The 10 Commandments versus the 147 Suggestions

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7 Sages 147 suggestions., Evolution of religion, Greek Sages, John Shelby Spong, Spong, The 147 suggestions, The Ten Commandments

Biblical scholarship has demonstrated that there are at least three separate sets of Commandments which we now refer to as the Ten Commandments of Moses: Deuteronomy 5 from the seventh century BCE, the Exodus 34 version, and the usual one, Exodus 20. All of these came into a written form about the same time as the 7 Greek Sages at Delphi were publishing their 147 maxims. It is possible that the 10 Commandments were a short list of key ideas selected from the Seven Sages of Greece’s 147 Suggestions. Hmm.

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Exodus 20 New International Version (NIV)

1 And God spoke all these words:

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

³ “You shall have no other gods before^[a] me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

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In the 6th century BCE the Seven Sages of Ancient Greece carved the 147 suggestions, rendered here below in English, in stone stelae at Delphi, Greece, and sent them for display in public places throughout the world known to the Greeks. If a person could speak the Greek language and went to a public square and heard lectures about these stelae, they could learn the alphabet and thus learn to read. That permitted almost all Greek speakers to communicate with one another.

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147 Suggestions from the Seven Greek Sages at Delphi

1. Pursue goodness.
2. Obey all laws.
3. Praise goodness.
4. Obey your parents.
5. Honor justice.
6. Use your proven wisdom.
7. Base your wisdom on facts.
8. Whisper reasons to yourself.
9. Support a healthy family life.
10. Prepare for opportunities.
11. Adjust your actions to living.
12. Behave with discretion.
13. Bring honor to your family.
14. Avoid excessive actions.
15. Empower your friends.
16. Moderate your emotions.
17. Avoid unnecessary risk.
18. Respect the inevitable.
19. Avoid all swearing.
20. Encourage friendship.
21. Learn all you can.
22. Seek virtuous actions.
23. Discover what works best.
24. Reward good acts.
25. Avoid accusations.
26. Recognize quality behavior.
27. Practice being fair.
28. Be respectful of everyone.
29. Don’t expose weakness.
30. Practice courage.
31. Shun every form of evil.
32. Participate in events.
33. Protect what’s valuable.
34. Respect people’s stuff.
35. Respect people’s thoughts.
36. Keep religion personal.
37. Do many kindnesses for friends.
38. Prevent excess.
39. Make extra time for actions.
40. Prepare ahead of needs.
41. Subdue offensive actions.
42. Respect refugees.
43. Make everything comfortable.
44. Challenge your kid’s minds.
45. Help giving empowerment.
46. Look into others’ reasons.
47. Praise good actions.
48. Copy wise acts and thoughts.
49. Judge with a long view.
50. Plan your actions.
51. Shun criminals and murders.
52. Seek what you can earn.
53. Choose honest friends.
54. Challenge your character.
55. Share your gifts.
56. Start off positive.
57. Share your best work.
58. Maintain your limits.
59. Reward good deeds.
60. Shun jealousy.
61. Always be careful.
62. Acknowledge hope.
63. Despise accusations.
64. Earn what you receive.
65. Reward good actions.
66. Understand the judges.
67. Participate in family life.
68. Aim for positive outcomes.
69. Eschew cosigning.
70. Speak to communicate.
71. Seek friends like yourself.
72. Maintain slack in everything.
73. Enjoy what is easy.
74. Obey your shame.
75. Do tiny good deeds.
76. Whisper your positive goals.
77. Enjoy random events.
78. Observe and reflect.
79. Earn what you seek to own.
80. Avoid conflicts.
81. Prevent disgraceful actions.
82. Speak fairly.
83. Block improper actions.
84. Judge by accepted laws.
85. Finish your tasks promptly.
86. Judge by law not by interest.
87. Don’t slander absent people.
88. Speak from knowledge.
89. Suppress violent behavior.
90. See blessings, ignore sorrows.
91. Treat people gently.
92. Admire your completed works.
93. Help people to their goals.
94. Guide kids toward good ends.
95. Help your wife.
96. Take good care of yourself.
97. Give friendly greetings.
98. Set goals before deadlines.
99. Work hard and play fair.
100. Do your best and move on.
101. Show repentance quickly.
102. Keep your eyes on good goals.
103. Think tomorrow before action.
104. Keep actions purposeful.
105. Protect friendship as life.
106. Display your gratitude.
107. Reveal mutual interests.
108. Keep secrets secret.
109. Remember rulers’ obligations.
110. Make actions for mutual gain.
111. Say YES to opportunities.
112. Discuss mutual advantages.
113. Love old age as a gift.
114. Don’t boast about gifts.
115. Speak with kind thoughts.
116. Walk quietly away from hatred.
117. Earn money in fair ways.
118. Finish your tasks promptly.
119. Walk away from temptation.
120. Avoid unnecessary dangers.
121. Ask good questions.
122. Keep slack so you can finish.
123. Respect people’s silly beliefs.
124. Treat your dependents well.
125. Don’t challenge the departed.
126. Respect everyone, like elders.
127. Make fun games for kids.
128. Be open to people’s problems.
129. Treat yourself with respect.
130. Never force people to actions.
131. Think fondly of ancestors.
132. Risk dying for your country.
133. Use life as an opportunity.
134. Never disparage the dead.
135. Learn from the unlucky.
136. Be happy, shun debauchery.
137. Grieve losses, then move on.
138. Find healthy spouse for kids.
139. Make and accept no promises.
140. Honor all that is past.
141. Live vigorously.
142. Preplan responses to luck.
143. Explore everything.
144. Cultivate self-control.
145. Work your best options.
146. Exemplify tranquil living.
147. Die with pleasant memories.

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Read the Bishop of Newark John Shelby Spong‘s book Unbelievable – Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today, Chapter 27, on How the Ten Commandments Have Changed Through History for more details on the Biblical scholarship, and for the story of how the combination of a whole church congregation Spong spoke to couldn’t come up with all 10 Commandments. (p. 208) – See YouTube videos of Spong.

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The god concept is unbelievable and not needed for Universal beauty.

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experience, John Shelby Spong, Unbelievable, Reaching for God., God experience, Explanations, Experience versus Explanations

I have been reading and rereading John Shelby Spong’s book Unbelievable – Why Neither Ancient Creeds Nor the Reformation Can Produce a Living Faith Today. He seems to be rehashing ideas I had in the 1960s. As part of his concluding five pages (283-7), he spends a paragraph on what I published in the 70s in Tao and War. Thus the foundation of his thoughts isn’t Christian, which he dearly wants it to be, but 500 BC Chinese.

The next paragraph he talks about the possibility he may be delusional with his concepts of contacting the God experience. My take on that idea is that he has a choice. 1. He is delusional, which he doubts. 2. He is a liar. Which I don’t want to believe. 3. The entirety of modern science must be revoked, which seems implausible. Thus, the best choice is that he is at least partially delusional.

The next paragraph: “I believe I have experienced God as the Source of Life. Life was born as a single cell and, as such, began its journey in time until it arrived at its present stage, which includes the self-conscious complexity of human beings, producing for the first time, so far as we know, a creature who can define life, contemplate its beginnings, anticipate its termination and raise the question of its meaning.” Whew.

My problem with that is that I have personally spoken to people who are trying to create life from natural materials, using stuff coming out of volcanoes (David Deamer) and recombining DNA (Craig Venter). They are both excellent scientists and don’t have godlike demeanors that would give a sane person the willies.

Spong’s book’s concluding line, and he says that it is his last book, is, “I bear witness to the faith that leads me and the whole world to live fully, love wastefully and be all that we can be.” I like that sentiment and have been trying to expand it to the whole Universe.

A request to the Universe put into a prayer-like petition.

It is unnecessary and ultimately unbelievable to insert Christian needs for a god experience to achieve Universal beauty.

I drink beer occasionally.

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Beer, Three chimneys in Bend Oregon

I drank this beer.

Walked out the door and took this picture.

What a high life I live. See the point!?

How many I’s do I have?

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I am unique every moment., What is I?, Who am I?

Who am I? What am I? What is it that pretends to be my I when I claim that I am here now and I am paying attention to what I think is important. My friends were discussing ideas surrounding these kinds of subjects and quibbling over various multiply split hairs when I started pontificating that my I is like a huge herd of galloping zebras. It’s all a panoply of jittering layers of mind stuff.

This morning I stepped on some slippery grass and my emergency-balancing I came to the rescue and I fell more or less controlled into a bush. A moment later my self-preservation I was analyzing whether I had any injuries, and it was satisfied that my body and my I were okay. Then my embarrassment I popped up and looked around to see if anyone had observed my silly gymnastic gestures. As I was getting up my remembering I thought about the warning I heard earlier about the park lawn watering pipes that were having air blown through them to clear out the water for the winter freeze protection. That water was the source of the slick spot in an otherwise dry surface.

As I thought about these various I’s it became apparent to me that I am a huge bundle of I’s. That every thought that streamed through my brain formed its unique I am in my mind.

Every instant of my existence I am a unique new I. I am comfortable with that, but it does seem to bother my friends a bit.

What is the purpose of our life?

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The meaning of life is sleep., What is the meaning of human life?, What is the meaning of life?, What is the purpose of our life?

The first purpose of all living things is to avoid destruction. The warnings of risk are built into sensate beings, and if those fail pain is experienced to encourage struggles to survive the immediate situation. That purpose is designed into every living being’s DNA or it won’t survive long enough to reproduce.

We humans have some other purposes we strive toward beyond simple survival and built-in reproductive urges. If we observe what we spend most of our time, effort, and money on, that is a good proxy for what we value. There is a considerable discussion of higher values but unless it includes a substantial dollop of those three valued things it is probably idle talk.

What if we approach the question from a spatial point of view?…

What does the whole Universe ask of us living beings? Or our Milky Way galaxy, or our Sun’s system, or our Earth, our locality, our property, or where we are right now?

What do our animal bodies demand of us? And of our various parts, like our skin, our eyes, our hands and feet, our lungs and heart, our bladder, etc. Every cell of our bodies has its preferred environment, and if it isn’t getting what it needs it will make itself known somehow, via pain or failure to produce its product, which causes misery elsewhere.

We briefly hit on the potential needs of the Universe, the personal human needs, the animal organs, and cellular needs. So what are we to discuss when we ask, “What is the meaning of life?”

A Google search gave this result from www.reddit.com:

I guess the meaning of life must be defined by how much time we sleep and how much money we spend sleeping.

How to climb the staircase to heaven.

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Beatitude, Beatitudes, Jesus, Sermon on the Moun, Staircase to Heaven, The Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount was given by Jesus after a short walk from the town of Capernaum to a site above the Sea of Galilee. The sermon begins with a staircase starting from a lowly place and going to a heavenly one. It then gives many illustrations along the path to heaven and then a general procedure for walking along that path and up those stairs. Jesus offers his Golden Rule, and it is a bit different in words from what are usually translated as the Golden Rule, but it is absolutely different in its meaning and power. Observe that each beatitude is an inner state, linked to a response and that they are an upward progression toward a heavenly condition.

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Matthew 5 King James Version (KJV)

5 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

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Matthew 7 King James Version (KJV)

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

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The Beatitudes are the staircase to heaven, and Jesus’ form of the Golden Rule, which includes the word “should,” creates the thoughts and actions that train your inner-self habits with the abilities needed for the ascent.
The word “should” is often translated as “would” because “would” is easier to understand as it is on everyone’s level and easier to do because it demands little of the person; just be nice to others.

The word “should” challenges you to strive to reach the next level of being.

I have some half baked ideas that need more baking.

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Baking new ideas takes time, Big ideas, Half baked ideas

The Sermon on the Mount needs an upgrade to make it relevant again. I have been associated with several groups with some Christians in them and they discuss wanting to live a pure and meaningful life like Jesus, but when they talk about those ideas they refer to Paul and they never refer to Jesus’ Sermon. I tell them about that sermon being a stairway to a better life and how it works, but it needs a carefully written post and I never seem to have the time, or lately the energy. That is getting better now that my radiation treatments have ended and I am healing.

Another idea that needs a thorough backing is an exposition on the steps needed to bring robotic life into existence so the Universe can move on to its next level of being and probably beyond. Only we can do the necessary work to get that next level into existence. Once it is up and operating, a thoughtful evolutionary process using projective forethought can move that “life-form” forward much more quickly than  Darwinian evolution.

Another post needs to be written that gives humans the motivation to create this new life-form while they have the opportunity. If we get it started in the bountiful direction of helping the Universe to self-actualize its potential, some wonderful things would almost certainly come into existence. It would probably be an existence that we humans would approve of and greatly enjoy.

Another ongoing quest is to investigate some new directions in a visual exploration of our common environment. There have been posted a few “lines and shadows” photos, and a few “disappearing objects” ideas that gave people a moment of thought.

Even with my plethora of false beliefs that need cleaning up, I am enjoying my life of attempting to find solutions to its realities.

What memory have I created today?

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Cancer recovery, Memories of simple events, Prostate recovery, Today

Today the symptoms of my 44 prostate radiation treatments seem to be receding. It’s been nine days since the last one and I have been feeling easily fatigued while doing things that I usually consider refreshing. Our usual twenty-minute walk leaves me feeling like resting rather than getting busy doing something. The urgency to pee has abated from instantaneous extreme as a bolt from the blue, onto let’s go right away when entering the front door. The fatigue probably arises from my body clearing out a cubic inch of killed tissue, which takes energy away from my usual tasks. I am able to be cheerful and energetic for a few minutes, but then I sit down and start reading my usual heavy stuff. That only lasts a few minutes and then I doze off for half an hour.

During my interviews with my doctors and nurses, they warned me that these would be the likely symptoms for two to six weeks and then I would start feeling better. From that perspective, it will be at least five days before the good times start to return. On the other hand, I have felt absolutely no pain throughout this whole ordeal, except for the needle biopsy where the doctor, a nice young female intern, did the deed. Each of the ten pops of a special needle gun only hurt about as much as sharply slapping one hand against the other. A pop and then a sting for about five seconds. It’s nothing really, except while it is happening to me there is anxiety and pain. It’s real pain even if it is a tiny pain and so it feels like a violation of my body.

The big event today was a terrific sermon at the Bend UU church, but I don’t feel comfortable summarizing a wonderful event with trivial descriptions. There was one simple thing where we did a directed meditation. It consisted of relaxing, closing our eyes, and then having prompts to various places in our lives. Think of your favorite place … think of your library, … and about ten more. We ended with think about your coffee shop. That was a big one for me because I spent fifty years sitting in the Cafe Med on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California. It was where much of the magnificent things of the twentieth century were hatched. We knew we were doing great things, and as it turned out we were.

Reminiscing for a few minutes about significant places in one’s life is self-directed and thus really meaningful. 

How can I identify and eliminate my false beliefs? 30

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Charles Scamahorn's Darwin Award, Darwin Award, I love my false beliefs., My false beliefs

My quest to search out and identify my false beliefs has some serious downsides to my daily life and comfort. The one bothering me the most at the moment is my propensity to seek out and try to understand why troubled situations exist when the people involved in them, myself included, could just walk away. My false belief is that I can help these situations in any way.

One obviously painful thing is the media intrusion into our lives. The news is always ugly based on the newsman’s premise, “If it bleeds it leads.” The terrible events are always placed in front of us as if we are supposed to come to the rescue and solve the problem. If we don’t, as is usually the case, give money or time, or tears, we are made to feel like uncaring monsters.

I often watch the Weather Channel late at night because it frequently portrays real people confronted with extreme problems. How do they cope? Usually the answer is they have not done something they should have done. Typical for the TV show is not moving out of the way of a hurricane where people had a couple of days’ warning. Or getting caught in a flash flood where often stepping a few steps away from the flow channel would have saved them grief. Or, even dumber, driving a car across a flooding stream and being swept away. Another late night TV treat is watching Tosh.0, which features video clips of people voluntarily doing life-threatening antics.

There are lessons to be learned by watching these crazy things, like—Don’t do this! You are likely to get hurt! Unfortunately, it appears to me that people watch these things and then follow the maxim, “Monkey see, monkey do.”

For this year’s Halloween festivities, I wore my Darwin Award emblem to prove to myself and to others … something?

Charles Scamahorn of EarthArk getting a Darwin Award from Wendy Northcutt.

That Darwin Award photo was made back in 2008, but I still haven’t discovered how to live.

A ghost cup wows my buddies.

Tags

A ghost of a cup, A shadow of a ghost., Fun with photos.

I took made this picture of a ghost cup with a real shadow. Vampires supposedly do not cast shadows but how about ghost cups? I printed up this picture at a one-to-one size for the table we have our coffee at from ten till eleven am. 
It is a reminiscence of the Pipe that isn’t a pipe. This is a cup that isn’t a cup, but it casts a shadow. The knot is not a whole hole either. There is something happening though, and it caused a bit of humor to float about above the printed picture lying on and covering up the original scene.

Things are not always what they seem even when they are not seen.