Tuesday, September 9, 2025

VERSIONS of the GOLDEN RULE

 

When faced with a seemingly unresolvable ethical dilemma, I resort to The Golden Rule.

 

Most know the New Testament version:

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you".

(Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31)

 

But there is another version, as worded by Rabbi Hillel in the Talmud:

“What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.”

 

As the Talmudic story goes, A non-Jew approached Hillel, asking to be taught the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel responded with the Golden Rule, and added, “the rest is commentary. Now go study.”

 

Between these two versions, I prefer Hillel’s. There are many things I would like “done to me” that others wouldn’t like done to them. People are different that way, and vive la diffĂ©rence. I find I prefer the approach through negation. It comes closer to respecting others.

 

But even here, there are those things you would hate that others don’t. In other words, the Golden Rule is still golden, but the duty to use discernment is never discharged.

I was faced with such a dilemma only the other day. The Golden Rule helped me take the harder route. Did I choose right? I can’t make this claim. But I stand by the way I went about trying.



3 comments:

Evelyn said...

I agree with you totally about the discernment and about the fact that we need to acknowledge that others have different preferences than our own. But I still prefer the positively stated Golden Rule more than the negative. If we only refrain from doing hurtful things to others, we miss out on countless opportunities to be of help to them. It's like the difference between smiling at someone who really needs a smile and refraining from frowning at them.

Vijaya said...

I love the Golden Rule--it's such a great discernment tool. I, too, like the positive approach. Interesting that all the other religious texts have it as the negative. Yes, do no evil. But Christianity goes above and beyond the bare minimum. We are to love even our enemies. Ev expresses the distinction so well between the positive and negative approaches.

Barbara Etlin said...

Another version of this could the advice given by the wise 200-year old man played by Sam Jaffe in the movie Lost Horizon, : "Be kind." If you are kind to others you're (probably) not doing something offensive* and you're thinking of their welfare.
*I hedged by saying probably because you might step on their cultural toes by mistake.