The late great George Carlin, one of my all time favorite comedians, used to do a bit about growing up Catholic. He would relate a lot of his experiences many of them as things that just didn't make sense to him. After all that's really what comedians do. They talk about things that don't make sense and share with their audience the wrongness of things. And that wrongness makes us laugh. It is literally what humor is.
But sometimes once the laughter dies down and you've had some time to think about things you realize things don't have to be that way. Part of making the world a better place is about first observing that something is wrong with it. And then doing our best to make it right. The particular conversation that he has about the Bible that has stuck with me the most is about the ten commandments.
He would go down the list a few times and each time he would show how one commandment was similar to one or two others. He would then say if the commandment in question was already covered somewhere else there was no need for redundancy and it could be removed. It was very well done. At the end he would have just one or two commandments and decided that they could be summed up by one simple all encompassing commandment.
Don't be an a$$#01e.
The basic premise of all the commandments is sort of the inverse of the "golden rule" . Don't do things to other people that you don't want them doing to you or anything of yours. If you think about it, this is really what the ten commandments are all about. If you wouldn't want it to happen to you, don't do it or make it happen to someone else.
Jesus apparently agreed with George Carlin. Or maybe it was the other way around. Because when questioned about what really mattered Jesus basically said "love god and love your neighbor as yourself and that's it" http://lnk.to/VfTqX
Bill and Ted agree, when asked what is important they say several times "Just be excellent to one another". So pop culture and the Bible agree. What about other religions? The Wiccan rede, An ye harm none do as thou wilt, which a great many "pagans" subscribe to seems to follow the same basic philosophy as Carlin. My understanding of Islam is somewhat limited but what I have read of the Koran does seem to lean towards peaceful living and tolerance of others. Also I have very little personal experience with Judaism but what I have seen and heard leads me to believe it is just as tolerant and forgiving as Christianity or Islam. Taoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism are very much about acceptance and tolerance.
As far as indigenous tribes, while some have indeed been very warlike, many of them have lived peacefully off the land for hundreds or thousands of years as complete pacifists. Some of them did not even have a word in their language for the concept of war until they encountered more "modern" societies.
Nearly every major religion, philosophy and faith has George Carlin's one commandment deeply ingrained within its roots. It is the key to living in peace and happiness. It is all that is required in order for us to be able to get along with one another. But the world is in a terrible state with many people just out for themselves with no concern for others. We don't live with this world alone. We share it with other people that have the same kinds of thoughts, concerns, feelings, hopes and dreams that we do.
Why don't more of us follow George Carlin's commandment? Why not start following it now?
No comments:
Post a Comment