In the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, the pirate captain Barbossa is confronted with a rule from the mythical “Pirate Code,” and replies, “The Code is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules.”
Here’s a truth I’ve come to have to accept. There are no hard and fast rules for human conduct written either in stone or on our human hearts. But… And, I’m equally confident there is something within us, a draw to harmony and equity. In an earlier reflection I considered possible natural sources for this sense of our human hearts.
As I continue to ruminate on the subject I find seven precepts bubbling up as possibly reflecting the deep needs arising within our human condition. They are principally derived from the Buddha’s five lay precepts, but they’re enriched by reflecting on the Noahide code. And, of course, as a child of the West, the biblical Ten Commandments are also never far from my consciousness. However, like for the Pirate Code, these seven precepts are less rules and more suggestions, pointers toward a harmonious and loving life.
1) Love Your Mother Here I try to find the harmonic sense of ancient calls to know and love God. I don’t have a sense of a personal deity, but I do have a sense of a larger sacred that can easily be understood as God and as sacred obligation. Love our mother. Don’t put idols in front of her.
2) Reverence Life Here we need to see into the mystery of life and death, of the great conundrum that eating requires killing, that we cannot take a walk without killing thousands of life forms. And within the embrace of our mother we are all one. We need to seek to walk with care and gratitude.
3) Speak Truthfully Our words have enormous power. We need to be kind. We need to speak what is helpful. And for the most part we need to let our yes be yes and our no, no.
4) Respect Things In one very true sense we are all one. And in an equally true sense we are discrete, you are you and I am I. And this extends out to all the things of the world. We need to respect boundaries, and the various claims people have within these boundaries.
5) Respect Our Bodies We need to know and respect and love ourselves, in particular we need to know and respect and love ourselves as sexual beings. And we need to extend that knowledge and respect and love to other’s bodies, as well.
6) Seek Justice In our communal lives we need to seek equity and harmony. We need to respect the individual and to know we have common needs. No one is an island.
7) Seek Clarity In order to manifest this harmonious life we need to remain clear. We need to be watchful of those things that cloud our perceptions that lead to false conclusions and unhealthy actions. We need to foster those things that extend our clarity and allow our actions to be more generous and harmonious with the way things are.
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