There's a great line in the tune above - you, who are on the road, must have a code that you can live by.. The current tribalism on display daily made me wonder just what exactly is it driving this madness that makes hypocrites out of so many evangelicals? What spurs the pure hatred of the far right and left?
Contrary to the desire of evangelicals, the USA is not a Christian country - it is a country founded on Christian principles. Most people born here are raised and hear some variation of the 10 commandments daily. Those rules - that code - is Jewish, offered allegedly to Moses by God some 350 years before Christ appeared on the scene. My code is not surprisingly taken from those 10 things, though some might argue there were originally more than 10.
My personal code is drawn from those
- Respect your mother and father
- Treat others the way you want to be treated
- Don't lie
- Don't covet your neighbor's wife or his stuff
- Be nice
- Family first
- Try to learn something new every day
- Always do your best, but winning at any cost is not an option
- Admit when you are wrong
- I will not change who I am for any person
Admittedly in these tribal times on occasion, some of those parts of the code can be difficult to live up to. I admit to having a substantial temper that I work very hard to suppress - but at times it does rear its ugly head. I can honestly say that when that happens it is very rare that something good happens.
Over the years I have been exposed to many different "codes" from many different sources, including religions and other philosophical sources. These days, Ayn Rand's morality of selfishness is evident in the daily activities on of our (in the USA) government, as led by POTUS 45. Her Objectivism - parts of which have always been championed by conservatives, are more popular than ever and so it is against that backdrop that my meager little code tries to get me through each day.
You can boil my code down to work hard, treat others fairly, be yourself, tell the truth, learn something every day and be who you are.
To see what my blogging partner has to say, go here Ramana.
In my humble opinion, your code is far more spiritual than any structured religion's code of conduct.
ReplyDeleteAnd I share your indignation with the evangelicals whose tentacles have reached our shores with almost violent attempts at conversion of simple naive people here. The backlash from normally docile locals have also begun to assume dangerous overtones.
And all that we can legitimately except from life is that our own code gets us through each day with equanimity and peace.
Many if not most evangelicals have sold their souls to the cult of Trump. All for - so dar - a single Supreme Court Judge. Trump is a lying, amoral sociopath - and the evangelicals simply do not care.
Deleteyour list of ten pretty much covers it all for me too.
ReplyDeleteI love the simplicity of it.
that is it for me... to live a simple and clean and clear life.
and as much as possible to not hurt anybody or any living thing. a tall order there. but worth trying.
SH
Simple, clean and clear. Could not agree more Tammy.
ReplyDelete“This, above all else,to thine own self be true.” I couldn’t agree more, that following the Ten Commandments is certainly ample without all the man-made rules so many religions tag on to them.
ReplyDelete