How The Mandalorian Inspired Me to Write My Ethical Code
For many of us, The Mandalorian was a ray of light during the dark year of 2020.
The timing of The Mandalorian was especially poignant as our world seemed to be crumbling down around us with failing institutions, corrupt leaders, and an attitude of “every man for himself” spreading as fast as the Covid-19 virus. Baby Yoda brought us joy and the Mandalorian showed us “The Way” as he navigated life’s challenges with “The Mandalorian Code of Honor.” The creed was his tool for coping with a chaotic and unpredictable world where stuff is always going wrong. Sound familiar?
During 2020 many of us felt lost in turbulent seas. We couldn’t depend on our leaders and governments to do the right thing and we struggled to cope with all the conflicting information. It felt like everything was completely out of control and unmanageable. Families were all expected to work from home at the same time in the same space while schooling children. Millions of people were forced stand in line for hours waiting for food after losing jobs, income, and literally lives to the pandemic. A lot of anxiety came from the feeling that no one was in charge and the world made no sense. I began to think about ways to create much-needed strength and certainty through self-leadership: listening to your inner voice, trusting your gut, and doing what you believe is right.
I realized social isolation and the uncertainty of the pandemic would be with us for at least the next year and went about reinforcing my inner strength to cope. First, I got clear on my purpose and wrote my personal mission statement, which is #1 to be of help to others and #2 to live my true nature as a maven, a teacher and a student. Inspired by The Mandalorian, I set out to write my own personal creed that would guide me through turbulent times, give me strength when faced with adversity, and keep me focused on what’s most important in life.
My research began with a deep dive into “The Mandalorian Code of Honor”. From the TV show I could see that the “Way of the Mandalore” is based upon honor, loyalty to the clan, being a warrior, and wearing symbolic armor at all times. I enjoy Star Wars but I’m not an expert on it, and so I delved into a whole world of fascinating detail on Fandom’s Star Wars Exodus site to help in my creed writing quest. I learned that “The Mandalorian Code of Honor” includes rules for battle, Mandalorian values (such as strength and honor), and the core tenets of being a Mandalorian:
- Wearing armor
- Speaking the language
- Defending yourself and your family
- Contributing to the clan
What inspired me most about “The Way of the Mandalorian” was:
- the reverence (based on stories passed down generations and heroic mythological characters)
- the interdependence of the community (not every man for himself)
- the simplicity of doing the right thing (no matter how hard it is or how far off-course it will take you)
I had the catalyst to begin working on my own personal creed, but I needed more direction on how to proceed. I carried on looking for information on how to develop a personal code of ethics and found some good questions to get my wheels turning on All About Philosophy, which suggests you take stock of your life by asking questions like:
- Who am I?
- Who do I want to be?
- What do I believe?
This is a useful stream of thought journal prompt or a bubble chart for a more visual brainstorming method. Those questions spurred more questions like:
- What do I value most?
- What am I about in life?
- What is the most important thing to me?”
I realized it might be helpful to ask someone who has known me a very long time “What do you think of when you think of me?” So I went to my husband, who gave me some really interesting and insightful answers. The beauty of this was he reinforced my ideas of the person I aspire to be by pointing out concrete examples of my actions during our life together. I highly recommend going to a friend or loved one for this valuable perspective. They may see something that you haven’t truly appreciated about yourself.
Having made progress brainstorming my values I was ready to journey further down the rabbit hole. Curious to learn more about the study of ethics in the decision-making process, I discovered the book, Ethics {for the real world} by Ronald Howard and Clinton Korver. The premise of the book is that to behave ethically, humans must “commit in advance to ethical principles” and be disciplined in the pursuit of making wise choices.
The authors point out that “When we violate our ethics it’s usually a reflexive decision when we don’t have time or energy to think it through. Then we rationalize it and make compromises that create a precedent.”
We form bad habits. To quote Carl Jung, “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
Ethics {for the real world} teaches decision-making skills to help us deal with temptation by choosing instead of reacting, just as the Zen-like Mandalorian chooses to follow The Way even when it’s inconvenient or frustrating.
The book gave me helpful perspective on how having a personal creed would influence the way I make decisions in my daily life. I began to understand it’s not just the ethical principles that matter, but how I think through situations and the stories I tell myself about my behavior. “On the path to becoming skilled ethical decision makers…we will find it helpful to take both big and small indiscretions seriously.”
In the book, ethical is defined as doing the right thing according to your own personal beliefs, which applies to my own quest to live with integrity (doing what you think is right) and live a congruent life (your actions match your values and words). By writing my own personal creed I get to choose how to live my life, instead of being directed by the outside forces of the world.
Back to writing the creed — in Chapter 3 the book delves into ways to listen to your inner voice and come up with your own ethical principles, creating your own ethical code. The authors advise reviewing your life history and the ethics inherited from family, friends, school, workplace, religious, community, and nation. Examine these ideas and think about what rings true to you. It can also be helpful to think about someone you admire and what values they live by. The book suggests a mix of positive, aspirational ethics to strive for and lawful principles like “Thou shall not…” (For more information on the different types of ethics and details on the decision process I highly recommend reading the book. Tip: I checked out a digital copy for free with my local public library.)
After all this journaling and brainstorming I was able to come up with 11 tenets for my personal creed based on the values that are most important for me to live every day. I ended up taking inspiration from different schools of thought (the study of ethics) and codes (The Mandalorian Code of Honor) to make something uniquely my own. Writing my personal creed has helped me to view my identity as a construction of my beliefs manifested by my actions instead outside societal standards like my job, how much money I make, or my current situation. My personal creed is my source of strength and certainty in a chaotic world. I keep the creed displayed prominently in my planner as a reminder of what’s most important to me on a daily basis.
My living creed document is kind of like the Armorer character in The Mandalorian reminding me, “This is the way.”
