Harmony, Shmarmony (The Golden Rule)
Hello My Friend,
The Golden Rule is the most simple concept of all time: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That seems simple enough, right? It’s the Golden Rule after all, so why isn’t everyone following it?
“Yeah, sure,” the self-absorbed narcissist will say, “but who’s got time for such nonsense these days in our hustle-and-bustle world where everything is just zip-zapping by so fast with the robots and computers, and there’s just no time to squeeze in a little common decency.
Really, who has the energy to be nice and smile at another living soul? That’s just asking too much. I haven’t got time for your ‘feel-good’ bullshit. I’m too busy creating negativity and disharmony in my own life. Why should I care about being nice, and building beauty into my world? Harmony, shmarmony. Being nice is for sissies and posers.” And on and on it goes. Everybody’s got some excuse for being the awful, miserable person they are. There’s a chip for every shoulder, and some people just love having a chip or two on their shoulder at all times. They proudly wear it like a badge of honor.
“Out of the way, it's a busy day. I've got things on my mind.
For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died.”
~ Pink Floyd
Everybody knows the Golden Rule, but who actually has the conviction to follow it? A simple enough question, but one that most can’t answer affirmatively. Why is it that you can’t do what you damn well know is the right thing to do? It’s because you think you’re smarter than everyone else and that somehow you’re above being nice because it’s just not ‘your thing.’
Or maybe you’re a shy weirdo who is trying to be nice but it comes across as creepy or mean because…well…you’re a shy weirdo. Alright, that’s ok. I was a shy weirdo for a very long time. And sometimes, when I would try to be friendly, it didn’t really work. It didn’t come across as I expected it to. I was just too shy and I couldn’t speak up for fear of sounding like a dummy. I’d stumble and stutter all over myself because my self-consciousness kept me from having simple, pleasant interactions…but I digress.
“Ev'rybody's talking 'bout Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m
All we are saying is give peace a chance.”
~ John and Yoko Ono
I know it sounds like a cliché’d, worn-out hippie mantra, but it’s so true: If everyone treated everyone else the way they would like to be treated, then everyone would constantly being sharing love, kindness, beauty and compassion. That is the natural default for everyone.
Sure, years of negativity may have rusted over your innate goodness, but it’s still there. It’s just going to take a lot of soaking and scrubbing to shine it up. But that’s easy enough to do. You can always soften up your crusty shell through silence, buff it out with some prayers, and then spit-shine it up with positive feelings.
What choice do you have? It comes down you. If you want a better world you need to become a better person. You can’t want to live in a world of peace and love if you, yourself, are hateful and bitter. How can you have what you aren’t willing to demonstrate? How could you even recognize it? If you have anger in you but the world around you is peaceful and beautiful, would you even see the peace and beauty? It all starts with you. You are surrounded by some form of beauty and expression of love right now, no matter where you’re at or what’s going on, so recognize it.
If you find yourself facing a situation that you would normally label ‘bad,’ then this is when you really need to get real with the voice of your I Am and discover what can be learned from these ‘hard times.’ It’s more than a matter of endurance or patience; it’s a matter of contemplation, realization, and communion. When these times come, don’t think ‘why me?’ but think ‘this is’ and really narrow down what is and what isn’t. Usually the ‘what isn’t’ tends to override the ‘what is’ and it makes the ‘what isn’t’ seem like reality, which it isn’t, but it does a really good job of convincing you otherwise.
I don’t care what kind of background you had that you want to use to justify your bad attitude. You were born pure and loving, that is your true background. You were pure Spirit before you got jaded and forgot where you came from. But if you try to use the ‘past’ as an excuse to justify your negative ‘now,’ then I would press you to go even further back into the past and realize you really come from infinite Love. That’s where we all come from and that’s where we will all go.
When you realize that you have at your disposal the Ultimate Creative Power, which we’ll call God, your own wonderful human imagination, it’s as if everything opens up to you.
There’s a line from Henry Hill in the movie Goodfellas that sums up the sense of power that comes from getting a God. Although the quote refers to the nefarious profession of mobsterism, it nonetheless relates the feeling of exhalation that comes from the realization that all things are possible through God: “For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a gangster. To me, that was better than being president of the United States. To be a gangster was to own the world.”
In reality, you do ‘own the world,’ your world, the world you create for yourself as a member of God’s gang, as One with your consciousness which is Consciousness – and Consciousness is the biggest gang there is.
When you get yourself a God the world gets brighter, lighter, and even more beautiful, loving, and kind. Suddenly (miraculously, if you will), nobody is dumb, ugly, rude, or mean. You recognize yourself in ALL things, and you see beauty in all things because you know that everything is a reflection of you. Everything. You and everything you see, touch, smell, hear, know, think and are is all part of the same ‘thing’ – the thing that makes everything work. That thing is God. And you aren’t outside, above, or beyond God. You are the whole and part of all that Is.
To find fault with anything is to find fault with yourself and in this realization you must look inside yourself to see what ugliness you are carrying.
“Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.”
~ Titus 1:15
When you can see and feel yourself as a projection of God’s love, which is perfection, then only perfection is reflected and therefore all that you see is beautiful, lovely, and right. But you must believe these things to be true before they are true. Once you do, they are. It’s that simple. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” What a simple and profound summation of the Truth. But this Truth as simple as it is can often seem too simple to be true. It’s something that is just too big to be believed, to paraphrase some old-school propagandists.
“I begin to speak only when I’m certain what I’ll say isn’t better left unsaid.”
~ Cato
“I am rubber. You are glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.”
~ Children
If, on the other hand, you continue to criticize, belittle, judge, mock, and ridicule others then you will forever be trapped within the constraints in which you view them. If you want the best for yourself, you must want the best for others. And how can somebody else become their best if you refuse to see them as such? Just because you don’t agree with another’s point of view, their actions, their lifestyle choices, etc. doesn’t mean that they are wrong and you are right. Just because you think that your neighbor or co-worker is ‘fucked up’ or that other people are ‘stupid’ doesn’t make it so. This is your ego revealing what it thinks about you, and it’s getting in the way of your happiness – not theirs.
“Let nothing be said about anyone unless it passes through the three sieves: Is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?”
~ Amy Carmichael
By condemning others, you condemn yourself because it keeps you in the small, bitter mindset from which you view everything as a competition, and everyone as your competitor or enemy. If you want to truly experience freedom and love, you must let others make their own choices and you must accept them – whether you like it not. It’s not up to you to control the world. It’s not up to you to pass judgment on others.
The best you can do is to improve yourself and become a shining example of Goodness in all of its nuanced expressions. Until you are in the process of improving and mastering all aspects of your life, you may want to keep your mouth shut and keep your superficial judgments to yourself. Better yet, rid yourself of the urge to pass judgment altogether.
If you want a world filled with love, radiate love. If you want a world filled with abundance, radiate abundance. If you want a world filled with prosperity, radiate prosperity. It’s up to you how you create your world, for the world is just a reflection of your sense of self. Your world is the external manifestation of who you know yourself to be. So, the question is: Are you loving, sincere, and kind? Are you generous, and compassionate? Are you following the most fundamental law of all civility? Are you doing to others as you’d have them do unto you? Or are you being a self-centered jerk?
If you aren’t following the Golden Rule, then your life will certainly reflect that choice. And it’s a sure bet that, deep down, you just aren’t happy.
So, why? You’ve got to help me out with this. Why is it so hard for people to be kind to one another? I’m so sick of the nonsensical excuses of grown men and women refusing to be nice. I don’t get it. How long will you allow it to go on? When will you stop fucking around and get yourself a God? When will you start living the life you really want instead of settling for the half-assed version of the one that you’ve got now? When will you give in to Goodness?
For Goodness sake, my friend, it’s time to get yourself a God.
Alright. That's it, that's all, that's everything.
I love you now as I love you then.
Until we meet again, my friend, I am
Rev. Shakes Spear
