The golden rule: a universal law

By Digoy Fernandez SOME friends of mine are sick of the daily fare as far as news is concerned, because of the incessant bombardment one gets about murder, mayhem, corruption in government, the decline in public and private morals, public and private scandals, and chicanery that businessmen often engage in. Probably, the comic pages remain as one of the few remaining redeeming features of the daily news. Today, we have people who would manipulate events -- causing the loss of lives and the introduction of yet more misery to an already overburdened people – just to create scenarios that would keep them in power. Oblivious to the stern justice they would have to face on the Day of Judgment, they go about their nefarious ways. One day, however, they will be called to account for every peso stolen, every life taken, every person made miserable, every law broken. In many a good book, one learns that one reaps what one sows. Other faiths believe in the Law of Return, where one reaps a hundred-fold whatever good or bad he or she does in life. One of the most quoted rules is that which we Christians refer to as the Golden Rule: Do not do unto others what you would not want to have done to you. Interestingly, I picked up similar quotations to this Golden Rule as taught by other faiths or sublime teachers. Consider the following: Lord Buddha: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful (Udana Varga) 5, 18) Confucious: Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you (Analects 15, 23) Hinduism: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you (Mahabharata 5, 1517) Taosim: Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss (Tai Shang Kan Ying P’ien) Islam: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself (Suna) Jewish Talmud: What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow man (Shabbat 32id) This set of similar teachings applies to both the private and public sectors, and also to the conduct of one’s personal life. It is also a good guiding principle for those who believe that social responsibility is all embracing and should not be confined to the narrow concept of corporate or private philanthropy.