The Covenant — Notes
Personal remarks to “Torah as it was intended”
1. I, from which everything originates, am your Name.
The Hidden Name, Being, Tao, Consciousness, Emptiness, God, Creator, Absolute, Source … that what you really are. Therefore —
2. Have no other gods or images of Me that you may worship.
Once you imagine it as something, it’s not it. You have reduced it to an image in your mind’s eye. An object which of course requires also a subject. In that moment you are separated. Bear that always in mind, and therefore —
3. Don’t use the Name to defend your actions or speech.
That what you are always knows everything about you. Whether you say truth or lie, and even what propels your actions. To swear by God is as absurd as claiming to act on God’s behalf. As a human, you do so by design, but you also have free will. The simple choice of Yes and No. Therefore —
4. Remember that seventh day is the day of resting in wholeness.
To be able to choose wisely, at least one day a week turn your attention fully to that what you are. Study, observe, or just let go and solve old grievances. And if painting pictures or creating pottery makes you rested, by all means go for it. Eventually you will rest in wholeness almost all the time. And you can start with the everyday and obvious —
5. Honor the causality of creation so you may live long.
See the chain of causes and effects running all the way back to the days of beginnings. Accept your mother and father, your upbringing and DNA, your nurture and nature. Change what needs to be changed, just remember that your actions in turn nurture the universe. Therefore —
6. No killing.
Can you bring people back to life? Can you undo the pain? Can you imagine what you can set into motion or what you perpetuate?
7. No adultery.
Who will take care of the children? Can you turn your attention fully to that what you are when you obsess about sex?
8. No stealing.
Or don’t take what is not given … almost everyone was robbed in one way or another. Which means, there is a huge probability that you know how it feels. Do I need to say more?
9. No lying.
Oh yeah, I hear it, “We all lie. At least from time to time. And not all lies are bad.” Maybe instead of shrugging it off as no big deal, try to ask why a lie in the first place?
10. No coveting.
What can I say — if you don’t covet, you have little urge to kill, cheat, steal, or lie. Instead, you have the peace needed to turn your attention fully to that what you really are.
