The Ten Commandments ala Brit Friend

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The Ten Commandments - Stephen Winspear

So, I have this problem... I start talking to people about a higher

purpose to our existence, their eyes glaze over, they begin to wonder

if I'm going to ask them for money or offer them a "refreshing" drink

and they generally ignore the points I'm trying to make in favour of

their own preconceptions about spirituality and religion.

Now, were I a more impatient and less tolerant person, I might be

inclined to write them off as "Lost Souls" who'll never quite

"get-it" in the same way that I do: "Damn them all to Hell", in the

words of the once great (pre-NRA) Charlton Heston in perhaps his

greatest role (George Taylor, not Moses).

But, I remember what it used to be like, weighed down under the

thoughts gathered through a life-time's education and Sunday

Schooling.

There is NO new message for the people of this planet that hasn't been

heard a thousand times before: told by many, many souls more

enlightened than I. BUT, there must be a new way of putting things; a

new presentation of the same old messages.

One of the principal problems with Religion, in my oh-so humble

opinion, is that it is so firmly rooted in the past. Alright if you

want to find out the perfect way to live a life as a Neolithic

tribesman, wandering the deserts of the Palestine; but not much use

for 21st Century people who can barely recognise an Ox, let alone

covet one that belongs to their neighbour.

So, for starters, continuing my chosen objective of Iconoclastic

Spiritual Evolution, I think it's about time we updated some of the

scriptures that some of us keep in mind during our daily lives.

Where better to start than The Ten Commandments?

The First Commandment

Was:

I am the Lord thy God.... Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

OK, aside from the rather archaic prose, not too much wrong with this

one... But, it does all sound a little proprietary.

See, I never really read it as an order - a commandment; rather I read

it as a statement of fact, more: "Thou CAN have no other Gods before

me."

My reasoning goes like this: Moses was OBVIOUSLY channelling;

talkative, flaming bushes aside, Moses was in a private conversation

with God, that would/could not have been heard by anyone in the

vicinity, since it was all taking place at a soul level, with Moses

hearing his highest internal voice.

Now, as all we enlightened types know, WE ARE ALL ONE, there is no

separation: God is us and we are God.

So, switching from what Moses said, to what he actually heard, my

updated First Commandment would read:

You are the Lord your God...You can have no other gods before me

(since nothing and no-one can come between you and me - no separation

you see).

The Second Commandment

Was:

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them."

In fact, the extended version of the Second Commandment reads even

more proprietarily than the First:

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of

any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,

or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down

thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous

God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the

third and fourth generation of them that hate me: And shewing mercy

unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

All sounds a bit like Marketing speak at first glance, except that it

also prohibits the making of and worshipping of images that represent

things that are in Heaven. Where the Coca-Cola corporation would

obviously feel similarly about the worshipping of all things Pepsi,

they don't mind the occasional Cult of Coke springing up here and

there; certainly the only iniquity they would visit upon the third

and fourth generation of Coke drinkers is likely to revolve around

more Coca-Cola. But then since the mercy that they would "shew" would

probably also involve carbonated drinks, it would be difficult to

distinguish mercy from iniquity.

But, if we update the language to move from graven images to something

a bit more contemporary, it could apply to the Cult of Celebrity -

"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to celebrities"(?) Equally, it could

be a warning against materialism. Nothing and no-one in your existence

is more important than YOU. Attempt to displace your own worth with

the worth of the things that you own and the authority of THOSE you

know or have heard of; and you're going to make life pretty miserable

for yourself and any others that follow in your legacy.

Therefore, I propose that the NEW Second Commandment read:

"Place value in and worship only your spirit, not material objects or

worth: value your spirit and you will value others for their spirit

and not for their material worth."

The Third Commandment

Was:

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain."

That old chestnut, blasphemy, seems a bit redundant these days given

the wide-spread use of far coarser language. Perhaps then blasphemy

may have been something to avoid when there was more belief in the

power of "The Word"; and dressing up a curse (a negative action) as

carrying the force of God (something positive), would have made it

difficult to distinguish the reverential from the revengeful.

Nowadays, most people are revengeful and only a very few are

reverential - though a lot of us have managed to turn being

irreverential into a high-art. So there is a lot less scope for

confusion when some one dresses up a curse as a blessing.

Perhaps then, in the 21st Century, we can keep the same theme, but

alter the construct slightly. We do after all, live in a "democracy"

of sorts, and there are many things done in our name by the great and

the good whom we vote into office (or at least, don't vote to keep OUT

of office). Armed with the trusty sword of democratic legitimacy, our

leaders then carry out Crusades in our name, against the scimitar of

dictatorship - even when we don't want them to.

So, back to channelling, perhaps we can re-interpret and re-phrase the Third Commandment as:

"Do not allow things to be done in your name that you would not do yourself."

The Fourth Commandment

Was:

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."

OK, we are all one, right? There is no God but our selves in celestial

and spiritual unity, OK? Therefore, to observe a holy day is to take a

holi-day from those tasks we perform for others: family, friends,

neighbours, church, employers, nation, humanity.

We take a day off. We spend time with ourselves; we shut out all the

noise that exists in our World and we spend time with ourselves. We

rest: all the better to recharge our souls to deal with those matters

that seem so important to us we feel we can not find the time to take

a break from them.

"But Stephen, what about all the children, who can take a break from raising them?"

Well, you can, everyone can - we can spend time just being with them;

this will at least give them the opportunity to take a break from our

"raising" them; something I am sure that they will welcome as much as

the parents. You can go back to nagging and chiding them later; if

you have children, spend some time just being with them. If you feel

you can't, don't feel that they are at fault, you're the one who

can't let go.

Of course, the World turns much faster now than it did in Ancient

Times (regardless of what physicists and cosmologists may tell you -

it just DOES), so the prospect of putting the brakes on the entire

planet every seventh day, is just well, impractical. OK, but if we're

saying to keep a day holy you need only be by yourself, then it

doesn't NEED to be co-ordinated with anyone else, since that would

more or less, er..., defeat the objective. Just take sometime,

anytime, to be with yourself, to switch off from the noise of the

World and get to know yourself as you are, not as who you need to be

for others.

The new Fourth Commandment then:

"Remember to set aside time to be with yourself."

The Fifth Commandment

Was:

"Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long."

Actually, this one still makes a lot of sense - it's logical and it

fits in with my understanding that whatever you do to others, you

also do to yourself.

Put your parents in a home when they get too tiresome or incontinent

for you to be able to cope with them under the same roof and when

it's your turn to move into the perpetually bewildered zone, you're

not going to have much of an argument to use with your own children.

YOUR days then will be fore-shortened because at best you will become

terminally bored of an existence surrounded by other human relics, or

at worst, you'll die of loneliness.

Of course, on a grander societal scale: lock away the wisest and most

experienced members of society in "retirement cattle-sheds" (or

whatever euphemism they are currently using) and you remove an

immensely valuable contribution to the well-being and longevity of

that society. Decisions are made without the beneficial input of

long-lived memories and we all bitch about the unavailability of

decent baby-sitters.

When the experienced members of the community become too frail to

work, let's not lock them away as a reward for their years of

service, but let us charge them with the education and care of our

children. Untroubled by having to juggle income-earning with

parenting, the advanced of years are infinitely more patient and

tolerant educators of the young; plus, they get to pass on all that

wisdom to a new generation, rather than having it disappear in a

whiff of industrial disinfectant and stale urine.

My Fifth Commandment (and it's an important one):

"Treat your mother and your father in the manner with which you wish

to be treated when you take their place in this life."

The Sixth Commandment

Was:

"Thou shalt not kill."

Pretty straight forward this one, and it makes as much sense as it did then.

However... There have been, and still are, a lot of people who begin

sentences with the words: "I think what God meant to say..." They

then continue to a list of exceptions, that God, who must have been a

busy man in those days what with all the smiting and vengeance and all

that, evidently omitted.

Such as, 'Thou shalt not kill, unless: the person you are killing has

killed someone else; has planned to kill someone else; is thinking

about killing someone else; is related to someone who once killed

someone else; looks similar to someone who once killed someone else;

or is someone who it is just too much hassle to be allowed to live."

To this, most sacred of commandments, I make just one, slight alteration:

"You shall not kill; ever."

The Seventh Commandment

Was:

"Thou shalt not commit adultery"

Because, let's face it, the agony and emotional distress inflicted

upon all parties (except perhaps the co-respondent) is just not

really worth the brief moment of exhilaration one feels whilst

breaking one's own word for a slice of carnal gratification.

But you know, the cuckold is often the winner in matters of adultery;

not always, but occasionally it is the person who stayed true to the

promise they made to themselves (and others incidentally) who ends up

blossoming, once released from the kind of relationship where there

was so little respect shown by their partner to them, that their

partner felt it possible to betray and hurt them.

On the other hand, perhaps it would just be better to do away with the

whole thing of making promises that you don't know your future self

will be able to keep, in other words, don't get married if you can't

trust yourself. Certainly don't get married to see if you CAN trust

yourself, since that must make a whole mockery of the process.

But then, what this is really about is breaking the promise that you

made to yourself, which was to be faithful. Well, you can still be

faithful AND have a "bit on the side", you just have to inform your

husband or wife before you take any extra-curricular actions. If you

don't tell BEFORE the action, then you're frightened that it will

result in your being dumped instantly, which may even reduce the

allure you held for the person you wanted to get physical with.

Telling them AFTER is just a way of relieving your own guilt - don't

get sanctimonious about being "honest"; this is about being honest

with yourself.

Since then, the estate of "marriage" has been somewhat abused; and

since the phrasing of the Seventh Commandment seems to be more about

what you say and "promise" to others, perhaps then I'll steal

something from (the very enlightened) Shakespeare, and paraphrase for

my Seventh Commandment:

"Be true to yourself."

The Eighth Commandment

Was:

"Thou shalt not steal."

Well, my second commandment deals with material objects and the like,

so in fact, stealing something of material worth from another COULD

be construed as doing them a favour.

BUT, it is not the value of the goods and the subsequent transferral

of material worth that is at issue here, so much as it is the way you

make a victim of theft feel. Goods are replaceable, but the

sentimental or emotional worth invested in an object (however much

that may break the Second Commandment) is priceless. A victim of

theft feels invaded, violated and frightened. These are not positive

sentiments to invoke in another; and no amount of rationalising or

justifying of your needs you may attempt, you will never escape from

the knowledge that by your actions, you raised those feelings in

another.

How can you feel positive about possessing something, when the loss of

it by its previous owner causes them such misery?

It is all too easy, in a World populated by capitalists and lawyers,

to examine the provenance of ownership and argue forcibly for the

right to possess something desired by another: where we can disguise

theft as reclamation.

Perhaps then, to cut through all the litigious argument, I shall make

my Eighth Commandment as follows:

"Take only that which is freely given."

The Ninth Commandment

Was:

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

Or indeed, anyone, regardless of their address.

This is where, we stand up in public and spin information about

another, in such a way that the words we use casts us in a good light

and our "neighbour" in a bad one.

And we all know the trouble THAT leads to... You end up not being able

to believe a word anyone says about anyone; you search for hidden

meanings and intentions in everything you hear; language, currently

our only form of inter-personal communication, becomes untrustworthy.

That leaves us suspicious, cynical and frightened - and we learn to

distrust our neighbours, especially those who want our vote.

Therefore, and this will be my personal favourite, my Ninth Commandment reads:

"Speak only what you know to be the truth."

The Tenth Commandment

Was:

"Thou shalt not covet they neighbor's house."

Or, unabridged (presumably truncated to fit on stone tablets):

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy

neighbor's wife, not his manservant, not his maidservant, nor his ox,

nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's."

See, now NONE of my neighbour's keep their own livestock; and since

many of us live closer to each other than we used, my neighbour's

houses are all virtually identical to mine anyway. I'm assuming by

maidservant, it is the function rather than the individual that is

being described, since one of my neighbour's has quite an attractive

Scandinavian cleaner.

The point I guess is, that the minute you start chasing those things

you perceive to be "better" than those you currently have, you

forfeit the ability to respect and value the fruits of your own

labours.

If you must compare to others, then compare what you have to those who

have less - you'll find it (eventually) a more positive experience and

will be able to prove positively that there IS always somebody worse

off than you. That there is ALWAYS someone materially better-off than

you is an irrelevance - see Second Commandment.

So, in this update, I'll just change the language, not the sentiment:

"Appreciate all those things that you have created in your own life."

So, in summary, my commandments (to me - everyone else can just think of them as 'options'):

1. You are the Lord your God...You can have no other gods before me

(since nothing and no-one can come between you and me - no separation

you see)

2. Place value in and worship only your spirit, not material objects

or worth: value your spirit and you will value others for their

spirit and not for their material worth

3. Do not allow things to be done in your name that you would not do yourself

4. Remember to set aside time to be with yourself

5. Treat your mother and your father in the manner with which you wish

to be treated when you take their place in this life

6. You shall not kill; ever

7. Be true to yourself

8. Take only that which is freely given

9. Speak only what you know to be the truth

10. Appreciate all those things that you have created in your own life.

Right, that's me done then. Apologies to anyone I may have offended,

but I have to say, it felt really great producing my own commandments

that I will live my life by, meaning that I no longer have to follow

anyone else's.

Love and Peace,

Stephen

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