mind. Allowing the mind to open up or even to relax body and mind is already a kindness that extends to all sentient beings. It isn't just a kind of frivolity, but there is something somber about this practice. Part of the solemnity and dignity of meditation is that it is about refraining from doing the habitual. If I sit solidly and still, I become more aware of my tendency or inclination to fidget, to want things, or just zone out in a daydream. And yet, because I am allowing myself to just be with those emotions rather than acting on them, I start to want fewer things. I settle into a place where I crave and reject less. Maybe I might feel more things (including desire, pain and anger) but I am not acting on them. In this sense, I allow a more ethical space to open up, where I consider all beings rather than just serving my desires.
    This idea does not discount the possibility that meditation might have other motivations. Some people do meditate to become better competitors. I even venture that mindfulness could be used to break precepts, or even to kill. But, all things considered, I would suggest that even in those cases, a sustained effort of meditation or mindfulness practice would probably take the edges off those desires and motivations. Why? I think it's because the desires to kill, to break rules, to harm others, are driven by thoughts and emotions, often magnified out of proportion to the present situation. To see past these thoughts, one would really need to let go of their attachment to them. If I am really doing this process in a correct manner, I become less driven to act out of an impulse to better ''myself" or to harm another.
    In the end, I don't think that mindfulness is separate from ethics. I think the two do interconnect and inform each other. I even suggest that true mindfulness is a sincere inquiry into desires, rather than a tool used to serve desires.