May 27, 2008

• The Golden Rule(S)

  Confucius: Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself
  Jesus: So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. (Matt 7:12)
  Cynic: S/He who has the gold, makes the rules! 

  So what are the rules to live by?  As a Christian, we’re taught that our greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27) and is that commandment contradictory to the “Golden Rule” that was told by Jesus?  Let’s look closer…

  Commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself…
  Golden Rule: Do to others what you would have them do to you.

  Pretty similar, isn’t it? 

  Sure I could bring up the “Ten Commandments,” but we were given “the Greatest Commandment” as a response from Jesus when he was asked by his contemporaries whether there was a Commandment and/or Law that would sum up the original 10 Commandments and the other Jewish laws.  If you noticed, it was another way of saying the “Golden Rule.”  Actually, my personal take on The Greatest Commandment is along the line of “Put God first in your life AS you practice the Golden Rule.” 

  The Golden Rule or a variation of it must’ve been pretty important, because it is considered to be the principle of 143 different religious and spiritual traditions as a declaration was signed and agreed upon back in 1993. 

  But do we really live and follow this rule? Or is Murphy overruling our own U.S. Constitution, The Golden Rule, and The Greatest Commandment? 

  Murphy’s Law: If anything can go wrong, it will.
  
  Seems to me that more people are living their lives according to Murphy’s Law then any other law.  Think about it, do we make decisions of our day to day activities based on “covering our asses,” or do we put forth an effort to treat others as we desired to be treated?  I mean, if we’re making choices and decisions because we’re trying to cover our asses, how did we come to the conclusion that we need to cover our ass in the first place?  Where did that reasoning come from?  If we’re truly following The Golden Rule and/or The Greatest Commandment, would there be a real need to “cover our ass?” 

  I agree, it is much easier said than done of living life according to the Golden Rule versus living life under Muphy’s Law.  We all try in one way or another.  We try different religions, we watch shows like Oprah and Dr Phil, we read books(have you seen the “Self Help” section at a bookstore?), goto seminars, see therapists, take medication (legal and illegal) wiki it, google it, and yet, the moment something SEEMS to go wrong, we panic.  Then in spite of all our efforts, we begin to focus on what we felt we did wrong and start to beat ourselves up with an emotional battering ram.  We become our worse critic of ourselves.  Eventually we live our lives, unaware that we’ve given up.  Worse, we’ll live our lives knowing that at some point we gave up, but we simply no longer care.  Next thing we know, we’re making choices and decisions making sure our asses are covered or ensuring that we get what we believe we’re entitled to, or that we make sure that whoever wronged us would gets theirs. 

  I know, that was my life story.

  When I was at the retreat at High Valley Ranch a couple of weeks back, I was introduced to “Rule 6.” In a nutshell…

  Rule 6: Don’t take yourself so seriously.

  In other words, “lighten up, get over it, laugh a little,” ect ect ect…In some way it is a variation of The Golden Rule.  If we’re more forgiving of ourselves, if we lighten up, wouldn’t that affect our interactions with others?  I mean, whenever I lighten up on myself, things that other people do doesn’t seem to bother me as much.  Most importantly, even if something were to go wrong, it doesn’t have as much of an impact on me.

  It was just a matter of time after leaving High Valley Ranch that I would immerse myself into the “real world” and have to deal with disappointments (Stars Agency deciding not to represent me) letdowns, frustration (my bank renewing a CD for double the time period I agreed with)  and having no control over other friends/people/family around you.  Within a matter of time, following The Golden Rule and overruling Murphy Law’s becomes more and more challenging.  Then all of a sudden, just when I’m on the verge of forgetting all the possibilities and greatness that I discovered about myself at High Valley Ranch because of all the “real world craziness,” God gently reminds me of all the silliness and says to me…
  
  My beloved Child, don’t forget Rule #6!

  Then I’m able to goto bed rest-assured that Murphy’s Law has once again, been…

  OVERRULED!!!
  
  
  

  • 5:14 am
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