The Ten Suggestions

It has become popular for atheist websites to crate modern, secular versions of the Old Testament's ten commandments. The following is my attempt at a comprehensive set of ideas that for living a good life. My choice of words, (“ideas”, “good”) I recognizes as nondescript. Sorry to be vague, but it’s necessary to draw parallels between what follows and the ten commandments. Firstly, because mine are not commandments, but suggestions. The work I envision for religion crosses the boundaries from theology over to mysticism and philosophy, and that requires mutability. Thus “suggestions”. The aim of which are to work toward wisdom, self-awareness, and happiness, instead of (for example) to placate some angry personal god toward the ultimate aim of personal deliverance from torture. Thus my choice in using the word “good”. Here are my suggestions in no particular order:

The Ten Suggestions

I. Treat Others as Reflections of Yourself
II. Follow Your Intuition, Move Toward Pleasant Feelings and Move Away from the Unpleasant
III. Observe the Mind Objectively and Disidentify “Self” from the Mental Monologue
IV. Avoid the Conceit “Is”
V. Overcome Fear by Non-Resistance
VI. Cultivate Concentration
VII. Educate Yourself
VIII. Avoid Making Critical Decisions While in a Negative Emotional State
IX. Observe the Rules of Logic and Reason
X. When in Doubt Bring Attention into the Body

The rationale:

I. Treat Others as Reflections of Yourself

All of the great religions share in common some version of the golden rule. Here is mine. I feel that this suggestion is somewhat more poignant than “do to others as you would have them do to you”. “Treat others as a reflection of yourself” does the same work as the older didactum, but it also points toward a rationale. There is no part of what the perceiver perceives that is not a part of the perceiver—the perceiver represents the culmination of his perceptions. Therefore one should treat others as one treats one’s self because the only way others can perceived is through one’s own self. The feelings that one projects onto other people (or things) are experienced by the person who projects them. Include a factor of delay, and you have the law of karma. But whether there is a time-lag or not, what manifests on the inside (thoughts, feelings) can manifest in the material world. For example, projecting goodwill into the world adds to the pool of total goodwill out there, and thereby increases the likelihood that more good will come into the life of the person who projects it.

II. Follow Your Intuition, Move Toward Pleasant Feelings and Move Away From the Unpleasant

Forgive the bulkiness of this one. I may try to think of a way to make in more concise. The current form, however may serve well for an analogy. Although the latter part of this suggestion (move toward pleasant feelings/away from unpleasant) may seem like a no-brainer, the former seems more disputable. But the latter is an elaboration of the former, so how can this be? The mind sometimes comes up with some very good reasons to do things that the intuition warns against. Intuition is that “gut” reaction that feels good or bad. No one questions the validity of good or bad feelings, but people will question the validity of good or bad feelings when the mind has come up with a clever argument that contradicts them. That’s when we give feeling the conspicuous moniker “intuition”. When your feelings strongly warn you against some clever idea, (which may promise greater rewards in the future) listen to your feelings. Since happiness is one of the primary goals of religious pursuits, then we should embrace positive feelings when they occur and allow them to guide us.

III. Observe the Mind Objectively and Disidentify “Self” from the Mental Monologue

For this suggestion, I must recognize Eckhart Tolle, whose books are based on this idea. Samatha meditation, which Siddhartha Gautama used to achieve enlightenment exploits this principal as well. The mind creates a seamless mental monologue. Part of this mental monologue is a collection of descriptions which culminate in a superficial personality. This false perception of self is created by impermanent thoughts and has no substance in itself. The mental monologue is a reaction to our environment and our life situations. This suggestion has the aim of helping the individual achieve self-awareness by revealing what is not self. The question of the actual “substance” of self is too big a question to be addressed here.

IV. Avoid the Conceit “Is”

All that we experience represents a fraction of ultimate truth. Our perceptions cannot give an objective truth of what “is” because the sense data that we collect represents the universe as perceived by our uniquely human organs. Even if the our perceptions did somehow reflect objective realities of the universe, all that surrounds us changes constantly, ergo, sense data perceived at any given point would still represent only a fraction of what “is”. Even in the sciences, there are no “facts” per se—there are only theories that have yet to be disproven, and as of yet, no one has discovered a grand unifying theory of everything. So, when someone invokes the verb “to be” it often represents a half-truth or full-out falsehood, and can potentially limit the scope of our understanding.

V. Overcome Fear by Non-Resistance

Many people live their lives in fear—fear of escaping some unhealthy relationship or other life situation, or conversely, the fear of pursuing what they actually want. A skydiver before jumping out of a plane might feel fear but the worst of it is felt before actually jumping. It’s the apprehension—the getting caught up in the “what ifs” instead of embracing the situation and jumping out of the plane. Apprehension is caused by uncertainty. “What if I die?”, you might ask. And what is more terrifying than death, which represents the ultimate uncertainty? But there is no real certainty of anything in life—and living through another day is no excetion. The Earth’s magnetic poles are a few thousand years overdue for a flip, a meteorite could strike the Earth at any moment, or a gigantic solar flare could blast away the atmosphere. Any of these events would cause a cataclysm that would wipe out humankind entirely. This could happen at any moment! We are ultimately at the mercy of our surroundings. But we do have dominion over our own reactions. Fear follows an inability to accept what is happening. So we can remedy fear by embracing the situation which we fear—to accept it fully. Within absolute acceptance, there is no place for fear to exist. And since acceptance, like all reactions is a choice—it is ultimately under our control. If we can convince ourselves to really accept loss, disability and death, then fear will cease to have dominion over us.

VI. Cultivate Concentration

Nothing can be done without concentration, and great achievements are only possible with great amounts of concentration. Great discoveries, great athletic feats, higher learning and some would say spiritual enlightenment are not possible without the ability to concentrate. Not everyone is born with the gift of strong concentration, and habitual thinking and modern dangers, such as television and can perpetually erode concentration. So, we must cultivate it if we want to be successful. Without cultivating concentration, we are at the mercy of errant thoughts, which are potentially destructive. Therefore through devotion to some discipline, or through meditation, we should cultivate concentration. If we possess the ability to concentrate, not only do we manifest a heightened ability to achieve goals, but we also bring about an elevation of consciousness and a deepening awareness of self. As we cultivate concentration, and our ability to achieve goals becomes stronger, so increases an awareness of what goals are worth achieving, and what it is that drives us towards achievement in the first place.


VII. Educate Yourself

To understand ourselves and the world around us we must educate ourselves. Education fights off ignorance and superstition. It allows us to understand the mechanics of our world, appreciate its beauty, and provide us with the information we need to create new technologies which we can use to improve our lives. Education is responsible for elevating our species from living short and painful lives to long, comfortable and truly wonderful ones. Education raises our consciousness, and provides us with the insight to achieve our dreams. Anything is possible with education and every effort should be made to make education a life-long practice.

VIII. Avoid Making Critical Decisions While in a Negative Emotional State

The romantic poets created their art by recalling intense emotional experiences, after regaining tranquility at a later time. To me, the principle suggest that objectivity cannot be reached while under the sway of emotions, and good poetry requires objectivity (even if that objectivity reflects an intensely personal experience). In classical rhetoric the pathetic appeal gets classified as fallacious. I think the classification wise. The principle seems even more important when in regards to emotional states of a negative character. When angry, depressed, frightened, or in an otherwise negative emotional state, objective rational may become skewed by a desire to alleviate that emotional state, or punish others for a perceived responsibility for it. So, making decision in a state of skewed judgment may result in unfavorable circumstances in the future. There is, I believe, a deeper fallacy at work here, however. Ultimately we decide which of our emotions to accept and which to reject, but under the throws of intense emotion we tend to forget that such a choice exists. So, by avoiding making critical decisions while in a negative emotional state, we also raise our consciousness by drawing attention to the power of emotions to take over our rationale.

IX. Observe the Rules of Logic and Reason

Arrive at conclusions by assessing available evidence. Avoid making conclusions based on arbitrary whim—or to the end of furthering some unrelated goal. Millions of people in the USA believe that the Earth was created ten thousand years ago because an ancient text, written by Babylonian slaves, implies that it is that young despite scientific evidence that the age of the Earth is about 4.6 million years. American Christians perceive the scientific evidence as a threat to their entire belief system, and so disregard the evidence. There is a lesson here—avoid becoming too attached to any belief system and allow it to adapt as more evidence comes in.

X. When in Doubt Bring Attention into the Body

This one is pure (Eckhart) Tolle. Whenever you find your reality unpleasant, bring attention into the body. Feel the body from within. This should help you relax and bring about a more pleasant state. Use this technique when stressed, ill, or overcome with negative emotion.