Legality vs. Morality (inspired by a DMV book rec)

Someone behind me in line at the DMV recommended The Teachings of Don Juan when he saw I was reading Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He promised me I would love it, and I picked up the book soon afterwards.

The author Carlos Castaneda who was an anthropology graduate student at UCLA recounts his meetings with Don Juan- a Yaqui Indian- initially to learn about peyote, a hallucinogenic mushroom. Castaneda soon becomes an apprentice of some sorts, gaining deeper insight into Don Juan's world. Turns out Castaneda's series of books about Don Juan are topics of a heated controversy regarding their actuality. But magical realism! You have to suspend your reality and dive into the world you are reading about. Castaneda's accounts are vivid, detailed, fantastic. And they may scare you away from drugs for life. But the way Don Juan uses these hallucinogens as "allies", a way to enhance his thinking and perception reminded me of nootropics a la Aldous Huxley.

Even my favorite store (Costco) sells brain-boosting pills which are really vitamins and omega-3's. We run to the coffee shop for 3PM caffeine pick-me-up's. I can't run without music, and good running shoes may shave an extra minute off my 5k. These are "artificial" advantages our ancestors or our counterparts in third world countries don't have, so does that mean these extras are morally wrong? What guideline can I look to in making this judgment?

I remember an aha! moment in Ethics in 8th grade. Yes, we took Ethics in Korean middle schools and I loved it. In addition to standard etiquette, we learned names to address different relatives, discussed traditional Korean holidays and customs, and held philosophical discussions about social issues.

Our teacher had asked us to draw a Venn diagram depicting the relationship between "morally correct actions" and "legal actions". Most of us drew this, remembering "that policeman will get angry if you don't  share your cookies with your brother". All laws enforce morality and that is their purpose.

The teacher drew this instead:

And further drew this, what is Conventionally accepted:

Relationship b/t what's Moral, Legal, and Conventional

So sometimes laws are there for artificial reasons, not to enforce morality, sometimes they are not even ethical. Ditto for tradition. Some ethical actions are not enforced by laws or even convention/tradition.  Laws aren't the golden standard when it comes to deciding if an action is right or wrong. You can only make that judgment for yourself.

Oohahala, my laptop is dying, but the point may be made clearer with me quoting this poem my best friend gave me upon graduation:

If you feel a law is unjust, you may work to change it.
It is not true, as many people say, that
That is just the way things are. Or, Those are the rules.
Immutably. The rules can be changed, although
It may be a slow process.
~"Some General Instructions" by Kenneth Koch