Paradoxical Commandments

In recent days I found myself turning to the paradoxical commandments for inspiration in the face of challenges. I learned of the commandments in a very memorable way. They were packaged as the theme of a graduation ceremony I attended. The commandments were read in full and then explained and celebrated through speech and song.

The Paradoxical Commandments

• People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
• If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
• If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
• The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
• Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
• The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
• People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
• What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
• People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
• Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

I was moved when I first heard this, but only recently did I really experience its meaning. The Paradoxical Commandments are an answer to the cynicism we are tempted to feel in a world in which virtue goes unrewarded. We live in a difficult world. I need inspiration to keep my head held high and to take the high ground.

I know the author has written a book that puts the commandments in a Christian context. But by themselves they can be secular enough for this aspiring spiritual atheist.

Speaking of which, I've been Sponged. I've got James Shelby Spong's secular idea of Jesus in my mind. I wrestled with that, wondering whether Jesus works well enough for me as a metaphor. I will continue to wrestle with this, because I hunger for a secular spiritual experience that I haven't quite satisfied.

Yeah, all my reading, writing, and thinking about spirituality for one who doesn't believe in the supernatural led me nowhere. Do I need to make a leap of faith to have a means of experiencing spirituality?