The New Ten Commandments for the 21st Century I. Thou shalt recognize that God is a Divine Principle, and therefore the One God of All. There is no longer any room on our planet for warring religious factions, each claiming to be doing "God's Will" by ridding the earth of non-believers. The only "One True God" is the God of All. The idea that God would single out any religion as being the only "True Religion" is utterly ridiculous and a blasphemy against the beautiful all-embracing concept of God. Any Transcendental Divine Principle has to be a Unity of Diversity to be Divine. II. Thou shalt recognize the Divine Principle as the First Cause of all Creation. This is how the Founding Fathers of the United States, all Deists, understood the nature of God. The Deists believed that God was an immaterial Spirit (just as the bible says!) which, after causing the Universe to manifest, withdrew from any further involvement. In short, God is not a "personal" God, but a Transcendental God and, therefore, is not to be praised or blamed for anything that goes on here. Thus the Deist doctrine was one of personal responsibility by each of us; not everything heaped upon an anthropomorphic-type "personal" God. III. Thou shalt respect the Divine Principle as the Source of all Life. For ages the Ancient Wisdom recognized Spirit and Matter in the metaphor of Father- Mother as the Source of all existence. The Divine Father-Mother Principle is the esoteric meaning behind the commandment: "Honor thy father and mother." Now it is time, however, to visualize Infinity as the Single Source from which the entire Universe and all Life emerged. Thus God/Infinity is that Oneness within which all things live and move and have their being. IV. Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart and soul. This, according to Jesus, was the single most important commandment. Note also that He said "thy" God and not "My" God. Since the only God we can know is our own God within, we need not listen or respond to the rantings and ravings of those who would thrust their Gods upon us. While respecting their love for their Gods, we can love our own God Within with all our heart and soul. Love, by the way, is not romance, but a unifying, creative concept. V. Thou shalt perform all labor in the name of thy God as if it were God's work. If we look around us at the natural beauty which has sprung from God, we are able to intuit that the force which made the Universe had to be positive and constructive. Thus when we perform our own work in a positive and constructive manner, we are working in co-measurement with God--thereby contributing to the peaceful evolution of the whole Universe. The world can no longer afford negative thinking and destructive actions. We are the hands and feet of God. VI. Thou shalt recognize the Masculine and Feminine Principles as equals. The entire Universe is held together in the indispensable balance of Spirit (the Masculine Principle) and Matter (the Feminine Principle). Only on earth, where humankind has the free will to rationalize away Cosmic Law in the name of fabricated religious doctrine is it any different. There is no place in the future for such limited thinking. As the great Hindu saint Vivekananda said, "The Spirit of the bird of humanity cannot fly on only one wing." VII. Thou shalt reverence all Life and take no human or unnecessary animal life. The commandment "Thou shalt not kill" has been made sport of by semanticists who talk about the "original" meaning being "murder." On this technicality they gleefully kill. Murder is "unlawful killing," but who decides what is and what is not lawful? Not God, but man. Thus in God's eyes, all killing, regardless of the spin we put on it, is unlawful. Far better to think in terms of reverencing life by simply not killing. If we set the example, It may even catch on! VIII. Thou shalt take no vow at any time. A vow is a Karmic contract with God. If one takes a vow and breaks it, one will have to fulfill it in a later life. Unfortunately, the concept of taking vows has become a means by religions to control people. Far healthier would it be, for example if, instead of marriage vows, people would draw up a contract between themselves, spelling out their expectations and methods of fulfillment. After all, when all is said and done, we can only try to do our best. IX. Thou shalt take nothing that does not belong to you. Again, our subconscious mind can rationalize all kinds of definitions when it comes to what does and what does not constitute "stealing." Far better it would be if we were instructed from early childhood to simply not take anything which does not belong to us. Taking what does not belong to one is a serious crime against all humanity. If it persists and becomes a habit, It eliminates any chance of one learning the civilizing concepts of cooperation and sharing. X. Thou shalt strive to be completely ethical in word and deed. Ethics is the foundation of a peaceful evolution. Personal ethics is a dynamic concept, constantly changing as our consciousnesses change. What may have been allowed one day may suddenly not be allowed the next and vice-versa. That's why the path of Light is called "The Razor's Edge." Thus if we continually strive to be honest, i.e., think constantly about doing the right thing in every circumstance, we become an example of the dynamics of Living Ethics. Thus we develop character. Copyright © 1996, Burt Wilson, November 23, 1996
I think that unless you got permission from Burt for re-posting his Commandments, you might just have broken one of them....
a couple of good ideals there but why do we need the superstitious parts? how does that benefit society?