The Ten Suggestions

Saint Kathleen will now pontificate for you. But be careful—this is a touchy subject.

"Commandment” is such an irritating word. “I command you to…” “Thou shalt…” “Thou shalt not…” And if you don’t do as you are commanded, you are committing a “sin.” Ooooo.

Sin, really, is just an error for which you are responsible. You have a good bow, a straight arrow, and a stable target, but you miss. A slip-up. An error. And you did it, so it’s your "fault." Guilt is irrelevant unless it moves you to not do this again.

Different religions have slightly different versions of the Ten Commandments, but these following are generally inclusive of the several meanings in each religion. They are just statements of fact, cause and effect: if you make a mistake, there are consequences. Some mistakes are small, like forgetting to water houseplants; they die. Others are big and have big consequences.

Here’s my take on the subject and this is my blog, so I can say this stuff. Besides, what’s the fun of getting old and batty if you can’t flaunt it?

Suggestion #1: I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol. You shouldn’t value anything more highly than good—that is, whatever makes for abundant life—because if you do, you’ll be really, really peeved on your deathbed. Or maybe even before. The other stuff doesn’t last. Knowing you were kind whenever you could be does last. Idols can be money, power, children, or just about anything—whatever you think you just have to have in order to make your life work.

Suggestion #2. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of God. You shouldn’t use language lightly; it has power and can come back to bite you, especially with children. I’ll bet Mr. Hitler is sorry he berated and smacked around little Adolf. Or Mr. Borden, who was famously unkind to little Lizzie.

Suggestion #3. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. You shouldn’t be a Type A and work all the time because you will have a big, nasty comeuppance some day when you realize that accomplishments, while satisfying at the time, are pretty temporary and you end up on a hamster wheel trying to top your last accomplishment. Besides, if you don’t sit down and shut off your mind, your interior computer can’t toss up insights and creative ideas.

Suggestion #4. Honor your Father and Mother. You should cut your parents some slack because what goes around comes around and you might want someone to cut you some, especially if you have kids. Your parents were doing what they thought was the thing to do, even if it went wrong. And as my mother used to say, “Every teacher has something to teach you, even if it’s a horrible example.”

Suggestion #5. You shall not murder/kill. Don’t do that. It doesn’t make you feel any better and even if you don’t get caught, you won’t like yourself, which leads to all kinds of nasty mental health problems that poison whatever you thought you were going to gain from offing someone.

Suggestion #6. You shall not commit adultery. This assumes you and/or your adulteree are in a committed relationship. Is there a bigger cock-up, as the British say, (no pun intended) than getting into someone else’s business?

Suggestion #7. You shall not steal. This causes lots of the same complications as #5, though usually not on the same scale. Aside from the possibility of jail or retaliation on the part of the robbee, there is the emotional snarl you get into when you do something you just know you wouldn’t want done to you, unless you are a total sociopath and have no empathy for other people, in which case this won’t compute for you and there is nothing known to man that will straighten you out.

Suggestion #8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. This is gossip or the “sin” (error) of calumny, an old-fashioned word that means discussing other people in a false and/or negative way. It means if you are trashing someone, especially falsely, there will be big consequences, not the least of which is that all people, especially those who are listening to you, won’t trust you. Don’t do it.

Suggestion #9. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. Suggestion #10. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. These two are really the same thing. It’s the “sin” (mistake) of thinking that someone else has something that you would be better off if you had. You won’t because your basic POV (that’s movie talk—point of view) is that you aren’t well off. It’s the Law of Attraction: you will get more of what you already have. If what you believe you have is mediocre material goods and a not-good-enough relationship, guess what you are going to get? More second-rate material things and another lousy relationship. If you want more of the good stuff, identify what good stuff you have and applaud it, admire it, celebrate it. Then you’ll get more and you’ll feel good.

All in all, these ten activities have two problems that make them unappealing:

• you can get caught and the consequences will be nasty, now or eventually

• you will mess with your own peace of mind in a big way.

However, if you do make a mistake, my advice is to admit it, feel bad for a while, make what restitution you can, and learn from it. “Move on with your life and don’t make that mistake anymore,” to paraphrase a smart dead guy.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.