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| The Golden Rule | Hinduism ‘Never do to others what would pain you’ Panchatantra 3.104 |
Buddhism ‘Hurt not others with that which hurts yourself.’ Udana 5.18 |
Zoroastrianism ‘Do not to others what is not well for oneself.’ Shayast-na-shayast 13.29 |
| Jainism ‘One who neglects existence disregards their own existence’ Mahavira |
Confucianism ‘Do not impose on others what you do not yourself desire.’ Analects 12.2 |
Taoism ‘Regard your neighbour’s loss or gain as your own loss or gain.’ Tai Shang Kan Ying Pien |
Baha’I ‘Desire not for anyone the things you would not desire for yourself.’ Baha’Ullah 66 |
| Judaism ‘What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbour.’ Talmud, Shabbat, 31a |
Christianity ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. Matthew 7.12 |
Islam ‘Do unto all people as you would they should do to you.’ Mishkat-el-Masabih |
Sikhism ‘Treat others as you would be treated yourself.’ Adi Granth |
The great value of the Golden Rule is that it is acceptable not only to religious, but also to secular people. General reciprocity seems to be ‘common to ethical systems everywhere.’ 1
The Be-Attitudes
The strength of the Golden Rule is that everybody agrees that it is great place to start. Its weakness is that though its nice and warm and fuzzy people find it a bit vague as guideline.
Which is why Jesus of Nazareth spent so much time unpacking the specific implications of the Golden Rule in his Sermon on the Mount – summarising his suggestions in his Beatitudes.
But the trouble is, few people who would claim to be admirers of Jesus – even among those who would call themselves “believers” – take the Be-Attitudes seriously as ethical guidelines.
There are two or three reasons for this. The first reason is that the Beatitudes are not generally taught as ethical guidelines. They are seen as spiritual promises, not operating principles. The second reason is that the Sermon on the Mount, which the Be-Attitudes serve as an introduction, hasn’t been taught as framework for ethics ever since the church chose to align itself with the state (under the Emperor Constantine). At that point it became necessary to set aside the operating principles of the Sermon, (like ‘turning the other cheek’) in order to support the imperial demand to do otherwise. The third reason is that when people, from time to time, have tried to reclaim the Sermon on the Mount as a framework for ethics, they have totally misrepresented the content, turning it into a set of idealistic, but totally unrealistic guidelines (like ‘no anger’). And none of our examples of perfection in the bible – not even Jesus – practiced ‘no anger’ as a principle. Not only did Jesus get angry, on occasion, he even called his opponents ‘fools’.
If we are to take the Beatitudes seriously as a set of ethical guidelines, then we need to re-acquaint ourselves with the Be-Attitudes and re-discover the workable virtues they embody. For an exciting detailed exploration of the workable virtues embodied in the Be-Attitudes you can study my series of meditations on “The Be-Attitudes For Today’s world”
We can see the workable virtues advocated in the values that are blessed in the Be-Attitudes
1. Blessed are the poor – or poor in spirit – who do not trust in status or riches
2. Blessed are those who mourn – who grieve over the injustice in the world
3. Blessed are the meek – who get angry but who never get aggressive
4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – who seek justice
5. Blessed are the merciful – who are compassionate to everyone in need
6. Blessed are the pure in heart – who are whole-hearted in desire to do right
7. Blessed are the peacemakers – who work for peace in a world at war
8. Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness – who suffer for just causes
Wecan.be Mahatma Gandhi once famously said: “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” If we commit to practice the Be-Attitudes, we can be the change we want to see in the world.
Wecan.be is a global web-based campaign to encourage people to sign on to ‘Plan Be’, to practice the Be-Attitudes and be ‘The-People-That-Be’ over against ‘The-Powers-That-Be’.
You can sign up and start to ‘be involved’ right now …
In an article called Cold Turkey, Kurt Vonnegut, the famous satirical American author, wrote:
“For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the beatitudes. But – often with tears in their eyes – they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s Moses, not Jesus. I haven’t heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the beatitudes, be posted anywhere.”
Well, I think its time we took up Kurt’s challenge and posted the Be-attitudes up everywhere.
After you have signed up to practice the Be-Attitudes I’d encourage you to post a copy of the Be-Attitudes in your own private space – like on the wall of your bedroom – and in a public space – like on the door of your church, or of your city council, or your state government or, of course, your blog.*
Dave Andrews
for wecan.be
1 Peter Singer One World Text Publishing Melbourne 2002
* Just make sure in posting it you practice what you preach – and don’t damage any property.