Read My lips

Like every other kid I knew, my upbringing included being taught that Christ revolutionized world religions when he introduced the Two Great Commandments (Mark 12 28-31):
And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  And Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is, 'Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.'  And the second is like, namely this, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.' There is none other commandment greater than these.

It took becoming a teacher, developing a unit on world cultures for my 6th grade class, to discover that "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" was far from a radical new idea.

I somehow missed it in Leviticus, where God says, "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord."  (Leviticus 19:18)  

And later, in that same chapter - "But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."  (Leviticus 19:34)  

 

What I discovered preparing that long-ago lesson plan was that while world religions can vary wildly when it comes to concepts of the divine, of other beliefs, of practices, there is startling near unanimity when it comes to the basic teaching that we are to treat others decently, fairly, with & from love.  

Practically across-the-board agreement ~ we are meant to love ourselves & meant to love others, all others, in like manner.  Yet, most people seem taken aback, strangely downright suspicious, of others who live that teaching, who put others next to themselves in consideration & caring.

How many times in how many ways do we need to be told the same truth before embracing, living it?

Brahmanism - "This is the sum of Dharma [duty]: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you."  Mahabharata, 5:1517

Buddhism	- "...a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?" Samyutta NIkaya v. 353
	Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." Udana-Varga 5:18

Confucianism -  "Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you" Analects 15:23

"Tse-kung asked, 'Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?' Confucius replied, 'It is the word 'shu' -- reciprocity. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.'" Doctrine of the Mean 13.3

"Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence." Mencius VII.A.4

 

Ancient Egypt - "Do for one who may do for you, that you may cause him thus to do." The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant, 109 - 110 Translated by R.B. Parkinson, the original dates to circa 1800 BCE.

Hinduism -  “This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you.”  Mahabharata 5:1517
 

Islam - "None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." Number 13 of Imam "Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths."

Judaism -   “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man.  This is the law:  all the rest is commentary.”  Talmud, Shabbat 31a  (I particularly like this one!)

Taoism -  "Regard your neighbor’s gain as your gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.”    Tai Shang Kan Yin P’ien

Zoroastrianism – “Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others." Shayast-na-Shayast 13:29

Taoism - "Regard your neighbor's gain as your own gain, and your neighbor's loss as your own loss."

Native American – “Respect for all life is the foundation." The Great Law of Peace. 

The Yorubas of West Africa - "He who injures another injures himself."

Moroccan tribesmen - "What you desire for yourself you should desire for others."

Roman Pagan Religion - "The law imprinted on the hearts of all men is to love the members of society as themselves."

Socrates - "Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you." 

There are many more examples of the same rule of life being taught in so many faiths, too many to write out.   But all echo what ET tells Gertie - "Be good." 

It's that simple - everything else is commentary.

Which leads me back to what I asked the other day - The question isn’t why do I go out of my way to lend the helping hand, but why is it considered almost suspect?

Die Wisely - a manifesto for sanity & soul

Is it any wonder I feel drawn to take Stephen Jenkinson's workshop - Die Wise:  Living Deeply, Dying Well - at Rowe this December?  

"Die Wise does not offer seven steps for coping with death. It does not suggest ways to make dying easier. It pours no honey to make the medicine go down. 

"Instead, with lyrical prose, deep wisdom, and stories from his two decades of working with dying people and their families,  Stephen Jenkinson places death at the center of the page and asks us to behold it in all its painful beauty.  

"Die Wise teaches the skills of dying, skills that have to be learned in the course of living deeply and well.  Die Wise is for those who will fail to live forever."
 

Yeah, I could take his Rowe workshop

But don't ya think the IRS would understand my taking it* as a business-related tax deduction to go hear Stephen Jenkinson in British Columbia (this Saturday) or in England - Wales - Ireland rather than in northwestern Massachusetts? 

 

*DYING  WISELY  - Many among us now are crazy for meanings, and crazed by seeking them out. The meanings of life aren’t inherited. What is inherited is the mandate to make meanings of life by how we live. The endings of life give life’s meanings a chance to show.

A reasonable conjecture

Allow me to hypothesize a particular situation...

A nursing staff is faced with a patient who, unlike every other person in the medical unit, is frequently out of his room.  Not simply out of the room, but out of the building.  

That situation naturally creates all sorts of very genuine challenges for the staff.  How do they get the necessary meds to the patient?  When will he be available for the care they have come to consider standard for their typically stationary charges?  

This is not the sort of situation they are accustomed to having to face. Is their first loyalty to the charge or to the efficiency of the unit?

What is their best solution?  Adjust how they provide the exceptional care which they deliver -or-  do what they can to anchor the wanderer to his room? 


Which would YOU guess is the likely probability?

 

Just sayin'...

In my experience, when a conventional force meets something decidedly, joyfully unconventional, it will strive mightily to change the dynamics so the aberrant is drawn into line, adjusts to the point where it's safely in sync with the norm.

The gain is more mine than theirs

There is always a sense of wistful regret when an older friend moves to a state where my care no longer truly meets his or her needs.  Not simply because of the parting, of realizing that our time together is sweet memory rather than active connection, but because I gain more from being with them than they get from having me under foot.  

My hope is always to remain connected in a healthful, helpful fashion to their last, but that's rarely the reality.  And I'm always left feeling a bit wistful at all I never got to glean from their remarkable minds, their often quiet,   too-often unseen indomitable spirit.