The golden rule’s six levels of meaning

Some colleges and universities have a series of talks titled, “My last lecture.” Professors who are close to retirement present a distillation of their work. If not my last, this would be one of my last lectures. In retirement, I feel as though I’m now getting an entirely fresh start. Come and see.

After 30+ years of professional involvement in the scholarship on the golden rule—Do unto others as you want others to do unto you—I find that the rule of living is starting to sing. It started a couple weeks ago. I had signed up for a class on creating videos with a friend of mine (https://www.georgekao.com/). And of course, in order to keep up, I needed to start making videos, live on Facebook! The result was a series of personal breakthroughs, most of which are included in this 17-minute playlist.

https://www.facebook.com/ANewPhilosophyOfLiving/videos/789380434746635/

First of all, most of my public teaching on the rule of living has presented just three levels of meaning: the rule of sympathy, the rule of reason, and the principle of the practice of the family of God.

Now I’m beginning to ask the question of whether there isn’t a larger place for a fuller discussion. Except among top-level scholars, the understanding of the golden rule is in decline, while the need for it grows. Sometimes, we just have to be patient and work to slow a decline. But sometimes we can see individuals and groups who are advancing, and support those. Many are working diligently for a moral and spiritual renaissance. This blogpost addresses those individuals and groups (with your help in sharing it, if you may be so moved—smile!).

Though our world stands in great need of a revival of the golden rule, (as I say later) we cannot bring about that revival by moralism, looking upon others in self-righteous anger and contempt. We can only attract people to the new and better way by practicing it more fully. So let’s explore the rule afresh.

The levels of meaning in the rule of living uncover layers of what it means to be a human being. What a thrill to exercise and integrate all these dimensions! The levels of meaning also unfold a sequence of stages in human growth. We do not have to worry about identifying what level we need to work on. We embrace them all. We are ready at any moment to do more to activate what may be needed. We meditate as needed on the full series of levels, as we mobilize for a challenging encounter or simply take some personal time to grow. And when we decisively embrace the entire series in its lessons and invitations, that decision has amazing power. And that’s when I find the golden rule starting to sing.

The Golden Rule, level 1: The level of the flesh

Some philosophers have presumed to refute the golden rule by appealing to its lowest level of interpretation. They ask, for example, “What if you want your neighbor’s wife to jump in bed with you? Does the golden rule allow you to jump into bed with her?” Such cynical interpretations distort the interpretation of the rule.

But we can find a positive use for that interpretation. Recall, as you are mobilizing for personal interaction, that there may be some unbeautiful motivation in the unconscious. You don’t need to go into self-examination. Simply remembering that possibility allows it to escape, like air from an overinflated tire. Then you are more relaxed as you go forward.

The great lesson of level one is humility regarding the distortions of the flesh. Distorted interpretations and distorted motivations. At times, they affect each of us; this is normal. But sometimes it is also dangerous. Many people do not honestly acknowledge what arises from the animal-origin nature (which is by no means all bad). In self-deceived ignorance, we march on from year to year and decade to decade with unbeautifulness that could be healed. We don’t need to make a ritual of self-examination and obsess over the ugly moments of our lives. But we do need to face ugly when it emerges, and process it with psychological honesty and spiritual power.

The lesson of the level of the flesh could be expressed in this way.

Treat others in humility that opens itself to be liberated from the conscious and unconscious distortions of the flesh, even as you want others to treat you.

(I give the URLs for each segment, in case you wish to look at some of them but not others.) https://www.facebook.com/ANewPhilosophyOfLiving/videos/789380434746635/

The golden rule level 2: The level of feelings

The golden rule at the level of feelings addresses our marvelous capacity for sympathy and pity, and encourages us to be open to express these essential human feelings of bonding with others. How many of us find our hearts shrunken from time to time? When we are wrapped up in the mind’s struggles, we can neglect to open ourselves to the feelings of people right next to us . . . and around the world.

This second level of interpretation of the rule—if it were to catch fire among humankind—would make a huge change in our self-centeredness, indifference, greed, and cruelty.

And yet this rule has definite limitations. If a child screams when the doctor approaches with a needle for a much needed innoculation, should the mother refuse to take the child in for the shot? The four higher interpretations of the rule shape our expression of sympathy and pity, and sometimes put constraints on it. Within the mental, moral, and spiritual context of the other levels of interpretation of the golden rule, sympathy and pity flow generously . . . and wisely!

Here’s a formulation that symbolizes this level of interpretation.

Treat people with consideration for their feelings, as you want people to treat you with consideration for your feelings.

https://www.facebook.com/ANewPhilosophyOfLiving/videos/319375888883816/

Golden rule level 3: the level of mind

At each new level of interpretation of the golden rule, we discover in a new way what it means to be a human being.

At the level of our animal-origin nature, the level of the flesh, we reflect on the possibility that our motivation may be distorted by self-centered and material motivation–and we can let go of that.

At the level of feelings, we discover our marvelous capacity to respond in sympathy to the feelings and suffering of others.

At the level of mind, we activate the human powers to learn from experience, to use reason and science to consider the consequences of actions for the long-term welfare of self and others, and to develop good judgment and a sense of proportion.

Each of these powers has an ideal implicit in it, and when we embrace these ideals, we find a profound self-respect. And the golden rule encourages us in the way of profound respect for every person.

I symbolize these level three thoughts as follows.

Treat others with an eye to their long-term welfare in profound respect, as you want others to treat you.

https://www.facebook.com/ANewPhilosophyOfLiving/videos/328243764436835/

The golden rule level 4: Brotherly and sisterly love

I have a huge question to pose. The ascending levels of interpretation of the golden rule imply a sequence of stages of human growth. Here’s the question, which we can put in the first-person singular. Have I learned to . . . be humble regarding level 1 distortions of the flesh, . . . to experience level 2 feelings of sympathy and pity, . . . to exercise scientific realism combined with profound respect for self and others, . . . and then, on that foundation, to go on to the religious breakthrough of level four, brotherly and sisterly love, self-forgetting social service, based on the reverent recognition of the fatherhood of God and wholehearted dedication to the loving materialization of the brotherhood of man?

It’s much easier to embrace a particular level without establishing the foundation that gives its full strength and power.

I have no other commentary other than to clarify, for this generation, the essential affirmation of the equality of women with men and the freedom of each person to choose the language that fits his or her personal discovery of these realities of the family of God.

One way to formulate this level of interpretation is as follows.

Treat others as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of God, as you want others to treat you.

https://www.facebook.com/ANewPhilosophyOfLiving/videos/260214027993202/

Golden rule level 5: The moral level

Our world is in great need of a revival of the golden rule of treating others as we want to be treated. But we cannot bring that revival about by moralism, looking upon wrongdoers in self-righteous anger and contempt. We can only attract people to the new and better way by practicing it more fully with those we find difficult to love. So let’s go further.

It is possible for a person to be humble regarding the distortions of the flesh, sympathetic, realistic, respectful, and devoted to the service of the family of God . . . and still not be wise.

There are problems in applying the rule of living that require ethical reflection to clarify moral insight. The moral level of the rule of living requires philosophical wisdom about what is right and wrong.

We need to see how eternal patterns of human relationships fit in human living—how heavenly ways reveal the deep truth of human relationships.

In addition to that top-down wisdom, we also need the bottom-up wisdom of philosophical understanding. We need to imagine how a wise, enlightened, impartial, third-person might view our problems.

You may have noticed that each next level requires a new level of maturity in how we want to be treated.

Treat others in the light of moral reason, as you want others to do to you.

https://www.facebook.com/ANewPhilosophyOfLiving/videos/2337725689847110/

Golden rule level 6, the spiritual level

Finally we arrive at the highest level of the rule of living, the spiritual level, to treat others as we believe God would treat them—or better—as we know God would treat them.

At this level, we have learned to love divinely. We love with the love that our heavenly Father pours into our hearts, as we give that love to others.

At every level, Jesus shows us the way: in his self-mastery regarding all the tendencies of the human nature, in his sympathy and understanding, his commitment to the long-range welfare of people, for each of whom he had a profound respect (even when that respect required him to denounce unrighteousness), in his self-forgetting service as a brother to us all, his magnificent moral insight, and as he loves us with a Fatherly love, revealing the divine way to treat people.

Normally, when I teach the golden rule, I simply speak of three levels: a rule sympathy, a rule of reason, and the spiritual level. But reason is two-fold, scientific and moral; and the principle of the practice of the family of God also has two levels—brotherly love and fatherly love. A parent will do more for a child than a sibling will; and when we look at the life of Jesus, we see Fatherly love is like. The child grows up to be like the parent. And we, the sons and daughters of God, can grow up to love divinely.

There’s just one problem with level 6. We can’t truly claim to operate from level 6 if we haven’t gained the growth of the experience and disciplines of the earlier stages.

That said, let’s go for it together. At least we can take level 6 as a promise, as something that we can glimpse. Let’s prepare ourselves at least to approximate level 6. Suppose we are meditating to prepare ourselves for a particular challenge. We can contemplate the complete sequence of levels in the interpretation of the golden rule. And then we can do our best to allow the God who lives within us to find expression in our way of relating with others.

Treat others in a way that is Godlike, as you want other to do to you. 

For those who wish to study the golden rule more deeply, my first book uses an approach that is multi-cultural and interdisciplinary (history, psychology, religion, and philosophy): The Golden Rule (Oxford University Press, 1996).

Living in Truth, Beauty, and Goodness (Cascade Books, 2016), pages 162-73, includes a series of reflections developed for presentations at Scarboro Missions in Toronto in 2012.

If you are interested in studying these six levels more deeply, I’ve published two quite different expositions.

“Levels of Meaning in the Golden Rule.”  Journal of Religious Ethics, 15.1, (Spring, 1987), 106-29.

“Philosophical Reflections on the Golden Rule,” 105-116 in Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton, eds., The Golden Rule: Analytical Perspectives (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2009).