The Ten Suggestions, and other free-thinking moral codes.

1. Love one another 

2. Be kind 

3. Ask for consent 

4. It’s okay to admit you don’t have all the answers

5. Listening is generally more useful than talking

6. Read the room

7. Be the God you want God to be

8. Laugh early, laugh often

9. (add your commandment here!)

10.  No commandment is set in stone.

(Contributions from Talk to God Virtual’s the pantheon.)

Rob Brezsny on Moral Codes

Thinking of whipping up your very own moral code? Keep these guidelines in mind as you do:

1. A moral system is immoral unless it can survive without a devil; and unless it prescribes rebellion against automaton-like behavior offered in its support.
   
2. A moral system grows ugly if it doesn’t perpetually adjust its reasons for being true.
   
3. A moral system becomes murderous unless it’s built on a love for the sacredness of the vowels and the inscrutability of the consonants.
   
4. A moral system will corrupt its users unless it ensures that their primary motivation in being good is to have fun.

As an alternative to the oppressively stern, partially outmoded Ten Commandments, we have developed the Ten Suggestions. The First Suggestion is “Wash your own brain once a year — whether it needs it or not.” There’s no better time than now for you to heed this advice. The toxic build-up of junky thoughts in your grey matter has reached critical levels. 

One good thing about the Ten Suggestions — which distinguishes them from the Ten Commandments — is that they work by inducing your laughter instead of your fear. Guffawing loud and strong about your own shortcomings, for instance, is an excellent brain-cleanser.

(source: https://freewillastrology.com/books/oracle?chapter=27)

The God of Spinoza

When Einstein gave lectures at U.S. universities, the recurring question that students asked him most was: “Do you believe in God?”

And he always answered: “I believe in the God of Spinoza.”

Baruch de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher considered one of the great rationalists of 17th century philosophy, along with Descartes.

(Spinoza) : God would say:

Stop praying. What I want you to do is go out into the world and enjoy your life. I want you to sing, have fun and enjoy everything I’ve made for you.

Stop going into those dark, cold temples that you built yourself and saying they are my house. My house is in the mountains, in the woods, rivers, lakes, beaches. That’s where I live and there I express my love for you.

Stop blaming me for your miserable life; I never told you there was anything wrong with you or that you were a sinner, or that your sexuality was a bad thing. Sex is a gift I have given you and with which you can express your love, your ecstasy, your joy. So don’t blame me for everything they made you believe.

Stop reading alleged sacred scriptures that have nothing to do with me. If you can’t read me in a sunrise, in a landscape, in the look of your friends, in your son’s eyes… You will find me in no book!

Stop asking me “will you tell me how to do my job?” Stop being so scared of me. I do not judge you or criticize you, nor get angry, or bothered. I am pure love.

Stop asking for forgiveness, there’s nothing to forgive. If I made you… I filled you with passions, limitations, pleasures, feelings, needs, inconsistencies… free will. How can I blame you if you respond to something I put in you? How can I punish you for being the way you are, if I’m the one who made you? Do you think I could create a place to burn all my children who behave badly for the rest of eternity? What kind of god would do that?

Respect your peers and don’t do what you don’t want for yourself. All I ask is that you pay attention in your life, that alertness is your guide.

My beloved, this life is not a test, not a step on the way, not a rehearsal, nor a prelude to paradise. This life is the only thing here and now and it is all you need.

I have set you absolutely free, no prizes or punishments, no sins or virtues, no one carries a marker, no one keeps a record.

You are absolutely free to create in your life. Heaven or hell.

I can’t tell you if there’s anything after this life but I can give you a tip. Live as if there is not. As if this is your only chance to enjoy, to love, to exist.

So, if there’s nothing after, then you will have enjoyed the opportunity I gave you. And if there is, rest assured that I won’t ask if you behaved right or wrong, I’ll ask. Did you like it? Did you have fun? What did you enjoy the most? What did you learn?…

Stop believing in me; believing is assuming, guessing, imagining. I don’t want you to believe in me, I want you to believe in you. I want you to feel me in you when you kiss your beloved, when you tuck in your little girl, when you caress your dog, when you bathe in the sea.

Stop praising me, what kind of egomaniac God do you think I am?

I’m bored being praised. I’m tired of being thanked. Feeling grateful? Prove it by taking care of yourself, your health, your relationships, the world. Express your joy! That’s the way to praise me.

Stop complicating things and repeating as a parakeet what you’ve been taught about me.

What do you need more miracles for? So many explanations?

The only thing for sure is that you are here, that you are alive, that this world is full of wonders.

(Author unknown — this is someone’s interpretation of Spinoza’s philosophy.)

Ten Definitions from the Sufis

God: The One
Prophet: The Complete Human
Holy Book: The Universe
Religion: Toward the One
Law: Reciprocity
Race: Humankind
Moral Code: Kindness
Inspiration: Beauty
Truth: Self-Knowledge
Path: Die and be Reborn

(Found on a bookmark created by The Inayati Order of Sufis.)

More Alternatives to the Ten Commandments

This wikipedia article offers many alternatives to the Ten Commandments, including contributions by Bertrand Russell, George Carlin, Richard Dawkins, the Atheists, and the Bird Clan of East Central Alabama.