What can I say to those who doubt my view of Jesus?

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“Everything others should do to you - do to them!”, Do what Jesus said you should do., KJV of the Golden Rule, The Golden Rule

Currently living Christians and Muslims will doubt my assertions about how Jesus was showing us how to ascend the ladder of the Beatitudes to attain heaven. I have no desire to challenge a single person who has found a spiritual path that is satisfying to them. If it works for them and their friends that will get plenty of praise from me.

My view is based on my simple observation that the Beatitudes as translated in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible are a ladder from a miserable state to a heavenly one. That seems meaningful because the Sermon on the Mount begins with that ascending list of improving emotional states coupled with an improving set of rewards for reaching the higher states.

A second observation is that after the Beatitudes the sermon builds toward the Golden Rule with problems and solutions and after stating with great emphasis that it is important both before and after, he gives a warning to do it properly so you will get the benefits. If you don’t do the Golden Rule as he suggested you will not grow the good fruits and will deserve to be cast away into the fire.

When I read the Golden Rule with the word should replaced with the word would it appears to me to be going down a path that will not give the results that Jesus wanted you to acquire. The problem is that treating others as you wish to be treated means you are locked into the developmental state that you currently reside within. The way that will improve your chances for getting to the heavenly state is to treat others better than you would treat yourself. That is why the word should is so important and so powerful. People should treat you in a way that will help you grow toward heaven and if you consistently treat others better than you would want them to treat you, the result is that with every application of that better way you will become a better person yourself. If you only treat people at your own level of development you are locking yourself into that preexisting level of spiritual attainment. Therefore do those things to others that they should do to you to help you up the ladder of the Beatitudes.

“Everything others should do to you, do to them!”

Everything others should do to you, do to them!

Tags

Do what Jesus said you should do., KJV of the Golden Rule, The Golden Rule

I feel the last couple of blog posts are so important that they may be the most important things I ever say. It is a simple statement and it is what I think Jesus meant when he said his Golden Rule. There are many Golden Rules on Wikipedia’s page. Essentially every culture has some statement of reciprocity claiming that if you treat your fellow creatures well they will treat you well in return. I say creature to include all animals, not just humans, because you will discover quickly that if you treat a dog well it will treat you well. This rule will not apply well to hungry meat-eating animals, but they aren’t treating you badly when they eat you, it’s just their way of living.

Wikipedia lists eight kinds of reciprocity – (this is a direct copy of their links)

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• Norm of reciprocity, social norm of in-kind responses to the behavior of others
• Reciprocity (cultural anthropology), way of defining people’s informal exchange of goods and labour
• Reciprocity (evolution), mechanisms for the evolution of cooperation
• Reciprocity (international relations), principle that favours, benefits, or penalties that are granted by one state to the citizens or legal entities of another, should be returned in kind
• Reciprocity (social and political philosophy), concept of reciprocity as in-kind positive or negative responses for the actions of others; relation to justice; related ideas such as gratitude, mutuality, and the Golden Rule
• Reciprocity (social psychology), in-kind positive or negative responses of individuals towards the actions of others
• Serial reciprocity, where the benefactor of a gift or service will in turn provide benefits to a third party
• Ubuntu (philosophy), an ethical philosophy originating from Southern Africa, which has been summarised as ‘A person is a person through other people’

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A close reading of those concepts will show you that the Golden Rule as I have stated it, which is identical to the King James Version, isn’t about helping other people, nor is it about those others intentionally treating you better. The Golden Rule is about getting into a heavenly state, and when you know how to do that it’s about helping other people get into heaven. It is a vastly greater goal than merely getting people to treat you well by stimulating their mirror neurons to copy behavior they encounter. Jesus was saying what he intended was for his followers to ascend into heaven. This is obvious because he begins the Sermon on the Mount with a ladder to his heaven. It’s called the Beatitudes, and on the eighth step, he says you are in heaven. The first few steps are for people living in misery and the last ones are nearing heaven. Thus one ascends a ladder from misery through more desirable states and ends the ascent in heaven.
Treating your acquaintances as you would like them to treat you is going to create friendly relationships. It is a very good thing to treat people well, to treat animals well, to treat plants well, and even to treat the inanimate Earth well. However, that isn’t going to get you into heaven. Following his instructions, as stated in the King James Version of the Golden Rule, will get you into Jesus’ heaven, and following the instructions as translated in the other versions that replace should with would will only create pleasant relationships with your friends and environment.

Others can help you ascend to heaven if you treat them as they should treat you. They should help you ascend the ladder provided in the Beatitudes.

Everything others should do to you, do to them!

Jesus wanted you to live and live more abundantly.

Tags

The Golden Rule, The ladder called Beatitudes, What Jesus said about should

In the 1611 King James Version of Matthew Chapters 5-7 Jesus presented to his disciples the Sermon on the Mount. He wanted these people who understood him to live their lives fully and abundantly and to ascend into a heavenly state. He gave a specific method for his followers to maintain their life, and once they had that to live it more abundantly. That method is known as the Golden Rule, and to make sure they knew exactly what he meant with his new and special Golden Rule he underlined his method four times; two times before he said the rule and two times after he said it. In the first emphasis he said, “all things” and then to emphasize that he said “whatsoever,” and that should tell you that what is coming he considers as being very important. After those emphases, he makes a simple statement that any normal adult can understand, and after that statement, he emphasizes it two times more by saying, “this is the law,” and underlines that statement with a second emphasis, “and the Prophets.” Thus we have, (KJV) Matt 7.12 “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so unto them: for this is the law and the prophets.” In simple modern English, it would be, “Everything others should do to you, do to them!” Is that clear enough?

Apparently not, because most of the modern translations of that simple statement have changed the sh in should to w in would, and because of that the majority of our modern world’s people are crippled developmentally by those translations. I challenge that single letter substitution because changing the word should to the word would totally degrades the meaning of the Golden Rule, it degrades the entire Sermon on the Mount, it degrades the whole meaning of Jesus’ ministry, and it degrades the original goal of Christianity and of Islam that are based upon His teaching. Changing that single letter degrades people’s goal and thus their life’s purpose. Half of all the people alive today believe they are following Jesus’ message but the translations that change the word should to would degrade the power of Jesus’ original teaching.

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount at Tabgha (lat/lon 32.8815 35.5557) was proposing a method for raising a person’s daily life and their spirit life also to a much higher level. The levels of his ladder of attainment are known as the Beatitudes: Those beatitudes aren’t just a random set of good wishes to different categories of people as is commonly suggested. They are a ladder for growing away from a miserable human condition through better conditions all the way up to the very best state human beings can achieve. People can learn to live in a spiritual heaven and here is that ladder to heaven.

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Matthew 5, King James Version (KJV)

1 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 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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The highest states are seen in line 8 where the reward is to see God, and even better is line 9 to be called a child of God and even better is line 10 where the reward is to live in heaven. Some will quibble that line 3 is in heaven also, but that person is dead because they lack a spirit. The ultimate goal is to live in heaven while full of a living spirit as in line 10. There is no joy to be had without a living spirit when in heaven because when one is dead they don’t get the benefits of experiencing what heaven has to offer.

The importance of applying the Golden Rule as a should statement is because treating others as they should treat you means you are treating them at a higher level than you are presently achieving yourself. When you treat others slightly better than you would treat yourself, you cultivate the habits for treating yourself in that better way too. As you practice that and become skilled at your new level it becomes easier for you to practice the next higher step up. Thus, as you practice these teachings of doing to others as they should do to you, you yourself become a more fully realized person and you are on your way to heaven.

When the translators replace the word should with would they inadvertently condemned their readers to being stuck in the developmental stage where they were already residing. By giving to others what you value at your present condition, you create the habits for maintaining yourself in your current state of being. That might feel natural to you, but it prevents you from moving up the scale of the Beatitudes. If you cultivate (line 4) mourning for others you are simultaneously cultivating the state of mourning in yourself and the best you can expect for a reward is to be comforted. If you move up the ladder to being able to see and bless the pure of heart (line 8) it will grow in you a habit of being pure in heart and your reward for that level of habit is to see God. To replace the currently popular Golden Rule’s word would with the original word should and to practice those habits diligently will release you from your present condition and help you to grow to a much better one. Practice the Golden Rule as you should and your habits of treating others higher on the scale of the Beatitudes will pull you into heaven.

“Everything others should do to you, do to them!”

How to create a Golden Rule for yourself.

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Childish behavior is for children, Choose to avoid immaturity, Choose to be more mature, Live longer and more fulfilled, The Golden Rule, Your personal Golden Rule

Every person is unique. They have been given unique DNA, uterine environment, birth experience, first month, infancy, childhood, adulthood, maturity, and sagehood. Each of these is modified by the environment they found themselves immersed within. Their physical situation influences everything they were given and their social situation influences everything too. Potentially the most variable things that can influence the person are their own multiple habitual relationships with the many aspects of their personal selves. There are probably many other influences which we never considered, such as the recent discovery, interest, and popularity of the personal internal microbiome. At the present, we don’t know how important that will become, but it may be big.

With so many personal variables that form each individual, it is reasonable that every one of us should have our personal guiding principle – our personal Golden Rule, a basic principle that should be followed to ensure success in general or in a particular activity.

Last year I blogged –  How many Golden Rules are there? Many but there’s one really good one. That post was encouraging people to follow the Golden Rule as stated in the King James Version of the Bible. That post mentions Wikipedia’s link to The Golden Rule where there are about fifty Golden Rules mentioned, and which itself has many links to analysis of the variations. With this blog, I am exploring your option for creating a personal Golden Rule, based on your typical daily level of maturity. And then offering some suggestions on how to further personalize your Golden Rule to help you live a long and fulfilling life.

There is a guiding principle underlying my method for creating your personal Golden Rule, and that is — when you are feeling emotionally alert, exuberant, healthy, and with a clear vision of current facts, use that time to intentionally search through your options for what thoughts and behaviors you could pursue. After an appropriate period of time spent analyzing the situation, choose the behavior that seems to be the most mature.

For example, if you have the opportunity to go skiing, rather than paying to ski down hills for fun, risking personal injury, instead volunteer for the ski patrol and do search and rescue of other skiers in trouble. If your natural emotional condition is adolescent, that is, trying to find one’s self in your society, choosing to have physical fun is childish and a step down because with that motivation it would be a childish behavior for you. However, if you choose to use the same time and skills on the ski patrol that would be an adult behavior because it is socially productive, and might be thought of as work.

It is childish to seek physical pleasure, adolescent to seek personal aggrandizement in your social group, adult to somehow be productive for yourself and associates.

The end value of choosing more mature activities at any stage of life is that you and your friends live longer more fulfilling lives.

 

 

 

 

 

How many Golden Rules are there? Many but there’s one really good one.

Tags

How to approach Heaven, The Golden Rule, The ladder to Heaven, Understand Jesus' Beatitudes, What you should do.

Every culture has some form of how we as individuals should treat other people. Here in the Christian West it is called the Golden Rule, but if the basic idea is pursued it varies greatly, and here is a list arranged by date:

Egypt – 2040 BC – The Eloquent Peasant – Do to the doer to cause that he do thus to you.

Mesopotamia – 1780 BC – the Code of Hammurabi had a balancing of one’s personal behavior with a reciprocity “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth“. That is, you get what you have given.

China – 500 BC – Confucius – Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.

Greece – 500 BC – Sextus – What you do not want to happen to you, do not do it yourself either.

Iran – 500 BC – Pahlavi – Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others.

India – 500 BC – Mahābhārata, – Treat others as you treat yourself.

Tamil – 200 BC – Tiruvalluvar – Do no evil, even in return, to those who have cherished enmity and done them evil.

Rome – 43 BC – Publilius Syrus – Expect from others what you did to them.

Israel – 30 BC – Hillel – That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.

Chicago – 1893 AD – Parliament of the World’s Religions – We must treat others as we wish others to treat us.

Wikipedia – Golden Rule “All versions and forms of the proverbial Golden Rule have one aspect in common: they all demand that people treat others in a manner in which they themselves would like to be treated.”

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What was Jesus’ Golden Rule?

What Jesus was reported to have said in his Golden Rule was best stated in the King James version. Here is a link to 53 Bible versions of Matthew 7:12; 11 of these English translations use the word should, 6 use like and 21 want.

The difference between should and want is critical to your human development, because at every level from infant to sage a person knows what they want, and they have an idea of what they should want. They know that what they should want is available to them if they try to achieve it, but to reach that level will require some personal effort and knocking at the right door. Jesus opens the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes; it is the ladder of increasing challenge for a seeker of personal development to climb to Heaven.
Matthew 5, King James Version (KJV)

5:1 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.

That ladder is the opening to the only complete sermon available to us by Jesus, and the sermon points to the Golden Rule as its essence. Thus, the Beatitudes are the way to climb to heaven, and the Golden Rule is the method, and the rest is commentary and illustration. It is very important that each of these key elements of the Sermon on the Mount be understood correctly, and for that to happen it is essential that they be translated from the original statements to our modern English as clearly as possible. Having 53 different translations confuses the issue. Clearly for a person to raise themselves from a present state of human development to a higher one would be the direction a great sage would be teaching to his followers.

Jesus is providing the ladder and the method and warning that it is a narrow door through which we must pass to reach the highest state; and that there will be many who will try to deceive and take everything we have. “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” St. John 10:10. What you give is what you receive, “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.” KJV Matthew 7:12.

It is on your present level of the ladder of the Beatitudes that you will give what you will receive; and as on any ladder you must be secure on one level before you can step to the next one. Now you know the how and the why, but you must reach for the higher actions to climb the ladder. To learn the next level you should give to others what they need to be on that next higher rung than the one where you are presently located; that is, what you should do is to learn how to step a little higher yourself than where you are presently located. If you give others what you already have on the level you are already located on you will only be training yourself to be stuck at that level. If you are already there, you will never advance beyond it by teaching at that level. For example, a brilliant man who spends his life teaching children how to count will never learn to add. And one who spends his life teaching children how to add will never learn to multiply; to learn the next level we should teach the next level, and there are many things to learn. If you are on the level where you hunger and thirst after righteousness then you should teach and practice being merciful because then you can become competent at being merciful. When you are competent at being merciful you can seek to be pure in heart by teaching and practicing the things needed to live at that level.

Do it.

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A strange thing I found in a Google search of [Golden Rule Vulgate] was The Holy Bible translated from the Latin Vulgate MDCCCLVII (1857) by James Duffy Dublin; Ireland

JOSUE Chap. VII 21 For I saw among the spoils a scarlet garment exceeding good, and two hundred sicles of silver, and a golden rule of fifty sicles: and I coveted them, and I took them away, and hid them in the ground in the midst of my tent, —

That is clearly a very different Golden Rule, from Jesus’ sermon, but it should be noted, a Golden Rule may have been an official king’s measuring ruler. It would be like finding the official measure of The Meter stored in the Paris site of weights and measures. However, for some reason this Golden Rule was the spoils of war, and now being hidden away as a very special trophy. For an archaeologist to find that measuring unit would probably answer many historical measurement problems. The Ladder of the Beatitudes is a Golden Rule given to you to use, not to bury.

Is your interpretation of The Golden Rule selfish?

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Do to others what they should do to you., Karma, Kindness, Should, The Golden Rule, What we should do for others, Wisdom

There are many golden rules in the Wikipedia article by that name. A common interpretation of The Golden Rule is “Be nice to others and they will be nice to you.” and the inverse, “Don’t be mean to others and they won’t be be mean to you.” which is usually called the Silver rule. But in my analysis of these last few days, based on the idea of kindness, it becomes clear that kindness goes beyond those common views of ethical behavior.

Underlying each of those views of the Golden Rule is the hope for a return of a favor for the favor you are giving to the other person. Thus, an act motivated in that way becomes an economic transaction with the intent of a repayment and thus it is a mild form of selfishness. This view is similar to the law of Karma which states that the actions you perform will be returned to you, so you better perform good actions. There is a quality of threat in this view of karma which is sometimes stated bluntly in the various forms of reincarnation recompense.  For example, if you intentionally step on a cockroach you will come back to life in your next reincarnation as a cockroach.

Observe carefully Jesus’ statement of the Golden Rule. It is much more challenging, both to understand and to apply.

¹²Therefore 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. Matthew 7:12

The word should is no mistake because this same word also appears at a different time and in a different context.

³¹And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. Luke 6:31

The critical word should is used by Jesus but these days the internal meaning is always passed over. I say always because I have never once heard it said or commented upon as an internal response, and it doesn’t exist in the Wikipedia commentary in this form as I write this. It is strange that the function of this particular word should is ignored because it is the absolute Heart of Christianity as Jesus taught it. Furthermore, the prophet of Christianity emphasized the word not just once but twice in this his only presently know complete sermon. He immediately said,  “This is the Law, and the Prophets.” How much greater an emphasis has anyone ever put upon a single sentence and a single word, and emphasized it with greater force?

What is the purpose of this word should? In Jesus’ own words:

 “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” KJV John 10:10

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. KJV Mat 22:36-40

This word should is aimed at helping other people and that is the goal and essence of kindness and kind acts. Those types of actions are a way of one-way giving what the other person needs to live and to live their life more abundantly. They are not intended as soliciting reciprocal acts from the other person with the goal of enhancing one’s own life and making one’s own self more abundant.

Intentionally cultivating the habit of kindness to others will rebound upon one’s self, because the person we relate to most often is our own self and we are the most frequent recipient of our own habit of kindness. This return of kindness isn’t selfish it is generosity to ones own self and it will lead to a more contented life. However, sometimes, hopefully rarely, it will require the giving of one’s own life – as Jesus proved by voluntarily giving his life so his followers could understand the power of his message. Jesus demonstrated the ultimate in kindness to others and he attained what he said was the ultimate reward.

It is unfortunate that the Roman state co-opted what became a religion founded on these very positive ideas and converted it into a state religion used to control people rather than liberate them.  And yet, the message was always there to be practiced by anyone who chose to do so:

Practice kindness by doing for others what they should do for you if you were them.

The Golden Rule for better results in living.

Tags

Aspiring to the Gates of Heaven, Maximizing human potential., Spiritual growth, The Golden Rule, What should I do?

How Jesus’ Golden Rule can help you most.

In the post Variations on what the Golden Rule means there is a list with links to 32 variations other than the King James Version (KJV Matthew 7:12) All things whatsoever that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them. For this is the Law and the Prophets. The operative word in the KJV version which the others lack is the word should, and the reason is simple enough when you understand that Jesus was serious about helping people in their efforts to elevate themselves to their highest potential state. The other versions are softer and weaker in their notions of what is expected and demanded of the followers. They say be good to others and they will be good to you. That is kindly, but Jesus sought much more for his followers; he sought a method of elevating them into their highest possible spiritual condition – generally called Heaven, or at least the gates of Heaven. If they would help others to live their lives more abundantly they would simultaneously be developing their own consciousness to move themselves up the spiritual scale towards Heaven. By paying close attention to what other people needed to improve their lives they could see more clearly what they themselves needed, and by helping those people attain higher levels they were cultivating the habits that would elevate themselves to these higher conditions. The Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount outline the generalized steps that would be taken by the students of this spiritual path towards enlightenment.

How and why Jesus’ message was lost.

The original formulation that Jesus spoke may have been diluted by the various translations, and by the problem of the translators who didn’t understand what Jesus was trying to accomplish and who inadvertently dumbed it down. Also, there is the problem of stating one of the most sophisticated ideas ever conceived in a way that everyone could understand, including every uneducated and illiterate worker who spent eighty hours a week alone in a field, to create a statement they could use meaningfully in their daily lives. Be nice to people and they will be nice to you, and obey your boss. It seems naive to think that the most sophisticated philosophical principle ever conceived by the tens of billions of people who ever lived could be readily understood by the most unsophisticated child. But, that is what is generally promulgated by the authorities.

A new way of stating Jesus’ message more clearly.

To move toward a full realization of one’s spiritual potential requires more than just being nice, much more than just saying generalized socially approved pleasantries. To help someone who is advanced requires that you be nearly as advanced yourself, or you won’t understand what they need and what you need to offer them to help both of you progress. That is why Jesus begins his Golden Rule with “All men”, because the student of this teaching must not only be helping the Poor of spirit, but also all of the people on the spiritual ladder. Then the really difficult words, “should do” because these words must be applied differently to every single person, and most of all differently to those advancing up the ladder. Thus, I will do for others what they should do for me. This statement is more active than the diluted modern versions and also it requires a careful personal observation and analysis of what it is that the individual self, pronouncing these thoughts to himself, knows should be done to assist him up the ladder to being closer to heaven. When that is clear he knows how he should be treating the people he encounters.

I will do for others what they should do for me.

What Jesus really said about The Golden Rule.

Tags

Jesus' - The Golden Rule, The Golden Rule

Who am I to say what Jesus said? Actually, it is quite easy to find out what Jesus is reported to have said — just go read the Bible. However, I do want to make one obvious observation which seems to have eluded everyone for two thousand years. In the Christian take on the Bible it’s all about the old Prophets leading up to Jesus, and the New Testament is about what Jesus said and some later commentaries upon what he said and setting up the church to help proclaim his good words. No doubt many people will quibble with what little I have already written because there have been billions of people thinking about these ideas and very little agreement reached about anything, even the really obvious facts. What I dislike about religion as opposed to science is that there are arguments in scientific discourse, but then there are tests for resolving the arguments, and the arguments end. With religion there are no satisfactory tests of the various truths proclaimed, and so it is impossible to resolve arguments empirically and people argue and fight forever.

Even though the Bible has gone through many translations, there are some things upon which even the religious commentators usually find agreement. Let me list a few obvious ones: A book exists called the Bible. In this Bible there are sub-books about a person called Jesus. There are four books called the Gospels which are written by people with some information very close to first-hand about this person Jesus. In these books they refer to a special complete sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, which appears to be a prepared sermon intended to be memorized by Jesus’ followers. The sermon has a very organized presentation with particular suggestions for personal behavior. Hopefully, there is no disagreement with any of those generally accepted facts, but if you have any there isn’t much reason to follow my argument any further and you can better use your time and attention to what you consider a more satisfactory end.

What is intended by this narrowing the focus of the obvious general facts is that this process can be continued on into the gospels because the Sermon on the Mount continues this same trend. When read carefully the sermon says directly that a great secret is about to be revealed and it repeats that a few times. Then rather gently it seems the tone shifts subtly and continues saying the great secret has been revealed to you and there are suggestions as to what you should do about your new knowledge. This change is so easy and fluid that no one seems to be shocked by it, but it is at that very moment when the reference changes from future to past that the revelation is made.

This crossroad of ideas, this pinnacle of development of the central idea is:

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. Matthew 7:12

Okay, so everyone knows The Golden Rule, and it has many variations and the Wikipedia gives a fair once over of how each of the religions handles this basic concept of how to treat other people. I would recommend reading its article on the The Golden Rule, because it covers all of the historical ethical arguments for treating other people well. While reading that article, pay particular attention to the should do to you aspect because what follows here will then become more meaningful. What I will say has already been said by Jesus, but the past masters didn’t understand it and missed its importance.

In a separate text, you will see again the essence of what Jesus said and you should notice that it was not said by any of the other religious sages:

And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. Luke 10:25-28

If the exact same sentiment is proclaimed in each of Jesus’ statements and by none of the other sages, then it would seem that it is what Jesus intended to say exactly and not what any of the other sages were saying. The spins on the Golden Rule which were the others were proposing which were readily available to Jesus. What Jesus says isn’t really about being nice to other people so they will be nice to you which is at the root of the other Golden Rule phrasings.

The whole of Jesus’ argument and of mine comes down to the central statement in the central sermon in the central document of the Bible – what men should do to you. How can it be said more clearly and pointed to more definitively? Then the obvious follow-on question is, what should men be doing to me that you recommend that I should be doing to them? And the obvious answer would be —to help them achieve their potential for entering into the most exalted state they are capable of while here on earth. In that high state they may approach the gates of heaven. Conversely, if you use the should do suggestion you may approach your potential and thus also enter as closely as possible to heaven. This form of the Golden Rule is different from the others, because what you should be doing to your fellow man he might find quite objectionable. This other person might even hate what you are doing to him because it is going to force him to change something about his current way of doing things. Once you understand that should do concept then much of Jesus’ behavior and recommendations become more sensible and much more powerful.

Help others to achieve their utmost human potential.

How can I be a better person? What is “good”???

Tags

Confucius, happiness, Self improvement, Spiritual improvement, The Golden Rule

Everyone wants to do the right thing but what that is varies with every person, and with every moment of their life. Individuals must make choices as to their behavior even when they have no knowledge as to what any of the various factors may be, which are influencing their behavior, or what is going to be influenced by it or what the outcomes will be. Whenever a person’s behavior involves other people, which ultimately all human behavior does, then it comes under the rubric term, ethics.

What is the right thing to do is an intellectual puzzle beyond the comprehension of the greatest philosophers, but it must be and is solved every moment of life by the most incompetent person who ever lived. The vastness of the field of ethics is implied by the catalog list of ethics topics in Wikipedia which anyone can wear out their eyes upon, but it is only a catalog, it is only a map of a very large territory which is infinitely complex, but a territory which every individual must somehow traverse every moment of their life.

The most general guiding principle, found worldwide is similar to what in Western traditions is called The Golden Rule. The King James version is, “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.” Matthew 7:12. But there are many variations found in other traditions. The word which most people slur over is the term “should” and tend to ascribe what is implied when Confucius said in the Analects XV.24: “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.” But the term “should” goes much deeper in that it means much more than what would give you pleasure or relieve you from pain, but rather it means what will help you achieve your highest attainable growth toward maturity. When looked at this way it means doing to this postulated other person what needs to be done to your own personal self to enhance your own growth toward your highest attainable goal. This means to strive to become perfect in the perception of your ideal being.

Only you can know your ideal being, and only you can know what would please this being, but it is for that being which you should “do in all things whatsoever.” When you practice this method you can improve your inner self, and become a better person. The Happiness Scale gives an ascending list of personal qualities which may be helpful, but in practice you should develop your own goals, and consider this only as a point of departure.

The question of, “What is the right thing to do now?”, is always with you personally. You are on your own path, but the way you treat other people can help you to find your way, and find yourself, and help you become what you yourself would consider to be closer to your ideal self.

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