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The New Ten Commandments

By jardinier ·
As I am so far the only nominee for the position of God in a new, universal religion, in another thread, I thought I would post these alternative 10 commandments which I drew up many, many years ago.

It occurred to me that this should start a new thread, giving anyone interested an opportunity to list what they think should be the ten most important rules to create an ordered, peaceful, unified society on earth.

1. You will daily give thanks to your heavenly Mother and Father, and to your earthly mother and father, for the precious gift of life.

2. You will show your respect and appreciation for this gift by striving always to make life a rich experience for yourself and others.

3. You will have reverence for the plant kingdom, which provides oxygen to breathe, food to eat, and beauty to uplift your soul.

4. You will love the members of the animal kingdom as brothers and sister.

5. You will not wantonly injure or destroy any vegetation.

6. You will not injure or kill any animal, except in self defence or for food.

7. You will not injure or kill any human, except in defence of your life, or your kin.

8. You will not wage war.

9. You will regard with equal dignity men, women and children of all races and creeds.

10. You will joyfully give succour and assistance to those less fortunate than yourself.

If I started from scratch now, quite likely my list would be different from that above, but as this was already on hand, it should do to get the discussion rolling.

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I write all my own tunes

by jardinier In reply to Music, Maestro!

The reason I wrote that particular hymn was that I do not know of any hymn previously written that contains all the commandments in the one hymn.

All my compositions have lyrics, melody and chord symbols. Just send me your postal address and I will send you a copy of the words and music.

This particular hymn has a majestic sound because I have written it in the key of A major, and have included some Major Seventh chords.

One day, hopefully, I will find the time to make a full arangement of it.

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Thanks, Julian

by levannah44@smartchat.net. In reply to I write all my own tunes

When you say an arrangement, Julian, does that mean for a three or four manual organ or for a small group of instrumentalists? Or even both?

Address: 20A Wattle Ave., Ringwood, 3134 (Victoria). I would feel it a great honour to have a copy of the music so I can sing the words properly.

G

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Musical arrangement

by jardinier In reply to Music, Maestro!

I would like Handel to arrange it for organ and full choir. However as he died almost 300 years ago (1759) he is probably too busy playing the harp.

Theoretically I could painstakingly arrange it for two manual organ with foot pedals. Theoretically I could also add four voices. It would take a long time, but I could do it.

As it is 20 years since I composed anything for the keyboard -- a few short pieces in the baroque style -- well who knows. But don't hold your breath.

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On arranging music

by levannah44@smartchat.net. In reply to Musical arrangement

With your permission, Julian, I know someone -- two someones, as it happens -- who could do just that; arrange your melody in any of your above-mentioned styles.

They are brothers, the elder is the Music Director of our congregation, who plays the organ (all keyboards) and used to sell organs and pianos as well. He's choir-master and does all the arrangements for a SATB choir.

The younger is a Director of Music at a Melbourne school, a composer (he composed a musical called 'Friends', which toured the States [US] some years ago), and also plays the organ and other keyboard instruments. In addition, he's a singer as well, a booming basso profundo!

If you're interested, I'll ask 'em. (The elder brother is also my daughter's sandek, or godfather!!)

G

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Offer gratefully accepted, Gret

by jardinier In reply to Musical arrangement

The words and music will be in the post to you shortly.

Quite seriously, I do think this piece of music would sound great with a full arrangment.

Not quite the "Hallelujah Chorus" by Handel, but in its own way a nice little tune.

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Excellent

by Montgomery Gator In reply to Good for you

I like your poetic version of the "Big 10". If you have music, and with your permission, I might submit it to my priest and see if he might want to use it in a church service.

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The Ten Commandments of Liberty

by maxwell edison In reply to The New Ten Commandments

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Thou shalt not take that which is not yours, whether it be directly from the rightful owner, or under the guise of some collective social program which is implemented under the further guise of fairness or maintaining an equitable social structure.

Thou shalt not confuse greed with ambition; as greed can be defined and seen within one's self if coveting that which is not yours, while ambition may be seen in others (and also in one's self) aspiring to rightfully strive for and acquire a better life for one's self and one's family.

Thou shalt not shirk responsibility for thine own self and pass such responsibility onto others, as one is born with the one and only inherent responsibility to care for one's own self, and acknowledging that such is the cornerstone of liberty.

Thou shalt not bear children if you cannot care for those children and raise them to assume and accept that one and only inherent responsibility to care for one's own self.

Thou shalt not intentionally inflict harm upon others, whether that be physical harm, emotional harm, or otherwise, or whether one's actions might harm the dreams and ambitions of others who might be aspiring to rightfully strive for and acquire a better life for themselves or their families.

Thou shalt respect and obey your parents until such a time when one is capable of assuming and accepting that one and only inherent esponsibility to care for one's own self, or unless one's own parents violates any of these commandments.

Thou shalt strive to achieve independence, as only then can an inter-dependent society successfully function, and as dependency places an undue strain on others and on the whole of society and threatens the liberty of others.

Thou shalt care for one's own parents if such a time comes when one's own parents are incapable of caring for themselves, as this is how the circle of life is defined.

Thou shalt use the resources made available to mankind wisely and equitably, replenishing those resources when possible, and replacing those resources with alternatives when appropriate.

Thou shalt devote 10 percent of your time, your efforts, and/or the fruits of your labor, but no more and no less, so as to care for the small fraction of those who simply cannot care for themselves or otherwise become dependent on others through reasons that were no fault of their own, and to support the system necessary to administer the following.

The willful or negligent violation or mismanagement of any of these commandments, by either one's self or the designated administrators, will result in the loss of one's own liberties, and will result in imprisonment for half of the violators estimated remaining lifetime, and the imprisonment time will be spent serving the ones whose liberties were violated or otherwise infringed upon by such willful or negligent violation or mismanagement, or until such a time when one is ready and willing to reassume one's own inherent responsibility to care for one's own self as described in the preceding ten commandments.

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Thank you Max

by jardinier In reply to The Ten Commandments of L ...

What can I say? 100 per cent.

And you have addressed, in a very reasonable and caring form, that grey area of people who, for one reason or another, are not able to care for themselves.

Do you know -- it occurred to me long ago that if we observed in a literal sense the second of the Two Great commanments stated by Jesus:

Mark 12:31 "And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

And actually applied this to our actual next-door neighbour, there would be no need for a social security program at all.

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I take a lot of heat. . . . .

by maxwell edison In reply to Thank you Max

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....for having a lack of compassion since I absolutely abhor any form of a socialist society. However, contrary to that train of thought, I believe that I'm dripping with compassion, while those who criticize me are the ones who lack it.

I see it all the time in the teenagers I work with in the Boy Scouts. Many of them are literally programmed to fail, to believe that they're incapable, and to expect failure in their own lives. And then it carries through into their adult life. To instill such thoughts is the most cruel thing that can be done to a person, at least in my opinion.

I try to help them overcome. And I expect as much from them as I expect from myself. I try to set them up for success, not for failure. And in a way, I suppose that's loving one's neighbor as one loves himself. And do you know what, Julian? I will never buy into the alternative. I will never be so cruel as to look a person in the eyes (or even suggest behind his back or in a round-about way), and suggest to him that he's incapable of accepting self-responsibility and striving to reach his dreams, regardless of how lofty they may seem. To deny hope is to deny life. I just can't fathom such thought.

I think that's why I'm so passionate on this one issue -- individual liberty, and everything it encompasses. And anything less is to expect less than a person's true potential -- the epitome of cruelty, and the basis for failure. And why in the world would we want to setup people to fail?

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1960's idealism

by amcol In reply to I take a lot of heat. . . ...

Ever done any traveling abroad, Max? I'm not talking about Rio or Cannes. I'm talking about places in Africa that require 48 grueling hours to reach, by a variety of means both modern and ancient.

I've been there. Recently. Places most Americans, most residents of the so-called civilized world, can't even imagine.

You go look into the eyes of a ten month old baby, stomach bloated from malnutrition, flies swarming all over, in the arms of a mother who weighs under 80 pounds, whose father was hacked to death as a result of tribal warfare, someone who you know is so beyond help that even if you could get him to a modern medical facility his condition is so far gone that it's just a matter of time until a painful death, and you tell that baby he's not "incapable of accepting self-responsibility and striving to reach his dreams, regardless of how lofty they may seem".

Tell that to his mother while you're at it. I can't do it.

I admire your idealism, but I would think at your age you'd have come to realize the world is not as nice as we'd like it to be. "To deny hope is to deny life." There are countless millions of people in the world who are, in fact, beyond hope. That's just the way it is.

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