Ethics Without an Audience
If nobody was watching, would you follow your ethics? Most people wouldn't. They would revert to their baser instincts instead. Religion condemns them for it. Society does too. But they aren't entirely wrong. Your body doesn't understand ethics or morals. Your brain has been shaped over thousands of years of evolution. It did not evolve around ethics.
Ethics are how we remain part of a society. Follow a culture. Stay civilised. So people don't kill each other and instead resolve their disputes through dialogue. There are laws to prevent people from breaking the rules. Those rules are grounded in ethics. If you follow them, you will likely be considered an ethical person. There are enforcements in place in case you are tempted to stray.
The human mind hasn't evolved for these ethics. It has only one goal: survival. When your body is hungry it wants to eat. When it's thirsty it wants to drink. When it needs love it does things that attract love. It grows defensive when it perceives a threat. Everything your mind and body does is to ensure you survive. That's the only priority.
When we are not constrained by societal laws, we revert to instinct. Ethics are deeply tethered to our identity. This identity is shaped by how we are perceived in society, or how we would like to be perceived. It also reinforces what you think about yourself. And what you think of yourself reflects in how you conduct yourself with people.
Your identity shapes how society treats you. And that treatment determines how you end up feeling. A man with no ethics is never trusted. People hesitate before extending warmth to him. Unless they want something from him, in which case they feign connection. A man who only experiences warmth on the condition that he provides something starts believing that's how the world operates. His sense of self takes a severe blow. That is why identity must be addressed first.
For the identity to be restored, you need to live by some personal rules. It doesn't matter who's watching — it is for you. So you can tell yourself what kind of person you are. The one who breaks his word, or the one who keeps it. There is no divine justice either way. But a man who doesn't betray people is never without love, and there is something quietly sacred in that.