This page is a summary of my personal ethics. It helps me to write this down, so I can measure my actions against a norm I agree with. I'm not a scientist, philosopher, lawyer, or otherwise particularly educated on this subject, and I'm very open to suggestions to change my ethics. No perfection here.
Being human is sometimes hard. The mind can go all the from complete despair to insane ecstasy and similar distances over other axes. States of mind are hard to put words to for me, but it seems apparent that there are some states of mind that are wholesome, and that make the occupying consciousness, me, feel pretty good about itself and the world around. Buddhists describe a state of mind as 'enlightened' which is an illusive and hard to define concept. My perception of this state of mind is to be balanced physically, emotionally, rationally, and mentally. This follows directly from trying buddhist practice. To be healthy, happy, at peace and loved–that seems like a pretty great idea. But being like that is impossible in a world where other beings are suffering unnecessarily.
The basis for my personal ethics lies also in a strong sense of justice, that is similar to Kant's categoric imperative
Kant didn't put his thoughts into easily accessible language, so to really figure it out took me some time and some help from better science communicators. Kant's example is too rigid for my tastes, but the core of it is essentially correct and he draws the same conclusions that I have. Maybe Kant was very happy living a in my perception utterly uneventful life, that's not how I'm wired. Accepting that, even celebrating that doesn't violate the imperative though, as far as I can tell.
Instead of thinking only in actions as purely right and wrong, I think in behavior and habits and judge changes in them as desirable or undesirable. I will invite my inner voice to say things in the form of <behavior> is harmful so I will reduce it by not doing <action>, or <behavior> is wholesome, so I will increase it by doing <action>
Example: alcoholism is harmful, so i will reduce it by not opening this bottle.
The cool thing about that behavior is that every decision becomes not a means, but an end. It directly brings me joy to not open a bottle right in the moment. I don't have to wait to become a better person later.
When a complex behavioral decision is needed, I try to reason through it via the four formulations of Kant, and if that takes too much, I use contemplation style meditation to let it simmer for a bit. Usually it's easy to get rid of the obvious unethical actions and it's possible to accept the vague imperfections in the rest of it.
Example: my vegan friend has a cat. They feed the cat meat, and the cat kills birds. I find that odd/hypocritical/troubling, but I also find judging my friend harmful. After careful consideration, I obviously am not going to pick a fight with my friend or harm cats. Also obviously I don't have a cat. I just talk openly to my friend about the ethics of cats, leaving them free to laugh about my unusual discipline in this particular matter. I'm not better than this particular friend, obviously, and if some things come up in the conversation that are not perfectly well put, or perfectly ethical, they can just continue to exist as battles we don't need to pick right now. I'm cool with that.
What shows here is that finding a balance between making positive change and avoiding cures that are worse than the ailments, is important. We only have short lives to live well to the best of our abilities. Getting stuck in a fight about cats, or even losing a good friend over it, is not going to contribute to that.
Doing a time box of thinking and meditating on a problem and then acting to the best of my abilities is the best I can do. I assume that others are doing the best they can as well. Sometimes our best falls short of what is acceptable, that's where we need to do work, and this work needs to be prioritized.