I recently came across ten commandments suggested by Osho, aka. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Indian “Holy Man” of many Rolls-Royces. Although he professed to be against any kind of commandment, “just for fun” he set out the following:

1. Never obey anyone’s command unless it is coming from within you also.
2. There is no God other than life itself.
3. Truth is within you, do not search for it elsewhere.
4. Love is prayer.
5. To become a nothingness is the door to truth. Nothingness itself is the means, the goal and attainment.
6. Life is now and here.
7. Live wakefully.
8. Do not swim – float.
9. Die each moment so that you can be new each moment.
10. Do not search. That which is, is. Stop and see.

While they are very “new age” what interested me was how different they are from the original Ten Commandments dictated to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21). Although they vary in detail between different Christian and Judaic sects they are in essence:

1. I am the Lord thy God … Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image …
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honour thy father and thy mother
6. Thou shalt not murder.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
10. Thou shalt not covet …

What I find interesting, although maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise, is that the Old Testament version, for all its negativity, is about two things: what to believe and how to live in society. By contrast Rajneesh’s version is all about one’s internal conduct (as a means to attain enlightenment). But what struck me is that although these are two very different sets of “instructions”, and leaving apart structures to about a God-being, both essentially boil down to one thing: “Do as you would be done by” or in Wicca as “An it harm none, do what ye will”. Although with the Rajneesh version one has to interpret this between the lines. Which just supports my view that all religious belief boils down to this one thing: treat others as you would wish them to treat you. And indeed all seven of the major world religions do have such a tenet embedded within them.

By contrast the often though to be religious “smash the infidel” commandment is a purely militaristic and political mindset of “my tribe is better than your tribe” and seldom anything to do with true religion and philosophical belief systems.