The Golden Rule: ‘Treat others as you would want others to treat you.’ All Faiths have the Golden Rule, because all faiths characterise god/the creator in terms of their cultural traditions and aspirations.
Today’s attacks on the institutions of faith are misplaced. It was humans working in the institution, not the institution per se, and not god, where the institutional buck stops, as it were, that was responsible for the many malfeasances humans have perpetrated IN THE NAME OF GOD. The modern solution is to replace god with personalities taken from the world’s ruling classes.
It was humans responsible for most of the misery in the human experience. It was humans who seemed to see themselves as so different from OTHERS OF THEIR OWN SPECIES, that they could dream up policies like the Doctrine of Discovery to legitimise terrorising other humans. The church did that. The hypocrisy is egregious, and needs no explanation. In doing this, the men making the decisions for the church AT THAT TIME could not have been working for Jesus. Aside: God help me to understand how President Biden can be soft on Netanyahu as the latter continues to defy all reason and human sensibility in wilfully inflicting carnage upon Palestinian men, women, and children? How can Biden, whose praises I have recently sung over his support for Ukraine, be so unprincipled in his diplomacy with respect to Netanyahu’s bloody campaign in Gaza? I cannot reconcile the ‘two Bidens.’ What are we not being told? Is it a matter of the liberal democratic World Order’s reaction to the malfeasance of Russia and Iran and other ‘silent players,’ or are Russia et al. reacting to a the geopolitical agendas – to wit: not revealed to the public – of Western nations? Is it a matter of both?
It was humans responsible for the development of nuclear and other WMDs. These guarantee mutual annihilation should we ever resort to use them on anybody else. Warning: BECAUSE THEY EXIST, SOMEONE, SOMEDAY, IS GOING TO THINK IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO USE THEM…the moment they believe they are come to the precipice of their nation’s annihilation or the end of their own ego’s dominance over others…
…and then we’re all in serious, existential trouble. Especially those who cannot afford to build bunkers and that is around 99%. Take a good hard look at Ukraine right now. Then imagine that scene, looking out your front door…(or what is left of it)
None of this could happen were we to follow the Golden Rule. We are crazy not to follow the Golden Rule. It is inconceivable to not want to follow the Golden Rule.
Why?
Because the Golden Rule WORKS HAND-IN-HAND WITH OUR EGO. Working collaboratively, in order to build relationships among our own and with other beings, human and non-human; the Earth Mother, say.
Networking is a bona fide operative of ‘success’. It is also a bona fide operative of failure when the majority doesn’t get something right.
If modern day humans were guided by the Golden Rule, China and the U.S. would not now be engaged in that Thucydides’ Trap-thing, Russia would not have begun its murderous invasion of Ukraine. There would be no poverty, no climate-change crisis, no posturing for global hegemony…
The Golden Rule is elegance. We need only recognise how something would make us feel were it to happen to us, in order to know whether it is something one should do to others, or in the company of others…in our communities, in our World.
This is our ego’s value. As much as it defines our spirit-boundary, differentiating each living thing from every other living thing. Ego is only an aspect of, not the fullness of, individual human consciousness: how it would affect me, is very likely how it would affect you. This is how it is supposed to work. That is ego’s ‘function;’ its place in the grand scheme of things.
Now, when an entire group of people ‘lords it over’ others in society by virtue of their wealth, then this group has, by definition, become socially-dysfunctional. They are not treating the poor the way they would like to be treated. Moreover, they lie to the poor about it in their messaging via the media they own, and even desire to be praised for their behavior, like the Mount Olympians of ancient Greece. We, ‘the people’, are dancing to the tune of ego still – the ego of Wealth -and we will follow Wealth over the proverbial Lemmings’ Cliff. Wealth will lead us to our common demise…but the lemmings weren’t as stupid as of Lore and neither are humans.
Warlike nations everywhere prefer to threaten, murder and plunder their neighbours into profound, inescapable misery…THAT’S NOT THE GOLDEN RULE -but, IT HAS BEEN THE OPERATIVE AMONG HUMAN AFFAIRS SINCE WE LEFT THE GARDEN and the reason for our common peril. With all of the bloodshed and personal agendas expressed in the Old and in the New Testament, how can anyone have themselves believe that the these writings are the Word of the Creator? The Golden Rule is a feature of all religions; this is why I believe the Golden Rule is bona fide gift to humankind from the Creator, whereas, how we worship the Creator, what we name him/her, are a matter of cultural preference, the ego of a particular culture at a particular time. THAT WE WORSHIP TRUMPS HOW WE WORSHIP.
God and the Golden Rule exist beyond Wealth. Wealth cannot exist alongside of Poverty if we abide in the Golden Rule.
God and the Golden Rule.
The Golden Rule trumps the Rule of Gold and without being the Rule of God (god gave us free will). It is our Creator’s modus operandi and by ‘inheritance’ conferred upon humanity. It provides guidance and shapes our efforts to extend creation, in marvellous new ways..as children might…only as grown-ups, we can take our knowledge to the Stars, but not as cancer metastasised, but as god’s emissaries. If we do not treat one another as human, with respect, we certainly will not treat any species we encounter in Space with respect.
With our Free Will, accorded us by our creator, let us choose the Golden Rule as our guide. Human ego will spontaneously reconcile with the creative spirit/the Holy Spirit. The spirit of love incarnate is one of community, compassion, and the creativity of the child imagination.
Human ego already knows what it wants. But human ego is stupid enough to believe it can have everything it wants and is focused on acquisition of wealth and control. This is the ROOT of our common existential peril.
To be reconciled with one another, with our world, our past and future generations, and our creator, we need only apply the knowledge the ego affords us to know what is good for us, and to do what we know is right, FOR OTHERS.
Ego can be good, if used in the way the creator intends and which common sense demands. It is part of a feed-forward/feedback loop that helps us to discern ‘right’ from ‘wrong’.
Ego tells us what feels right and what feels wrong. ‘Feeling’ is subjective. If we use this information properly, it fully informs us on how to treat others. ‘Information’ is objective.
The Golden Rule reconciles the subjective with the objective, wealth with poverty, us with them, humans with one another and with the world, and with the creator.
TO CONCLUDE: We must support Ukraine and Gaza. We must end the trouble in the Middle East and make a state for Palestinians. Palestinians and Israelis must live side-by-side in peace and as ‘Good Neighbours.’ Ukraine and Russia must as well. For the life of me, why do Netanyahu and Putin insist upon bloody murder when being a good neighbour might have accomplished the exact same thing? Russia wants a Black Sea naval base? Why murder Ukrainians when they need only ask them, like the U.S. asks the Philipines, to have a port for American ships, say? Of course, they must always respect the answer they get! Netanyahu wants access to the Sea, and Gaza is in his way? Why not ask the Gazaians? Were they to have a state of their own, why, they might welcome Israel’s protection, being their next door neighbour, as any neighbour would. They need only purge the warlike among the Palestinians, as Israel must among the Israelis. Netanyahu and Hamas are both actively undermining all chances for Palestinian and Israeli families to live and grow and prosper.
Those responsible for the egregious murders and kidnappings wrought upon innocent Israelis on October 7 must all be held to account, just as those who shot those heros in Bucha in the back of the head, their hands tywrapped behind their backs, must be held to account. This means, Putin and Netanyahu must be held to account. THEY WILL ALL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE WHEN THEY STAND BEFORE THEIR CREATOR.
President Biden: I cannot make sense of his support for both Israel’s Netanyahu AND Ukraine. Israel is become the attacker, the predator, in its response to the horrific attack from Hamas on October 7th. The bloodshed they are inflicting, the whole World can see. Nations are so unnerved by the actions of the IDF, they will not be able to restrain themselves for much longer from putting themselves between Gaza and Israel’s forces; this being a job for the U.N. Peacekeepers, as should be the eradication of Hamas. Meanwhile , a few nations opportunistically await a regional conflict in order to advance their own private agendas in the region, that includes the eradication of Israel. The World is imperilled by all of this. One man is the cause at the moment and that is Netanyahu. One man can fix this at the moment, and that man is Joe Biden. If we wait until Trump is reelected (god help America and the World if he is reelected) then all bets are off. THE TIME TO TAKE INCREMENTAL AND SOLID STEPS TOWARD A TWO-STATE RESOLUTION IS NOW.
Ukraine remains the heroic defender of its freedom now, but also appears to be the only thing standing between now and World War III. THE TIME TO ANTE-UP, TO GIVE EVERYTHING UKRAINE ASKS FOR, IS NOW.
We cannot allow $$$ and our neo-Gilded Aged oligarchs to set the agenda for the World. Everyone can see where this has gotten the World. Neoliberalism and/or movement conservatism are both fast-tracks to the end of everything. This is the Rule of Gold. It is not democracy, liberal or any other sort.
The Golden Rule, our creator’s rule, will free humankind and the World out from under the Rule of Gold, Satan’s rule.
