Commandment 3 2017 Who knew the 10 Commandments were going to be this much fun! OK, at least I am having a really good time researching and exploring a deeper meaning for these commandments, which we thought we knew so well. The first three commandments are all about God. One God, no other gods is rule number 1. No gold, silver, or plastic little god idols is rule number 2. Watch how you use God s name is rule number three. Our deeper interpretations of rule one and two tell us we are invited into Oneness with this divine power, however we name or describe it; AND we are invited to experience a sense of mystery in this Oneness as we let go of our need to limit it by our desire to intellectually understand it. We create a false god or idol and we limit the infinite divine in our attempt to come to some kind of human grasp of its nature when what we really desire is to become accustomed to not knowing and relaxing in the divine embrace. I hope you are beginning to have a feeling that these commandments hold the potential for a greater joy in our conscious relationship with the divine. This may be a shift from the feeling that the commandments are ancient rules intended to point out our mistakes and punish us. And let me be clear, we are capable of many, many lapses in awareness and capable of making choices with uncomfortable consequences. The commandments offer us a path OUT OF this discomfort. If we are willing. As we begin to look at commandment number 3, I want to initially focus on the language. Most of us are more familiar with the King James version, Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain. I looked up the meaning in the dictionary for in vain and found without success or result. And perhaps that is a place we have become confused about. The idea that our words don t really produce results. Or it can mean out of excessive pride. And maybe our ego s sense of pride is the source of the challenge around cursing God or using God s name in a curse. And it is interesting that the New Revised Standard version uses slightly different language with a much more explicit meaning. Much less Shakespearean sounding but effective. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. We have committed to looking at the commandments at multiple levels so let s begin with a literal look at what this commandment says. 1
Wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God would certainly include cussing or linking the name of God with words I suggest include damn and I ll just leave the rest of the list to your imagination. When we curse using the name of God or when we curse God, we are trying to shift the blame for a current situation away from ourselves. I think the ending of the commandment covers how effective it is to blame God, the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Blaming God does not get you off the hook for what you create in your life. At a literal level I would interpret this commandment to prohibit cursing with the name of God and a reminder that you still have the same mess you had before the cussing. Metaphysically, Charles Fillmore believes names in Hebrew and in the Bible hold great meaning. That s why we have the Metaphysical Bible Dictionary with the meanings for lots of names of people and places you find in the bible. And we also have The Revealing Word in which, again, Fillmore offers definitions and meanings for words including names. Here is what I found for name-god s or God s name: to describe God is to give Him limitation. Then Fillmore refers to the perplexing name offered in Exodus when Moses asks the burning bush who shall I say sent me? The response is I am that I am. Some scholars have discounted this as just representing the unknowability. I is the is-ness. Yet Fillmore has latched onto the concept of I AM as the spiritual essence and also the name for the divine spark within each one of us. He celebrates the I AM as a name that allows unlimited expansion in every direction. In The Revealing Word section on Lord he says, The Lord God of the scriptures is Christ; our divine consciousness; the creative power within us. The Lord God, as a name, represents the creative power within us. Going back to the literal meaning, and adding a bit of the metaphysical meaning, we might be cursing our own creative power. Well, that would be a little step in the right direction because at least we d be directing our unhappiness towards a more accurate target ourselves! How many of us would not be inclined to shake a fist at the mirror when we realize we forgot to get gas and find ourselves stranded some place? Or we forgot to balance our check book and find ourselves with overdraft notices and charges. Well another fine mess we ve made! When we add on the end of the commandment, we discover that we are STILL not off the hook, even if we are mad at ourselves. So the Do NOT curse is still important in guiding us in a better direction. 2
What about that little phrase in there about wrongful use. Do not make wrongful use of the creative power within you. This is not so easily interpreted to just mean cursing. So I want to be a little challenging right now and point out that wrongful is a word from our sense of duality. Yet our goal is Oneness. In duality we might be able to flip the commandment to Make RIGHT use of the creative power within you. And I think that might be where Fillmore ends up. Inviting us to make positive use of our creative power. I was reflecting on the practice of some celebrities to thank God or more often Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior when they receive an award or recognition. The old hymn says, To God be the glory and words of praise that acknowledge our One Source are powerful expressions of gratitude that attract more of the same to us. However, sometimes even focusing on positivity keeps us in duality. It also leaves us in the subjective field of human opinion on what is positive and what is negative. What is a right use and what is a wrongful use and is there a right name or a wrong name for God? This is where meditation led me. The commandment is about staying mindful of the creative power within us and the power of our words. Names are words we speak aloud, invoking and activating the power we claim. Fillmore was a great proponent of speaking and claiming in the name of Jesus Christ because as he says in The Revealing Word, the marvelous healing works [the disciples] did in his name prove the great spiritual power resident in his name. He also said holding the name I AM in mind lets the imagination soar away from its dimensional concepts of God and there flows into the mind a whole flood of expanded ideas. Perhaps the most important concept around the name is the power and meaning we give it in our intention. Maybe it doesn t matter if the name we use is God or I AM or Jesus Christ or Allah or Yahweh or Abba. So I guess where I am going is the idea that rather than right and wrong uses, there are conscious and unconscious uses and our commandment is to stay conscious about how we are using the inherent creative power of our thoughts and words. Here we are in a state of Oneness and in connection with an unlimited and infinitely powerful flow of creativity and we are not to be careless or unconscious with our words and thoughts. This is an awakening! It is not really new. When Don Miquel Ruiz said, Be impeccable with your words it was not a new concept. But the most challenging aspect of our spirituality is staying awake! Paul lamented he kept doing the very things he did not want to do. 3
He kept falling asleep to his desire to stay awake! As Jesus prayed, the disciples fell asleep. As much as they desired the spiritual life he offered and knew the blessings of that spiritual life, they could not stay awake to it. I believe the third commandment is just Stay Aware of the awesome power we are a part of. When I am aware, I naturally want to operate in alignment with my divine self. I want to be loving and compassionate. I want to find a way to connect with others and seek a mutually satisfactory outcome. I want to uplift and encourage others; I want to forgive myself and others. I want to live a life of ease not stressing myself out and allowing lack and limitation to rule my thoughts. So really, I deeply desire the Oneness with the infinite that is available when I am conscious. For me the whole crux of the first three commandments is about relationship and awareness. The Universe wants to support me. Here is the way! Know only oneness, know it is beyond my understanding of good and stay conscious of my connection. As humans we learn from our experiences. I mean, there are lots of books and advisors and teachers. Yet ultimately, we learn slowly and with repetition. Or wait, is that just me? Maybe that is just some of the most lasting education we have. Some of us have scars on the inside and the outside from our lessons. Still we have trouble staying consciously awake. When I go unconscious, I yell at the other drivers; I let myself condemn myself for not getting the outcome I wanted; I believe other people are ruining my happiness and withholding my good; I judge pretty much every one and every thing. And I feel the burn of the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name because I cannot escape the conditions within my own creative process; the conditions within my own mind. I have suffered with the limits I created and then wished my life was different. I have damaged relationships or clung to relationships that were hurting me and had to acknowledge they were my unconscious choices. Unconscious because when I am consciously aware I am able to make better choices. The congregational song asks, How could anyone ever tell you, you were anything less than beautiful; how could anyone ever tell you, you were less than whole? And when we go unconscious we tell ourselves and those around us those very words. We tell ourselves we are less than beautiful and less than whole. We tell some of the people we are closest to they are less than beautiful and less than whole. Wake up! The Universe wants more for us. The Universe wants us to be consciously aware of the power of our words. 4
On your card is a metaphysical shorthand interpretation: Be mindful of the power of our words and do not invoke the creative power of Spirit in harmful ways. I don t know what is always right or wrong but I know what feels harmful. We try not to harm ourselves, other people, the planet and all its beautiful creatures. Aware of the immense power within us, we try to stay awake so that we invoke the power we are connected to in helpful ways. Awareness also reminds us of the ways we may be invoking the power in less than helpful ways. It is our power, our lives, our world. Our affirmation is I speak from my heart center as Spirit guides me. In our Oneness we have instant access to infinite wisdom, love and compassion. If we can stay awake to that, life is good! 5