Mariner was a Methodist pastor during the 1960’s. He was interested in philosophical direction at the time; it was indeed a time of crossroads in contemporary thoughts about secularism, socialism, capitalism, theism, and the role in general of belief systems in modern society. For a college theology assignment, mariner researched an Indian philosopher named, for short, Rajneesh.
Rajneesh was sort of a rebel religious philosopher in India espousing normal Indian mysticism and spiritualism but Rajneesh injected a thread of spiritual humanism that made him known in the western world as well. Mariner has not thought of Rajneesh since his college days. Rajneesh is brought to mind by an article in this week’s New Yorker email.
The most efficient analysis of his approach to spiritualism is to examine his effort to write his own ten commandments (very much a restrictive western gesture). Bless Wikipedia for having Rajneesh’s ten commandments clearly presented!
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.
Bring a copy of the commandments to your next Sunday School class for discussion. Mariner guarantees there will be discussion. Certain commandments, particularly 5, 8, 9 and 10, can raise the blood pressure of western capitalists; socialists struggle with 3, 5 and 6; theists are stopped by 1, 2, 3 and 6; western society in general finds 5 an anathema.
Mariner gleaned many sermons from Rajneesh by integrating his spiritual elements with western pragmatism.
Being a bit older, mariner has in his mental library many forgotten moments to discover again. Welcome back, Rajneesh.
Ancient Mariner
Thanks for sharing Rajneesh’s commandments. I love all of them and they do make alot of sense to me, but I can see where most would have trouble understanding. I did for years as well. But some day, hopefully, we will all understand what he is telling us. Nice to see “old Friends” again isn’t it?
I love these! Thank you for sharing.
There is a lot of Buddhist theology in these commandments. Personally, I find them unsettling and egocentric. I stopped at # 2 and realize that going further would be futile, but I did it anyway. I simply do not understand most of these. Number 10 especially. “Don’t search”? Why on earth should we not search? Does this mean sit around under a Bo tree and smugly feel that this is it, you know all there is to know? I find this fairly repulsive. OK, rant is over. The Commandments certainly do make one think.