Monday, April 18th, 2011 was the first night of Passover. It is a night to tell stories of history and culture. One of the attendees at this evening’s seder left me with the following. It’s not religious, it’s spiritual and something that perhaps some or many of you will read, and consider of relevance to you and yours.
Most of us have heard about the Ten Commandments and their source.
Image via Wikipedia
The Ten Commandments or Decalogue list the religious and moral imperatives that according to the Hebrew bible were spoken by God (of many names) to the people of Israel from Mount Sinai or Horeb and subsequently authored by God and given to Moses in the form of two stone tablets. The are recognized as the moral foundation of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Neil Donald Walsh in his book Conversations with God #1 refers to them as the Ten Commitments.
1. I am the Lord your God – most people believe in a higher intelligence or awareness. The first one leads to – You shall have no other god before me – Perhaps, worshiping other forces or things is not the same as worshiping and respecting each other as equal human beings. Are not we creations of Creation? You shall not make for yourself an idol – Perhaps, putting false gods,gurus or experts on pedestals is not what we are meant to do. Perhaps we are meant to treat each other equally with loving devotion for humanity and work together with the forces of creation and awareness.
The second one suggests perhaps that we not enforce our beliefs on others. Live and let live. Perhaps we are meant to be of service to each other and not servants or leaders.
Perhaps,this suggests that we take time to take care of ourselves, rest and spend time wiht friends and family. Enjoy the rewards of our creations, all our creations.
4. Honour your father and mother
Perhaps our history is important good or bad. We may not understand our elders, however, we deserve to honour them because in their absence our history as humans would not exist.
5. You shall not murder
The most logical commitment of one human to another.
6. You shall not commit adultery
Perhaps if we do not get along in a relationship or partnership or contracts, we can
Image by Fergal Claddagh via Flickr
either work on it or move on…. It is perhaps healthier than hiding. It is interesting how the 6th commitment is separated from the 9th…”you shall not covet thy neighbour’s wife”. It makes me wonder that perhaps adultery signifies ignoring wisdom. When we ignore our wisdom, we are actually behaving like a child. Perhaps adultery does not mean cheating on some else at any level, but rather it implies we are cheating on ourselves.
7. You shall not steal
Ideally, we can learn to share so that no human lacks.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour
Ideally, we should respect the privacy of others.
9. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife
Try to be happy with our choices.
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbour.
Perhaps we should appreciate that which we possess, rather than envy what others have. As so eloquently stated in Desperado, seems a lot of fine things have been laid upon your table, but you only want the things that you can’t have. Perhaps the only reason the grass is greener on the other side is because it is being worked on.
We can choose to consider these commitments as commandments or we can choose to consider them as agreements. I for one do not respond well to commandments; my entire being rebels. I choose to consider them as agreements provided they are steeped in logic and they teach consideration, understanding, respect and empathy for other human beings.
There is always time for a spiritual consideration…..it reframes our days and reconstitutes what we are trying to do as professionals.
I trust this is perceived in the spirit in which it is written.
