Golden Rule
52:5.8 (596.6)
The postbestowal Son age may extend from ten thousand
to a hundred thousand years. There is no arbitrary time allotted to any of
these dispensational eras. This is a time of great ethical and spiritual progress. Under the spiritual influence of these
ages, human character undergoes tremendous transformations and experiences
phenomenal development. It becomes possible to put the golden rule into practical operation. The teachings of Jesus
are really applicable to a mortal world which has had the preliminary training
of the prebestowal Sons with their dispensations of character ennoblement and culture
augmentation.
101:8.4 (1115.1)
Faith does not shackle the creative imagination, neither does it maintain an
unreasoning prejudice toward the discoveries of scientific investigation. Faith
vitalizes religion and constrains the religionist heroically to live the golden rule. The zeal of faith is according to knowledge, and
its strivings are the preludes to sublime peace.
Adherents
must maintain adequate defense
71:4.16 (804.16)
The appearance of genuine brotherhood signifies that a social order has arrived
in which all men delight in bearing one another's burdens; they actually desire
to practice the golden rule. But such an ideal society cannot be realized
when either the weak or the wicked lie in wait to take unfair and unholy
advantage of those who are chiefly actuated by devotion to the service of
truth, beauty, and goodness. In such a situation only one course is practical:
The " golden rulers " may establish a progressive society in which
they live according to their ideals while maintaining an adequate defense
against their benighted fellows who might seek either to exploit their pacific
predilections or to destroy their advancing civilization.
Andonites
were taught
70:1.2 (783.5)
War is an animalistic reaction to misunderstandings and irritations; peace
attends upon the civilized solution of all such problems and difficulties. The Sangik races, together with the later deteriorated Adamites
and Nodites, were all belligerent. The Andonites were early taught the golden
rule, and, even today, their Eskimo descendants live very much by that
code; custom is strong among them, and they are fairly free from violent
antagonisms.
Based
on infinite worth of finite
196:2.10 (2093.4)
He taught men to place a high value upon themselves in time and in eternity.
Because of this high estimate which Jesus placed upon men, he was willing to
spend himself in the unremitting service of humankind. And it was this infinite
worth of the finite that made the golden rule a vital factor in his religion. What mortal can
fail to be uplifted by the extraordinary faith Jesus has in him?
Cries
out against fraud, unfairness, selfishness, and unrighteousness
54:1.8 (614.3)
There is no error greater than that species of self-deception which leads
intelligent beings to crave the exercise of power over other beings for the
purpose of depriving these persons of their natural liberties. The golden rule of human fairness cries out against all such
fraud, unfairness, selfishness, and unrighteousness. Only true and genuine
liberty is compatible with the reign of love and the ministry of mercy.
Levels
of
(1573.3) 140:5.1
From the Sermon on the Mount to the discourse of the Last Supper, Jesus taught
his followers to manifest fatherly love rather than brotherly
love. Brotherly love would love your neighbor as you love yourself, and that
would be adequate fulfillment of the "golden rule." But fatherly affection would require that
you should love your fellow mortals as Jesus loves you.
4. The Rule of Living
147:4.1 (1650.2)
On the evening of this same Sabbath day, at Bethany, while Jesus, the twelve,
and a group of believers were assembled about the fire in Lazarus's garden,
Nathaniel asked Jesus this question: "Master, although you have taught us
the positive version of the old rule of life, instructing us that we should do
to others as we wish them to do to us, I do not fully discern how we can always
abide by such an injunction. Let me illustrate my contention by citing the
example of a lustful man who thus wickedly looks upon his intended consort in
sin. How can we teach that this evil-intending man should do to others as he
would they should do to him?"
147:4.2 (1650.3)
When Jesus heard Nathaniel's question, he immediately stood upon his feet and,
pointing his finger at the apostle, said: "Nathaniel,
Nathaniel! What manner of thinking is going on in your heart? Do you not
receive my teachings as one who has been born of the spirit? Do you not hear
the truth as men of wisdom and spiritual understanding? When I admonished you
to do to others as you would have them do to you, I spoke to men of high
ideals, not to those who would be tempted to distort my teaching into a license
for the encouragement of evil-doing." *
147:4.3 (1650.4)
When the Master had spoken, Nathaniel stood up and said: "But, Master, you
should not think that I approve of such an interpretation of your teaching. I
asked the question because I conjectured that many such men might thus misjudge
your admonition, and I hoped you would give us further instruction regarding
these matters." And then when Nathaniel had sat down, Jesus continued
speaking: "I well know, Nathaniel, that no such idea
of evil is approved in your mind, but I am disappointed in that you all so
often fail to put a genuinely spiritual interpretation upon my commonplace
teachings, instruction which must be given you in human language and as men
must speak. Let me now teach you concerning the differing levels of meaning
attached to the interpretation of this rule of living, this admonition to `do
to others that which you desire others to do to you':
147:4.4 (1650.5) "1. The level
of the flesh. Such a purely selfish and lustful interpretation would be
well exemplified by the supposition of your question.
147:4.5 (1650.6) "2. The level
of the feelings. This plane is one level higher than that of the flesh and
implies that sympathy and pity would enhance one's interpretation of this rule
of living.
147:4.6 (1650.7) "3. The level
of mind. Now come into action the reason of mind and the intelligence of experience.
Good judgment dictates that such a rule of living should be interpreted in
consonance with the highest idealism embodied in the nobility of profound
self-respect.
147:4.7 (1651.1) "4. The level
of brotherly love. Still higher is discovered the level of unselfish
devotion to the welfare of one's fellows. On this higher plane of wholehearted
social service growing out of the consciousness of the fatherhood of God and
the consequent recognition of the brotherhood of man, there is discovered a new
and far more beautiful interpretation of this basic rule of life.
147:4.8 (1651.2) "5. The moral
level. And then when you attain true philosophic levels of interpretation,
when you have real insight into the rightness and wrongness of
things, when you perceive the eternal fitness of human relationships, you will
begin to view such a problem of interpretation as you would imagine a
high-minded, idealistic, wise, and impartial third person would so view and
interpret such an injunction as applied to your personal problems of adjustment
to your life situations.
147:4.9 (1651.3) "6. The
spiritual level. And then last, but greatest of all, we attain the level of
spirit insight and spiritual interpretation which impels us to recognize in
this rule of life the divine command to treat all men as we conceive God would
treat them. That is the universe ideal of human relationships. And this is your
attitude toward all such problems when your supreme desire is ever to do the
Father's will. I would, therefore, that you should do to all men that which you
know I would do to them in like circumstances."
147:4.10 (1651.4)
Nothing Jesus had said to the apostles up to this time had ever more astonished
them. They continued to discuss the Master's words
long after he had retired. While Nathaniel was slow to recover from his
supposition that Jesus had misunderstood the spirit of his question, the others
were more than thankful that their philosophic fellow apostle had had the
courage to ask such a thought-provoking question.
Bible Comparisons
147:04.01 Golden
rule (negative) Tobit 4:15 (Compare) "Do that to no man which thou hatest: drink not wine to make thee drunken: neither let
drunkenness go with thee in thy journey."
147:04.01 Golden
rule Luke 6:31 (Same) "And as ye would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise."
147:04.01 Golden
rule Matthew 7:12 (Same) "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for
this is the law and the prophets."
Literally
interpreted, g.r. may become great
offense
180:5.5 (1949.7) The golden rule, when divested of the superhuman
insight of the Spirit of Truth, becomes nothing more than a rule of high
ethical conduct. The golden rule, when literally interpreted, may become the
instrument of great offense to one's fellows. Without a spiritual discernment
of the golden rule of wisdom you might reason that, since you are desirous that
all men speak the full and frank truth of their minds to you, you should
therefore fully and frankly speak the full thought of your mind to your fellow
beings. Such an unspiritual interpretation of the golden rule might result in
untold unhappiness and no end of sorrow.
Living the golden rule
Ethical and moral beings can learn to live the
g.r.
50:5.8 (577.3) 5. The epoch
of philosophy and brotherhood. When mortals learn to think and
begin to profit by experience, they become philosophical-they start out to
reason within themselves and to exercise discriminative judgment. The society
of this age becomes ethical, and the mortals of such an era are truly becoming moral
beings. Wise moral beings are capable of establishing
human brotherhood on such a progressing world. Ethical and moral beings can
learn how to live in accordance with the golden rule.
Restated by Jesus demands active social
contact
(1585.3)
140:10.5 The one characteristic of Jesus' teaching was that the morality
of his philosophy originated in the personal relation of the
individual to God-this very child-father relationship. Jesus placed emphasis on
the individual, not on the race or nation. While eating supper, Jesus
had the talk with Matthew in which he explained that the morality of any act is
determined by the individual's motive. Jesus' morality was always positive. The
golden rule as restated by Jesus demands active social
contact; the older negative rule could be obeyed in isolation. Jesus stripped
morality of all rules and ceremonies and elevated it to majestic levels of
spiritual thinking and truly righteous living.
159:5.16
(1770.8) The Jews had heard of a God who would forgive repentant
sinners and try to forget their misdeeds, but not until Jesus came, did men
hear about a God who went in search of lost sheep, who took the initiative in
looking for sinners, and who rejoiced when he found them willing to return to
the Father's house. This positive note in religion Jesus extended even to his
prayers. And he converted the negative golden rule into a positive admonition of human fairness.
178:1.12 (1931.3) You must not
seek to promulgate truth nor to establish righteousness by the power of civil
governments or by the enaction of secular laws. You may always labor to
persuade men's minds, but you must never dare to compel them. You must not
forget the great law of human fairness which I have taught you in positive
form: Whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do even so to them.
Spiritual
insight essential to
52:6.5
(597.6) 3. Ethical awakening. Only ethical consciousness can
unmask the immorality of human intolerance and the sinfulness of fratricidal
strife. Only a moral conscience can condemn the evils of national envy and
racial jealousy. Only moral beings will ever seek for that spiritual insight which is essential to living the golden rule.
Understood
only by living
180:5.11 (1950.6)
And so must we clearly recognize that neither the golden rule nor the teaching
of nonresistance can ever be properly understood as dogmas or precepts. They
can only be comprehended by living them, by realizing their meanings in the
living interpretation of the Spirit of Truth, who directs the loving contact of
one human being with another.
Misinterpretation
of g.r. promoted worship of insects
85:3.4 (946.6)
The worship of insects and other animals was promoted by a later
misinterpretation of the golden
rule-doing
to others (every form of life) as you would be done by. The ancients once
believed that all winds were produced by the wings of birds and therefore both
feared and worshiped all winged creatures. The early Nordics thought that
eclipses were caused by a wolf that devoured a portion of the sun or moon. The
Hindus often show Vishnu with a horse's head. Many times
an animal symbol stands for a forgotten god or a vanished cult. Early in
evolutionary religion the lamb became the typical sacrificial animal and the
dove the symbol of peace and love.
Statements
of the golden rule
(1302.7) 118:8.10
As man shakes off the shackles of fear, as he bridges continents and oceans
with his machines, generations and centuries with his records, he must
substitute for each transcended restraint a new and voluntarily assumed
restraint in accordance with the moral dictates of expanding human wisdom.
These self-imposed restraints are at once the most powerful and the most
tenuous of all the factors of human civilization-concepts of justice and ideals
of brotherhood. Man even qualifies himself for the
restraining garments of mercy when he dares to love his fellow men, while he
achieves the beginnings of spiritual brotherhood when he elects to mete out to
them that treatment which he himself would be accorded, even that treatment
which he conceives that God would accord them.
Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you
(1445.5) 131:2.11
"Love your neighbor as yourself; bear a grudge against no man. Whatsoever
you hate do to no man. Love your brother, for the Lord
has said: `I will love my children freely.' The path of the just is as a
shining light which shines more and more until the perfect day. They who are
wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they who turn many to
righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Let the wicked forsake his evil way
and the unrighteous man his rebellious thoughts. Says the Lord: `Let them
return to me, and I will have mercy on them; I will abundantly pardon.'
(1447.3) 131:3.6
"The fool has said in his heart, `Evil shall not overtake me'; but safety
is found only when the soul craves reproof and the
mind seeks wisdom. The wise man is a noble soul who is friendly in the midst of his enemies, tranquil among the turbulent,
and generous among the grasping. Love of self is like weeds in a goodly field.
Selfishness leads to grief; perpetual care kills. The
tamed mind yields happiness. He is the greatest of warriors who overcomes and
subdues himself. Restraint in all things is good. He alone is a superior person
who esteems virtue and is observant of his duty. Let not anger and hate master
you. Speak harshly of no one. Contentment is the greatest wealth. What is given
wisely is well saved. Do not to others those things you would not wish done to
you. Pay good for evil; overcome evil with the good.
(1449.1) 131:4.6
"The spirit of the Universe Keeper enters the soul of the simple creature.
That man is wise who worships the One God. Those who strive for perfection must
indeed know the Lord Supreme. He never fears who knows the blissful security of
the Supreme, for the Supreme says to those who serve him, `Fear not, for I am
with you.' The God of providence is our Father. God is truth. And it is the
desire of God that his creatures should understand him-come fully to know the
truth. Truth is eternal; it sustains the universe. Our supreme desire shall be
union with the Supreme. The Great Controller is the generator of all things-all
evolves from him. And this is the sum of duty: Let no man do to another what
would be repugnant to himself; cherish no malice, smite not him who smites you,
conquer anger with mercy, and vanquish hate by benevolence. And all this we
should do because God is a kind friend and a gracious father who remits all our
earthly offenses.
(1453.2) 131:9.4
"A wise man is occupied with the search for truth, not in seeking for a
mere living. To attain the perfection of Heaven is the goal of man. The
superior man is given to self-adjustment, and he is free from anxiety and fear.
God is with you; have no doubt in your heart. Every good deed has its
recompense. The superior man murmurs not against Heaven nor holds a grudge
against men. What you do not like when done to yourself, do not to others. Let
compassion be a part of all punishment; in every way endeavor to make
punishment a blessing. Such is the way of Great Heaven. While all creatures
must die and return to the earth, the spirit of the noble man goes forth to be
displayed on high and to ascend to the glorious light of final
brightness."
(1454.4) 131:10.7
"I am learning to prove all things and adhere to that which is good.
Whatsoever I would that men should do to me, that I will do to my fellows. By
this new faith I know that man may become the son of God, but it sometimes
terrifies me when I stop to think that all men are my brothers, but it must be
true. I do not see how I can rejoice in the fatherhood of God while I refuse to
accept the brotherhood of man. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. If that is true, then all men must be my brothers.
Love
for father, love among children
(1603.5) 142:7.4
He next explained that the "kingdom idea" was not the best way to
illustrate man's relation to God; that he employed such figures of speech
because the Jewish people were expecting the kingdom, and because John had
preached in terms of the coming kingdom. Jesus said: "The people of
another age will better understand the gospel of the kingdom when it is
presented in terms expressive of the family relationship-when man understands
religion as the teaching of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, sonship
with God." Then the Master discoursed at some length on the
earthly family as an illustration of the heavenly family, restating the two
fundamental laws of living: the first commandment of love for the father, the
head of the family, and the second commandment of mutual love among the
children, to love your brother as yourself. And then he explained that such a
quality of brotherly affection would invariably manifest itself in unselfish
and loving social service.
163:4.8 (1805.5)
7. Teach that man's whole duty is summed up in this one commandment: Love the
Lord your God with all your mind and soul and
your neighbor as yourself. (This they were to teach as man's whole duty in
place of the 613 rules of living expounded by the Pharisees.)
Love
fellows as Jesus loved us
147:4.9 (1651.3)
"6. The spiritual level. And then last, but greatest of all, we
attain the level of spirit insight and spiritual interpretation which impels us
to recognize in this rule of life the divine command to treat all men as we
conceive God would treat them. That is the universe ideal of human
relationships. And this is your attitude toward all such problems when your
supreme desire is ever to do the Father's will. I would, therefore, that you
should do to all men that which you know I would do to them in like
circumstances."
180:5.5 (1949.7)
The golden
rule, when divested of the superhuman insight of the Spirit of
Truth, becomes nothing more than a rule of high ethical conduct. The golden
rule, when literally interpreted, may become the instrument of great offense to
one's fellows. Without a spiritual discernment of the golden rule of wisdom you
might reason that, since you are desirous that all men speak the full and frank
truth of their minds to you, you should therefore fully and frankly speak the
full thought of your mind to your fellow beings. Such an unspiritual
interpretation of the golden rule might result in untold unhappiness and no end
of sorrow.
180:5.6 (1950.1)
Some persons discern and interpret the golden rule as a purely intellectual
affirmation of human fraternity. Others experience this expression of human
relationship as an emotional gratification of the tender feelings of the human personality.
Another mortal recognizes this same golden rule as the yardstick for measuring
all social relations, the standard of social conduct. Still others look upon it
as being the positive injunction of a great moral teacher who embodied in this
statement the highest concept of moral obligation as regards all fraternal
relationships. In the lives of such moral beings the golden rule becomes the
wise center and circumference of all their philosophy.
180:5.7 (1950.2)
In the kingdom of the believing brotherhood of God-knowing truth lovers, this
golden rule takes on living qualities of spiritual realization on those higher
levels of interpretation which cause the mortal sons of God to view this
injunction of the Master as requiring them so to relate themselves to their
fellows that they will receive the highest possible good as a result of the
believer's contact with them. This is the essence of true religion: that you
love your neighbor as yourself.
180:5.8 (1950.3)
But the highest realization and the truest interpretation of the golden rule
consists in the consciousness of the spirit of the truth of the enduring and
living reality of such a divine declaration. The true cosmic meaning of this
rule of universal relationship is revealed only in its spiritual realization,
in the interpretation of the law of conduct by the spirit of the Son to the
spirit of the Father that indwells the soul of mortal man. And when such
spirit-led mortals realize the true meaning of this golden rule, they are
filled to overflowing with the assurance of citizenship in a friendly universe,
and their ideals of spirit reality are satisfied only when they love their
fellows as Jesus loved us all, and that is the reality of the realization of
the love of God.
180:5.9 (1950.4)
This same philosophy of the living flexibility and cosmic adaptability of
divine truth to the individual requirements and capacity of every son of God,
must be perceived before you can hope adequately to understand the Master's teaching and practice of nonresistance to evil. The
Master's teaching is basically a spiritual pronouncement. Even the material
implications of his philosophy cannot be helpfully considered apart from their
spiritual correlations. The spirit of the Master's
injunction consists in the nonresistance of all selfish reaction to the
universe, coupled with the aggressive and progressive attainment of righteous
levels of true spirit values: divine beauty, infinite goodness, and eternal
truth-to know God and to become increasingly like him.
180:5.10 (1950.5)
Love, unselfishness, must undergo a constant and living readaptative
interpretation of relationships in accordance with the leading of the Spirit of
Truth. Love must thereby grasp the ever-changing and enlarging concepts of the
highest cosmic good of the individual who is loved. And then love goes on to
strike this same attitude concerning all other individuals who could possibly
be influenced by the growing and living relationship of one spirit-led mortal's
love for other citizens of the universe. And this entire living adaptation of
love must be effected in the light of both the
environment of present evil and the eternal goal of the perfection of divine
destiny.
180:5.11 (1950.6)
And so must we clearly recognize that neither the golden rule nor the teaching
of nonresistance can ever be properly understood as dogmas or precepts. They
can only be comprehended by living them, by realizing their meanings in the
living interpretation of the Spirit of Truth, who directs the loving contact of
one human being with another.
Taught
in Garden of Eden
74:7.3 (835.6)
The teaching in these schools included instruction regarding:
74:7.4 (835.7)
1. Health and the care of the body.
74:7.5 (835.8)
2. The golden
rule, the standard of social intercourse.