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  • The Ten Commandments maintain an extraordinary hold on our imaginations even though many of them can soundin

  • the context of our own timesreally rather peculiar, with injunctions not to

  • covet a neighbour’s livestock or to make sure one doesn't carve images of god-like figures in the rocks.

  • The Commandments were responses to the specific needs of a small nomadic

  • community, wandering the Sinai peninsula with goats and sheep around

  • 1,200 BC. Our needs have, predictably, changed a bit since then.

  • But a place for rules remains: because we're still

  • horribly prone to violence, cruelty and self-righteousness and need regularly to be reminded of how to

  • live peacefully and well with ourselves and our neighbours.

  • What would it be like to try to update the commandments for our own times?

  • Here is a go...

  • The good person is at all times

  • highly aware of their flaws and committed to becoming a better version of themselves.

  • They are not insulted if people point out their need for evolution, even when they do this rather clumsily.

  • A good person believes in ongoing need for moral and phsycological education..

  • The good person knows that everyone is deeply damaged and a little mad, starting with (of course) themselves.

  • They are unfrightened by their own strangeness and are committed to informing those around

  • them of it in very good time, and apologising retrospectively when they have failed to do so.

  • They understand that part of their duty is to have a ready answer to the legitimate question,

  • And how are you crazy?’

  • The good person is loyal in relationships not because they

  • think their lover is perfect, but because they know that everyone is pretty imperfect

  • and rather hard to live with at close range. They accept that the only people we can ever

  • think of as normal or easy are people we don’t yet know very well.

  • The good person knows that it is impossible to be wholly understood by anyone and accepts that things are going

  • well if one is very lonely in around only half of the key areas of one’s life.

  • The good person tries hard never to assume that other people should know what they are

  • thinking of or want without them having told them very clearly and kindly. They try to resist sulking (behaviour that stems

  • from an incensed belief that others should know why we are upset without us having told them)

  • and are committed to teaching others about the contents of their minds.

  • The good person looks at people who are behaving badly as if they might be small children;

  • that is with patience, charity and an active search for mitigating circumstances. Though

  • our societies stress the insult of being treated as younger than one is, the good person knows

  • it is the greatest privilege for anyone to look beyond the apparently strong yet nasty

  • adult to the worried, anxious and probably really rather nice child within.

  • Confronted with a piece of stupidity or evil which they could never be guilty of, the good person doesn’t fall

  • into self-righteousness. They swiftly remember all the many stupid and evil things they have

  • at other points, over different things, been guilty of. They don’t lose sight of how

  • much they overall stand in need of the charity and forgiveness of others.

  • The good person is committed to searching for the funny side of people who might appear merely desperately

  • irritating. They look at others like characters in a comedy rather than a tragedy. They know

  • that the greatest achievement is to be able to move from seeing someone as anidiot

  • to considering them as that most privileged of beings: a ‘loveable idiot.’

  • The good person is a firm believer in restraint and in not immediately saying certain things

  • that are on their minds. They hold that being fully oneself entails a level

  • of melodrama and rage that one should spare any human one cares about.

  • The good person knows that the best protection against impatience and paranoia is a little gently-worn pessimism.

  • They budget for disappointment far ahead of time. They don’t cry constantly only because

  • they have understood that the whole of existence isin many waysworthy of tears. Their

  • constant awareness of the possibility of death and catastrophe makes them especially appreciative

  • of small things that happen to go well. They relish flowers, balmy skies and so-called

  • boring dayswhen everyone manages to go to bed relatively content and at peace.

The Ten Commandments maintain an extraordinary hold on our imaginations even though many of them can soundin

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B1 UK good person committed righteousness charity idiot guilty

How to Replace the 10 Commandments

  • 181 13
    Jane posted on 2016/09/18
Video vocabulary

Keywords

people

US /ˈpipəl/

UK /'pi:pl/

  • noun
  • Ordinary people; the general public.
  • Ordinary people; commoners.
  • Persons sharing culture, country, background, etc.
  • The employees of a company or organization.
  • Humans in general; persons considered collectively.
  • Men, Women, Children
  • A nation or ethnic group.
  • Human beings in general or considered collectively.
  • One's family or relatives.
  • other
  • Human beings in general or considered collectively.
  • other
  • To populate; to fill with people.
person

US /'pɜ:rsn/

UK /'pɜ:sn/

  • noun
  • Man, woman or child
  • A character in a play, story, or other work of fiction.
  • A grammatical category that distinguishes between the speaker (first person), the addressee (second person), and others (third person).
  • A human being; an individual.
  • An entity recognized by law as having rights and responsibilities, such as an individual, corporation, or organization.
  • An individual, typically used to emphasize their distinct identity or role.
good

US /ɡʊd/

UK /ɡʊd/

  • adjective
  • Proper, appropriate or right
  • (Of an amount) enough; plenty
  • Excellent; high quality
  • Acting well or properly; of moral character
  • In a positive or happy emotional state
  • noun
  • Advantage or benefit
nasty

US /ˈnæsti/

UK /'nɑ:stɪ/

  • adjective
  • Dangerous or serious.
  • Offensive; indecent.
  • Unkind; unpleasant.
  • Very bad or unpleasant.
  • Very bad, unpleasant, or offensive
great

US /ɡret/

UK /ɡreɪt/

  • adverb
  • Very good; better than before
  • adjective
  • Very good; excellent.
  • Used to describe the relationship between a grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc. and their grandchild, nephew, niece, etc.
  • Very large in size
  • Very important
  • Of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the average
  • Remarkable or outstanding
  • Very good at a particular activity
  • Very good; fantastic; wonderful
  • noun
  • Successful and well-admired person
hold

US /hold/

UK /həʊld/

  • verb
  • To agree to keep something for someone
  • To have the capacity to support/contain something
  • To control an area and protect it from attack
  • To not allow someone to leave a place
  • To cause an event to happen at a place or time
  • To use hands or arms to carry or keep something
  • To have a specific quality or property
  • To keep an image, belief or feeling in your mind
  • To have or own something
  • To wait before being able to talk on the phone
  • To limit the movement of someone in a sport
  • noun
  • Section of a ship or plane used for storing things
  • Influence or power held over someone
  • Place of support for hands or feet when climbing
rage

US /reɪdʒ/

UK /reɪdʒ/

  • noun
  • Strong or violent anger
  • verb
  • To act or speak with strong or violent anger
  • To move violently, like a storm
understand

US /ˌʌndɚˈstænd/

UK /ˌʌndə'stænd/

  • other
  • To be aware of something
  • To believe something to be the case
  • Perceive the intended meaning of (words, a language, or a speaker).
  • To feel or show sympathy for; empathize with.
  • other
  • To grasp something mentally.
  • verb
  • To know the meaning of language, what someone says
tell

US /tɛl/

UK /tel/

  • verb
  • To (strongly) advise a person to do something
  • To be able to guess
  • To order or instruct someone to do something.
  • To say or communicate information to someone
  • To be able to distinguish or recognize.
  • To inform, but without speaking; indicate
  • To have a negative effect on someone
  • To order someone to do something; command
  • To recognize something based on certain signs
  • To report something to an authority
  • To explain something or teach someone something
accept

US /ækˈsɛpt/

UK /ək'sept/

  • verb
  • To agree to receive or take something offered
  • To admit that something is true or correct