Caution! Your feelings of ethical superiority can cause a chain reaction that is detrimental to you, your coworker and your organization, according to Baylor University management research.

A new study published in the Journal of Business Ethics suggests that your feelings of ethical superiority can lead you to have negative emotions toward a “less ethical” coworker. Those negative emotions can be amplified if you also believe you do not perform as well as that coworker. And, furthermore, those negative emotions can lead to your mistreatment and/or ostracism (social exclusion) of that less ethical, higher-performing coworker. (1)

Look down to other people. And you will fall. Be humble and look up to other people. And you will rise. The secret of life lies in the opposites. And in your ability to balance between them. Shed tears if you are strong. Forgive if you are powerful. Help others even if you desperately need help. Consider yourself unethical if you are ethical.

And all of a sudden…

Life will gain meaning.

And the cosmos will be full again.

Ethical and unethical at the same time.

Existence as it once was.

It is us who broke it into pieces. And we try to put the pieces back together ever since. Trying to recreate the grandeur of Paradise we have lost but never ceased to think of. Trying to reunite with the wisdom we once had but we have now lost. Because we are too focused in succeeding, not being able to see that we must fall in order to rise…

The puzzle is complicated.

And you can never attach any two pieces by only pulling just one of them…