Legislators or administrators might it embeds them in a dramatic tale that illustrates why One neat thing about the Bible story is that it doesn’t simply list its rules, as lawyers or Prospects for civilized behaviour in the absence of rules that seek to elevate our gaze and The old Hebrew story makes it clear how the ancients felt about our Judgment, we are quick to aim low and worship qualities that are beneath us-in thisĬase, an artificial animal that brings out our own animal instincts in a completely Passions-and there’s nothing freeing about that.Īnd the story suggests something more: unchaperoned, and left to our own untutored The golden calf also reminds us that without rules we quickly become slaves to our That nobody, not even God, tells me what to do, even if it’s good for me. After all, God didn’t give Moses “The Ten Suggestions,” he gaveĬommandments and if I’m a free agent, my first reaction to a command might just be Why should we be judged according to another’s rule?Īnd judged we are. If we have character, rules seem restrictive,Īn affront to our sense of agency and our pride in working out our own So rules there will be-but, please, not too many. “I got Him from fifteen commandments down to ten!” and I’ve got some bad news,” the lawgiver yells to them. Idol, a golden calf, displaying all manner of corporeal corruption. Now,įree at last, they are unbridled, and have lost all control as they dance wildly around an Harsh desert wilderness for another forty years, to purify them of their slavishness. Tyrannical regulations for four hundred years, and after that Moses subjected them to the They’d been Pharaoh’s slaves and subject to his Mountain, after a long absence, bearing the tablets inscribed with ten commandments,Īnd finds the Children of Israel in revelry. People don’t clamour for rules, even in the Bible. That our brains are plastic, and all develop differently based on our life experiences, whyĮven expect that a few rules might be helpful to us all? Rules? More rules? Really? Isn’t life complicated enough, restricting enough, withoutĪbstract rules that don’t take our unique, individual situations into account? And given RULE 12 / Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street RULE 11/ Do not bother children when they are skateboarding ![]() RULE 9 / Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t RULE 8 / Tell the truth-or, at least, don’t lie RULE 7 / Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient) RULE 6 / Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world RULE 5 / Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them RULE 4 / Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today RULE 3 / Make friends with people who want the best for you RULE 2 / Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping RULE 1 / Stand up straight with your shoulders back ![]() The world stage for many years.” THE SPECTATOR “One of the most important thinkers to emerge on
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