| Another Ten Commandments Our place in time We are living in the 21st century, a world vastly changed from ancient times. We experience our planet through the cumulative learnings of science and technology unimaginable to authors of Scripture. And we know a past that, generation after generation, century after century, has seen untold killings and atrocities in the name of religion. Our gift We have an opportunity of inestimable value. We have been given the gift of perspective. We can view our world through the prism of all that has gone before in the millennia of the human journey. We can draw on lessons from a God-given repository of knowledge and experience bequeathed to us. Our obligation? With gratitude for this gift, and with a humility borne of our understanding of human frailty, should we not try to discern some lessons for living in our place in time? Apart from our individual strivings, and with cognizance of the world beyond our back yard and our nation, what are the things that matter most? How to live in this world How might you express contemporary rules for living? How might you best pay homage to the world and the life you have been given? How would you express universal guidelines for personal responsibility, our conduct toward each other, and a way of looking at our place in the universe? Another Ten Commandments 1 Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you. 2 In all things, strive to cause no harm. 3 Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect. 4 Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted. 5 Live life with a sense of joy and wonder. 6 Always seek to be learning something new. 7 Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them. 8 Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you. 9 Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others. 10 Question everything. |
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