The Golden Rule or The Golden Calf
by Bob on March 7, 2007
The Golden Rule.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Or properly from Matthew 7:12 ...
"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."
It seems to exist in all cultures and religions in one fashion or another. Either straightforwardly, as in Matthew, or in Judaism, in different places in the Old Testament, but one thinks of Rabbi Hillel and his brilliant statement when asked how to summarise the whole of the Torah, specifically to teach the whole of the Torah whilst standing on one foot. Hillel answered:
"What is hateful to yourself, do not do to your fellow man. That is the whole Torah; the rest is just commentary. Go and study it."
Even the Chinese have it in Confucius.
"What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others."
-- Analects of Confucius, Chapter 15, Verse 23, c. 500 B.C.
And so on with Hinduism, Sikhism, and almost every religion.
So what is the upshot, that last important shot of the archery match ?
One wonders if the Golden Rule is not being adhered to in this day and age.
If it were, would we have homeless people ? Would be have persecuted people ? Would we have poor and oppressed people ? I should think not.
When someone walks by a truly homeless or poor person in the street, sitting on a cardboard, asking for money, the person just can't imagine himself in the position of the poor person, which is quite hard to imagine, or just doesn't see the person as a reality.
Society and groups of people ideally are supposed to heal the group as a whole meta-group. People should look after each other. Regardless as to whether it's believable or not.
But that's not happening these days for the most part.
The sick, oppressed, and homeless are being made invisible or are not seen by other more fortunate people.
And many charity organisations are spending maybe 7% of what they are given to help the actual cause directly. That's obscene. All lost in administrative costs and advertising and perquisites. The corporitisation of misfortune. Even the handling of homelessness has become a business, perhaps even insidiously, and perhaps somewhat unintended. There are exceptions.
But as the saying goes, "Charity begins at home".
And if we are believers in Creation, then we are all related because we are created. I heard that from a very wise person once. That was also the intent of the Guardians in Plato's Republic. No one would know who his brothers or sisters were, so they had to treat everyone as though they were. But it isn't happening now.
When the Golden Rule is unnoticed, then narcissism runs rampant.
Confer the classic work, The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch from 1979.
Then we get to the story of the Golden Calf in Exodus 32:4 ...
Time to rewind the tape. Here's hoping.