We need a new set of rules for living - rules which are self-evidently right because they are based on our core experience of life, namely the ongoing process of creation. Creation is an outpouring of the self, an endless giving, and this is the essence of these new commandments.
We in the 21st century have inherited numerous sets of rules on how we should live. Some are religious, others secular, while others still might serve as both religious and secular. Christianity, no less than other faiths, seeks to govern our behaviours in this way. Christianity acknowledges the Ten Commandments of Moses but then also the two great commandments of Jesus, which were stronger (Mark 12:28-31). Jesus went beyond simple statements like “you shall have no other gods before me” to “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” In other words, he got into the quality of the way we should live: not just what to do but how.
The commandments set out below seek to move a step further still, giving a degree of rationale. This rationale rests on the idea that creation is the thread tying all things that exist together. The commandments deal very broadly with how we should relate to
· the ineffable (such as God or the mysterious foundation for our existence)
· other people and other things, including the natural world and the growing artificial world, and finally
· ourself.
They also address the matter of stages along the way in life, such as choice of a life course, opportunities that arise, responding to harm done by others, and contemplating the future.
Preamble
We owe our existence to an energy with apparently infinite capability and drive to create. This energy is understood in different ways, and it remains a mystery which humankind cannot penetrate. To some it is the Divine, to others a singularity of nature, or even something else.
Common to all that exists is the cycle of creation, flourishing, decline and death, however creation counts most for it is the engine that drives us all on. We ourselves are in part responsible for this ongoing creation. How we conduct our lives is therefore important.
Society and the world at large need the qualities of kindness, respect, truthfulness and humility that are set out here. But no matter how we live, we cannot control outcomes; the best we can hope for is to be an influence for good. As free agents we have the opportunity to do so. We understand too that creation must always be balanced, with giving offset by taking, as living is offset by dying.
Therefore –
1. Honour the creator, the constant giver, for all that is good comes from the creator, and creation – endless giving, endless outpouring of self – is the basis for our existence. From creation too comes our happiness, and in times of hardship our ability to cope.
2. Accept with humility your limitations while seeking always to do better. Accept even then that there are things that cannot be known and things that cannot be done, for humanness is by nature limited. It partakes of the divine but is not itself divine.
3. Respect all people and all things for the part they play in creation, but restrain those who do harm and seek to turn their harm into good. For in this lies the seeds of ongoing creation, the constant drive to make things better.
4. Give in all ways possible, to others as to yourself. Give too through the pursuit and promotion of truth, for in doing so you are one with the creator who is constantly giving. While allowing that life requires us also to take, make giving your default mode.
The first commandment above is very broad in its use of the term “creator”, acknowledging that there are different views on how we came into being, but indicating too that our existence and what followed was not just by the work of a physical energy. At the very least it was an energy with great and enduring capability. Most of us would equate this with the notion of a god.
The first commandment also scotches any idea that the Big Bang or whatever event or process came first was the sole act of creation. Seamlessly, one might say, one thing followed another, and continues to do so. This whole magnificent process continues now and may be thought of as a continuing unfolding of whatever came first. If we are honest, we have to admit that we owe all our being, all our experience, to this ongoing creation. Elsewhere I have described it as a Mystery, which it is, but it is also Providence, that which keeps us going and completes us when we fall short.
If we elevate the creator, however we understand it (or him or her or them), we see how small we as humans really are. We should know this already, of course, through our growing knowledge of nature and climate change. As a race we are small, pretentious and absurd in our efforts to penetrate the mysteries of existence, and as individuals as well we are small. To return to the theme of creation, we need to understand and acknowledge the fact that nothing gets achieved in this world by solo effort. We are all interdependent.
The third commandment above is one that gets broken all the time. Respect is something we are urged give in everyday ethics, but we never seem to understand why. The reason here is that all other people, all other creatures, are as much contributors to creation as we are. Even the most reprehensible criminals contribute in their own way. When they fail we are enjoined not to kill or injure or punish but simply to restrain; and it is expected that our fundamental respect for all will ensure that this is done as humanely as possible. Wrongdoing or simple error can also be turned around by focusing on the opportunity presented. World war led to the League of Nations and United Nations, the Great Depression led to the New Deal; COVID-19 led to reforms in public health; and so on. We rail against evil and suffering and rightly do all we can to stop them, but we tend to forget they are engines of the improvements that have led to our modern civilization.
The respect for others – including respect for the natural environment – could not be sustained without a fundamental shift in our outlook on the world and life. Instead of taking all the time, for ourselves or our own particular cohort, we need to give. Giving is defined here as a reaching into the self, a paying of attention, a change of mind, a commitment, a spending of time and effort, an escalation of courage, and more: it is many things, beyond the mere handing over a parcel at a birthday party. When we talk about love or compassion or kindness, we are talking about giving. It is putting the seal on a creative process, going beyond the identification of potential and the desire to see something good: it is the actual creative action, the “doing” thing that helps make the world go round. It is the Big Bang and evolution taken to their next logical step within the purview of our own life.
What then?
How do we know we’re on the right track? We know this when we ask ourselves can we feel the creator inside and realise truthfully that yes, we are living out the purpose of creation. We are doing what we were born to do. We are doing what all our education, training, experience and circumstances in life has equipped us to do. Then we have the happiness of self-fulfilment.
The Ten Commandments were a straightforward set of rules suitable for the people of their time. They were simple statements, mostly of the “you shall” or “you shall not” kind. The fact that they came from God meant that they needed no justification. They also had authority through the fact that they reflected realities of everyday living. A society such as that of the ancient Israelites simply could not survive if it lived otherwise, descending into anarchy with people killing each other, stealing from each other, treating spouses and parents with contempt, and so on. No society could live like this.
The two great commandments of Jesus, recorded in Mark 12:28-31, accepted the Ten Commandments as given but also dug deeper, getting beyond the letter of that law into the spirit. We were to love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind and all our strength, and others we were to love as ourself. Something often overlooked is that these others (our “neighbours”) were left undefined, or to Jesus all people were equal.
Arguably, the two great commandments were as far-reaching as it was possible to be. Effectively, they were saying we had to be open – fully open - to all others, beginning with God himself. But even then there was something missing. Missing was a rationale, an explanation that got down to the heart of the matter. The four commandments proposed here do that by reference to the simple fact of our existence; for we exist only because there is a process of creation which is the dominant aspect of the Divine. Creation could indeed be called the face of God. And it is not only the reason for our existence but also the reason why we find happiness and at other times survive misfortune.