"Let the Golden Rule Overrule the Rule of Gold"
By Swami Beyondananda

There will indeed be peace on Earth. Whether we humans are around to enjoy it, that is up to us. It all depends whether we achieve critical mass before we reach critical massacre.
-- Swami Beyondananda

I hate to break it to Moses and the fellas on the Christian Right, but the Ten Commandments just haven't worked very well. People have been commanded for millennia, but all this commanding hasn't seemed to put a Higher Power in command. Take the current commander-in-chief -- please. He's commandeered the Ten Commandments and claims to be second-in-command to the Supreme Commander. And yet with all that going for him, he still wants his posse to be exempt from those three pesky commandments on killing, stealing and false witness.

Only a Super Duper Power Can Overgrow the Current System

At a time when a self-elected Administration has declared itself the world's one super power, it seems they have "misunderestimated" one thing: The power of the people of the world multiplied by the power of love is bigger than any super power. It's a Super Duper Power that could bring down the "Irony Curtain," overgrow the current dysfunction at the junction, and create a world that would make Moses kvell and Jesus smile and Buddha wink -- and get six high-fives from Shiva.

That means that if we really do want for a new age to arrive before old age does, we need to take command, but not with more commandments. So I have a suggestion. With people being so suggestable nowadays, let's try the power of positive suggestion instead. And instead of ten whole commandments, let's go for one simple suggestion: "Let the Golden Rule overgrow the rule of gold."

Time to Teach Some Old Dogmas New Tricks

Now I know what you may be thinking: Look at this foolish Swami, thinking he can change the world. Well, let me reassure you, it is not necessary to change the world. There is a better way. If we toilet train the world, we will never have to change it again. Let this be the year we put an end to the barbaric practice of dogma-fighting, and pay attention to what every good dogma has in its heart: Some version of the Golden Rule. As the wise man Alan Watts said, "Let's stop worshipping the finger, and notice where the finger is pointing."

And let's stop giving the finger to other fingers, and see that all fingers are pointing -- back at us! We have met the Savior and he is US. The best alternative to the current declared state of emergency is to declare a state of emerge n' see. Emerge from the fear, and see we're in this love together. Since we're all One with the same One, we might as well go for the highest common denominator instead of the lowest common dominator. Maybe with enough of us emerging and seeing, the Golden Rule will finally overrule the rule of gold.

There's no escaping it, folks. We are all part of the inescapable Oneness. The Universe has us surrounded. Might as well surrender to the One Love. When we get that the human race is One, the whole race will win. And we'll finally live up to our name -- humankind. Yes, the day humankind learns to treat fellow humans kindly is the day all heaven will break loose.

May we bring this wish to life in 2006: Peace on earth, and goodwill to ALL!

Swami Beyondananda


Activism page