As Recorded by Adam Kadmon
in the
Salton Sea Scroll
Edited by Robert E. Podolsky
As I record these words our leader, Moses, just returned from the Mountain of Wonder, is telling our people the story of his sojourn with God during which Moses was given the stone tablets which reveal God’s will concerning his people. For three days and nights I have sat with him in his tent with the flaps closed while the peo-
ple awaited the news of his journey. To me he said, “Adam Kadmon, it is to you that I will tell my story first; for I know you and trust you to report it accurately. In the years to come many will tell it the way they wish I had said it, rather than as it really was. So heed my words and record them truly.”
Thus it is to me that the great honor has befallen of recording truly for all future generations the tale of Moses’ conversation with the Great One; so here it is, in his own words even as he spoke them to me.
……………………………………………………
Long have we wandered in the wilderness hoping the Great One would lead us to a fertile and hospitable land that we could call our own. But we seem to be as far from that dream today as the day we left the kingdom of Pharaoh. So it is that I decided to climb to the heights of the nearby Mountain of Wonder, there to fast, to consider our plight, and to ask God’s help in drawing this long and perilous journey to a successful conclusion.
On my trek up the mountainside I bethought myself as to the nature of our plight and came to the realization that we have thus far proven unworthy of God’s more generous blessings. We despoil the land through which we travel. We treat one another harshly and with indifference to the caring that we seemed to share while
we were in bondage. Sometimes violence breaks out amidst our disputes, which seem to be more common than in years past. Many of us seem inclined to return to a more primitive faith; in our minds populating the world with all manner of gods and demons and making sacrifice to images and statues in hopes of placating the wrath of unknown spirits. Our husbandry of our meager resources fails to improve and our arts and our crafts languish. Little wonder God is not pleased with us! My path lies plain before me. I must ask God how we can change to become more worthy in his eyes.
I was still thinking along these lines when I arrived at the upland plateau that lies just below the peak of the great mountain. There, looking out over the land below, I noted the sun was almost setting; yet there seemed no reason to delay. So I knelt beneath the sky and lifted my voice to the heavens.
“Oh, Great God of heaven and earth,” I cried, “I would speak with you concerning the fate of my people, your children suffering the exile of the desert. Will you hear my plea?” Then the sky shook and the ground trembled and a great stern voice spoke to me.
“Moses, my young friend, how good it is to see you again! Do you suppose you could find time to visit me more often; or would that be asking too much?”
Stunned by the implied rebuke I cried, “Dear God, how is it that your words sound so much like the greetings I so often received from my mother?”
Softening somewhat the voice responded, “I thought a familiar greeting might set you at ease somewhat under these rather daunting circumstances. I see I was mistaken. Forgive me.”
“Of course, Great One. If you truly want to ease my anxiety it would help if I could see you; as I am unaccustomed to holding conversations with a disembodied
voice.”
“Well,” God answered, “I might be able to help you out. How would you wish me to appear? I have some flexibility in this matter.”
“Any image will do,” I said, “to focus my attention; though perhaps it would be best if it were one that combined something ordinary with something unmistakably out of the ordinary.” As I said this I was thinking that it could be risky if God appeared too ordinary. I might behave too familiarly toward him and offend him in some unforeseen way.
“Okay,” said God, “I’ll speak to you as a burning bush as I did at our last meeting. Will that suit you?”
“Yes, of course,” I said. And as I did the bush a few feet to my left appeared to burst into flame; strange purple flame with a pale blue shimmer in the air surrounding
it. And rather than being consumed by the flame I noticed the bush seemed to enjoy the presence of the flame. Still more unusual was the fact that I could sense the obvious pleasure the bush was experiencing.
“Will this do?,” asked the bush in God’s voice.
“Perfectly!” I replied. “Uh…uh…hmmm. God, would it be all right with you if before we get to the serious discussion that brought me here, could I ask you a few lesser questions that have been on my mind for some time?”
“No problem, Moses. Take your time. In fact, if it’s all right with you I’ll just shift us outside of time while we have our chat, so we can take as long as you like and it won’t be deducted from your time in life.”
“Great,” I said; though I didn’t really understand the offer. But I’m not one to turn down a possible benefit deriving from God, himself. “My first question is, ‘Are you really male or female?’”
Now the voice seemed to smile. “Neither. I’m too big to be either one alone. And I reproduce asexually.”
As I was deciding whether or not to inquire further concerning his reproductive modality he offered, “In case you were wondering, I reproduce by selecting hospitable planets, like yours, here and there in the Universe and by creating peoplespecies like you who have the potential to transform themselves into beings like me.”
Feeling a little overwhelmed by what I took to be some of the possible implications of what I had just heard, I ventured to ask, “Wait a minute now. What exactly do you mean when you use the word, ‘Universe’?”
“Well”, he said, “the Universe is everything that exists within the reach of the light from your oil lamp. It includes everything living or inanimate on your world, everything you can see in the heavens including the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets; and it includes a vast region encompassing numbers of additional suns, moons, and planets so great that the human mind cannot conceive them.”
“All right; I can understand that,” I said. “So, what do you mean by ‘people-species’?”
“‘People or persons,’ as I use the term, are members of a very special kind of species; one that has awareness of its own awareness. As a person you know that you are separate from your surroundings. There is ‘you’ and there is ‘not you’. As you interact with your environment you know that you are having feelings, thoughts and perceptions in response to the not you that is around you. Is that clear?“
“Very,” I replied. “So are you saying that you reproduce by scattering person-hood around the Universe and that each person can somehow become a god like
You?”
“Not exactly,” he responded. “Human beings are currently too short-lived for such a personal achievement. But I have in fact endowed you with the ability to aspire to such growth. And if enough of you entertain such aspirations, eventually your species could transform itself into a being like me. Thus will I be reproduced, if my creation of you was good and if you choose to continue your evolution.”
“I notice that you use the words, ‘creation’ and ‘evolution’ in the same breath. Which is it? Are humans created or evolved? Some of my people get into violent disputes about this; so I really need to know.”
“Well,” said God, “have you ever seen a beautiful leather saddle; one with elaborate patterns and designs carved or tooled into the leather?”
“Surely,” said I.
“Would you say that saddle was ‘created’ by the saddlemaker, or was it ‘tooled’?”
“Well, both of course.”
“And do you think less of the saddlemaker because he uses tools?”
“Of course not!”
“Exactly,” said God. “And so it is with my creation of the Universe, including humanity. I used evolution as the primary tool to accomplish the task.”
I thought about this information for several minutes and realized that some among my people might ask me the question that was forming in my mind; so it seemed important to ask it. “So what exactly is ‘evolution’ anyway.”
“To answer that question let’s start with the notion of the polarity between order and chaos. Take the structure of wood, for example. If you look at it closely enough you see it has a very organized internal structure. You might say it’s very orderly. But when you burn it you destroy most of that orderliness and replace it with smoke and ash which are much less orderly; much more chaotic. Is that making sense to you?”
“I guess so; but I’m not sure what you are getting at.”
“That’s all right. Bear with me a little longer and it should all come clear. I built the Universe in such a way that if one isolates a region of space that contains matter the orderliness of that matter can only diminish; and the chaos of it can only increase.
Someday humankind will likely discover that because of this it is possible for them to make wonderful machines. They will probably call this fact the ‘second law of thermodynamics’.”
“Amazing,” I said, “will I live to see the day?”
“I doubt it,” said God, “but it is good that you know about it anyway. Now we come finally to the answer to your question about evolution. The most amazing thing about the Universe is the fact that there are sizable areas where almost nothing is isolated. For instance, here on your world almost everything gets bathed in sunlight every day. So the sea and the atmosphere are not constrained to always become more chaotic and less orderly. Under these conditions there are areas where chaos diminishes and order increases. And that is the fundamental nature of evolution.”
“Is that it,” I asked – “The whole ‘magilla’? Why would anyone be upset or argue about that?”
“That simple fact has consequences,” he said lowering his voice to an almost conspiratorial tone. “To create life I just created energy and matter and gave them the necessary properties; and let them go. Those properties were the ‘commands’ that made everything else in the Universe unfold like a flower.
First the things you see in the sky evolved from the raw materials that I provided. Then matter evolved into what we call ‘life’. It was characterized mainly by a much higher level of awareness than was exhibited by all the preceding forms of energy and matter. And of course it was much more highly or ganized and ordered and much less chaotic.
The next stage of evolution was the appearance of consciousness. Consciousness, which we sometimes call ‘sentience’, is nothing but awareness of one’s own awareness. We mentioned that before when we talked about what makes people different from other lifeforms. Very soon now, in just five thousand years or so, humankind will probably be ready for the next stage of evolution, in which awareness becomes so great that it becomes possible for humans to take charge of their own evolution; to steer it so to speak. In a sense it will be the beginning of the evolution of evolution. When that happens, many wonderful and terrible possibilities will become available to your species. Becoming like me is one of them.”
“How woooonderful!” I practically sang. “What a grand future to work toward!” I opined, practically jumping up and down. “Can anyone really object to such a blessed world-view?”
“Moses,” said God, “haven’t you noticed that there are many people who take pleasure in asserting their dominance over others?”
“Egypt’s Pharaoh is a pretty good example.”
“Some people like to believe that I ‘micromanage’ their lives twentyfour hours a day; and the reality is that I don’t; that I wouldn’t want to under any circumstances. The way I created the Universe is a good example of how I operate. I just put all the in
gredients in place, commanded the laws that govern it all, and went away and let life happen.”
“That seems to be turning out to have been a viable plan,” I ventured.
“Viable, indeed!” said God. “The fact is you don’t need me to be looking over your shoulder all the time. Nor do you need the service of priests to intercede for you with me; you can address me directly by seeking answers from within yourselves and within my works.”
“In years to come there will be many people who, like Pharaoh, will persuade the masses about them that they are somehow closer to me than those multitudes are; that to live well it is necessary to receive the approval of this priesthood. The falsehood of these lies is apparent if one understands that I let evolution take its course and don’t interfere in the details of people’s lives. If people knew how indifferent I am to them individually they would accord no special respect to the selfdesignated priesthood; and the priesthood would have no power. The disputes about creation and evolution that you have observed among your followers is the beginning of this phenomenon. It is simply a power struggle for control of people’s minds, hearts, and resources. As long as this power struggle continues there will always be some kind of priesthood to claim a special share of the products of others’ creativity.”
“Well,” I said, “This seems to bring me to my underlying concern, the main question to which I need an answer. My people have wandered in the desert with me for a long time. I thought by now we would have found our ancient homeland and begun enjoying a more settled life. Yet still we wander aimlessly. It seems to me that we are being punished for being unworthy of your blessings. So, God, what must we do to be worthy of you?”
“Ah, Moses; if I had feelings I would be so sad hearing you ask me that! Don’t you know…you already have my blessings. All humankind has my blessings; fully and without reservations. I have put in your hands everything you need to have anything
you want in life and more still than you have ever dreamed.”
Stunned, I dropped to the ground and pondered the Great One’s words. Somehow I had gotten it all wrong. We were not being punished; we were blessed beyond my fondest dreams. ‘If he gave us the blessings and we were still suffering’, I reasoned, ‘our fate must be in our own hands, not his’. This seemed consistent with what he had said previously about creating an evolving universe and then leaving it alone. To be sure I understood I asked, “God, are you saying that all we have to do to find the ‘Promised Land’ is to make certain choices about how we use the resources that you have already given us?”
“Almost,” he answered. “I never said you would ‘find’ the Promised Land. If you recall I said you would ‘obtain’ the Promised Land. What is more it was a mistake to think I was referring to your people’s ancient homeland. You are now ready to understand that I meant you would create a new homeland through your own efforts. A far better one than your people have ever known before.”
“Our own efforts….?” I was incredulous and awe-struck at one and the same time. Then it came to me in a flash. The only new information we need is the ‘how’. How could we go about creating the Promised Land – to maximize the likelihood of our success. So I asked, “Great One, are you willing to tell us how to do this
wonderful feat?”
“Of course,” he replied. “Did you think I would put you through all this only to tease you? I’ve been waiting for you to ask the question.” “Whenever you are ready, I’ll tell all. I will give you a single instruction which I know you are capable of following, and if you choose to use it fully your people and your species will have everything you could dream of having.”
“Well,” said I, “I’m ready now; or I will be as soon as I find a way to record your instruction. I want to take it to my people and tell them it is your commandment.
Then they will really take it seriously.”
“I’ll record it for you; but you must understand it is not a commandment, merely a suggestion.”
“But…but…,” I stammered, “surely my people will take it more to heart if you command us to obey it.” I hazarded.
At this the burning bush smiled visibly and God said, “If I made it a commandment I would create a paradox, for you would be unable to obey it.”
“Now you have lost me,” I complained. “Why, exactly, can’t it be a commandment?”
“First, said God, let me show you what it is.” At this the bush brightened and a beam of light shot from it upon the ground before me; and before I could blink twice the beam of light carved a large stone tablet out of the solid rock. Incised into the upper right-hand corner of it in the language of my people were the finely engraved words,
“God’s Number One Suggestion: To the best of your ability, be like me.”
While my eyes returned to normal I thought about the inscription. “That’s wonderful, God; but what does it mean? Should we seek to be powerful and awe-inspiring? Should we try to carve stone with light? What does it mean to be ‘like you’?”
“I thought you might ask that,” said God, “That’s why I left so much room on the tablet.” Again the beam of light flashed, and when I could see again the tablet read, “God’s Number One Suggestion: To the best of your ability be like me: love truth above all else; increase the awareness of all people; nurture creativity and personal evolution in yourself and others; and harm no one except to prevent them from harming yourself or others.”
Still unsure why the words before me were not to be a commandment, I began to grapple with the seemingly simple concepts that it contained. “That part about loving truth,” I said, “What truth are we talking about. Should I love Pharaoh’s truth that says he is the center of everything?”
“No.,” he said, “I am referring to the only truth that really matters in the greater scheme of things. That’s objective truth; truth that can be tested by more than one person. The more a truth has been tested the wiser you are to love it.”
“All right,” said I, “how does one test truth?”
“To answer that question, I have to introduce you to the concept of ‘intelligence’; which is the ability to predict and control events in the world about you; or, to put it another way, it is one’s ability to initiate and maintain causal relationships between events that you are in a position to influence.”
“Can you give me a ‘for instance’?” I asked.
“Surely. Suppose you stand with a friend on a high ledge; and each of you holds a stone in your hand. The stones are of the same size and shape; but yours weighs twice as much as the one your friend holds. He is going to drop his stone off the ledge. You wish, for some reason, to drop your stone in such a way that it reaches the ground below at the same time as his. The two stones striking the ground at the same time is the event you want to cause by releasing your stone at the proper time. Thus a measure of your intelligence is your ability to form the proper causal relationship between the event where you release your stone and the event where the stones hit the ground below at the same instant. Clear so far?”
“Yes,” I said, picturing the falling stones in my mind.
“So what does your intuitive personal inner truth tell you that you will have to do? Will you drop your stone before your friend drops his; after he drops his; or at the same time?”
“After.” said I. “Being heavier, my stone will fall faster;
so I’ll give his stone a head start if the two are to arrive
together.”
“Now for the test. You and your friend drop some stones and note the results. After a certain number of trials you conclude that all stones of the same size and shape fall at the same speed, regardless of their weight. Surprise! Objective truth is often at odds with intuitive or personal truth.”
“Now we can understand the difference between objective truth and objective falsehood. When you believed you had to give the lighter stone a head start, did that belief increase or decrease your intelligence?”
“It obviously decreased it.”
“And had you believed that objects that differ only in their weight would fall at the same speed, what would have been the result?”
“That would have increased my intelligence.”
“So,” concluded God, “to finally answer your question: we test the objective truth of a statement by noting whether belief in the statement’s truth in creases or decreases our intelligence. Belief in truth increases intelligence; and belief in falsehood diminishes intelligence.”
“That seems very clear and easy to grasp,” I said. “I think I’m ready to get back to your ‘Suggestion’. You say ‘nurture creativity…’ I think I know what that means intuitively; but to be on the safe side I’d like you to tell me more precisely what it means.”
“Very well,” said God, “creativity is the act or tendency to act in ways that reveal new objective truths.“
At this point I realized I was missing an important piece of the mosaic that was being shown me. So I asked abruptly, “How does art fit into the scheme of things? Its truth isn’t objective. You have me worried here.”
“I am glad to see you are paying attention!” said God, “Art is good. We test new information to see if it is true. But the process by which we acquire new information is not objective. Art is the precursor of new information. It is an essential part of the creative process, and therefore very valuable.”
“All right,” I said, “are you ready to tell me why your suggestion isn’t a commandment, and why if you made it a commandment I would be unable to obey it?”
Again the burning bush seemed to smile, and God said, “Ready indeed. Just reason along with me here using the information I have already given you. For starters, my commands are always obeyed. Go back to the exercise of dropping rocks to see how fast they fall. You will find the rocks always fall the same way. No exceptions. Rocks don’t have a choice in the matter. Would you want humans to be like the rocks…choiceless toys that dance at my will?”
I started to reply but God went on as if he knew my answer, “Surely I could arrange for humans to always be friendly and polite to one another; but then they wouldn’t have free will; they would no longer be humans. For that matter, in order to do this and to impose my will upon you and your kind I would have to make you unaware of your awareness. This would be an evolutionary step backward. If I did such a thing it would be inconsistent with the suggestion that I gave you. If I command you to seek personal evolution I will take away the highest evolutionary achievement your species has attained. Can you see the paradox in that?”
With more than a little regret I conceded that God was right in his understanding of the situation. As awkward as it might be for me, I was really asking God to act ungodly when I sought a command instead of a suggestion. If my people were ever to aspire to godliness we would need all the awareness we could acquire. I gave
in. “You’re right of course. What else could I expect of God?,” I said. At this point I looked down again at the tablet and contemplated God’s Suggestion.
“God’s Number One Suggestion: To the best of your ability be like me: love truth above all else; increase the awareness of all people; nurture creativity and personal evolution in yourself and others; and harm no one except to prevent them from harming yourself or others.”
“So what is the difference between personal evolution and evolution in general?” I asked.
“Your species continues to evolve,” said God. “It merely obeys without choice the command I made when I started your universe. In this you have no real choice at this point. But as individuals you can choose whether you yourself continue to increase your awareness. You can read, study, meditate, explore, expand your curiosity, and delve your heart and your memories. There are infinite choices open to you. Having free will you can choose to follow my suggestion or not. You can become more godly, or not.”
“If you accept my suggestion in your personal life, you are choosing, in effect, to align your personal life with the evolution of your whole species. If enough of your kind make this choice, it will one day be known as the ‘Evolutionary Ethic’. If enough humans embrace this ethic you will eventually acquire the power to command your own evolution. When you begin the conscious evolution of your species’ evolution your relationship to me will change. The transformation of your species into a being like me will have begun. Even as a child grows to adulthood, your species can grow to godhood.”
“Enough! Enough!” I cried. My head was spinning with the vision He had inspired. My heart overflowed with passion. For a long time I just sat on the stony ground and sobbed; I knew not why. “Great One, forgive me,” I murmured. “I know not why I am so overcome by the vision you have given me, but I feel so inspired and at the same time so daunted by the great responsibility and many challenges that I now face. How I am to teach my people adequately all that you have revealed? How am I to persuade them to accept and embrace your wonderful ‘Evolutionary Ethic’?” Again I looked down at the tablet before me.
“God’s Number One Suggestion: To the best of your ability be like me: love truth above all else; increase the awareness of all people; nurture creativity and personal evolution in yourself and others; and harm no one except to prevent them from harming yourself or others.”
“You know, God, I think much of my feelings stem from my fears of being inadequate in communicating a suggestion to people who like to be commanded. Even today there are many among us who long for the days of Pharaoh’s rule. As painful as it was to be slaves, it was a much simpler life; without all the responsibilities that go with freedom. I think that for my people to even begin to accept your suggestion it will be necessary to spell out what it means in a lot more detail. Would you help me with this, please.”
“Of course,” said God. “How much detail did you have in mind?”
“You know my people, God. How much detail will they require?”
“I would suggest no more than one explanatory level containing the main logical consequences of the primary suggestion. Let them work out for themselves the rest of the details.,” said God. “Besides, even at that it will take two tablets; and it would be best if you could carry them both in one trip down the mountain.”
“Wisdom indeed!,” said I with much relief. I hadn’t looked forward to the task of downloading a whole library from this high aerie.
“We’ll do them one at a time,” said God. “Do you want them labeled as explanations or as further suggestions?”
“Can they just be Suggestion 2, Suggestion 3, …etc.?,” I asked.
“Of course,” said God, “Here goes…”
Again the beam of light flashed to the stone before me and as the glare eased I saw:
“God’s Number Two Suggestion: To the best of your ability, avoid falsehood and deceit; discourage destructiveness and personal stagnation in yourself and others; and permit not harm to yourself or to others.”
After I had pondered these words for a few minutes I said, “I think if I could turn your first suggestion inside out it would appear as this does.”
“That’s right. Do you see how it serves to amplify and explain the first suggestion?”
“Yes I do,” I replied. “Let’s go for number Three.”
Again the flash; and then the words, “God’s Number Three Suggestion: Think not that you can follow God’s Number One Suggestion whilst ignoring God’s Number Two Suggestion.”
A little confused by the self-referent, I scratched my head and said, “I don’t get it. What does it mean? What information is contained in the third suggestion that isn’t in the second?”
“In following the Number One Suggestion you are seeking to do ‘good’ are you not?”
“Yes.”
“And in ignoring the Number Two Suggestion you would be doing ‘ill’ or ‘evil’ wouldn’t you?
“Right…………. Oh, I get it. Number Three says that I can’t do good deeds by evil means. As soon as I have harmed someone I have done evil, no matter who benefits by the act.”
“Exactly. Here is Number Four:”
“God’s Number Four Suggestion: It is wrong to tolerate others’ harmful behavior.”
“And Number Five:”
“God’s Number Five Suggestion: It is wrong to do nothing; for to do so is to permit others to do harm.”
“Any questions,” God asked.
“No,” said I, “They are quite clear. Just expansions of
the First Suggestion.”
“Time to start the second tablet,” said God. And in another flash there was the second tablet beside the first and it read:
“God’s Number Six Suggestion: Defend yourself and others actively against injury or deceit when you or they are imminently imperiled by another’s harmful behavior.”
“I have a question about this one.,” I said. “Just how much harm is it proper to do to someone who is trying to harm you?”
“Just enough to stop the harm they are doing.”
“But what if the only way I can stop the harm results in the other person’s death. Can that be right?” I asked.
“More right than permitting them to do as much to you,” said God, “when that is the alternative.”
“Does this mean,” I asked, “that I and all my people should travel armed with lethal weaponry?”
“If you are committed to following my Number Six Suggestion and if there is any possibility of a potentially damaging attack on you or on those around you, that would seem to be the logical conclusion.”
After a moment of thought I asked, “Does the Red Sea comprise a lethal weapon? Did I do right asking you to destroy Pharaoh’s soldiers?”
“Had it been wrong I would not have done it,” said God. “After all these years are you still feeling guilty about it?”
“I guess so,” said I, “but I’d rather be struggling with my guilt feelings than long dead from not defending myself.” This sixth suggestion helps. It gives me a good context for my decision to live.
“On to number seven,” said God, and with another brilliant flash these words appeared:
“God’s Number Seven Suggestion: Withhold the augmentation of creative resources from anyone whose commitment to follow Suggestions One and Two you reasonably distrust.”
“Well, that makes sense,” I said. “Why would I want to help someone to be destructive. If I increase their intelligence, for instance, they’ll just use it to hurt me or to hurt someone else. In the end everyone would be hurt by this.”
“Exactly right”; said God, and number eight is:
“God’s Number Eight Suggestion: Learn new objective truths as often as possible and test new information with doubt, avoiding the seductive trap of certainty; for certainty limits your access to truth.
“Wait a minute,” I interjected. “This goes contrary to most people’s intuition. Surely since the dawn of time our priests, judges, and sages have always extolled the value of faith and certainty. Even Pharaoh’s priesthood did so. How is it you suggest we abandon this well established tradition?”
“Moses, do you remember what I said about priests and their like? Of course they want you to have faith in what they tell you. Faith is certainty that transcends testing. They require you to be certain even when your testing proves them wrong. In their eyes the act of testing makes you a heretic. By letting them get away with such chicanery you enslave yourself to them as surely as it would enslave you to return to Egypt and beg Pharaoh to take you back.”
“But God,” I moaned, “I have always told my people to have faith in You. What am I to tell them now?”
“I am sure, Moses, that you intended well when you asked your people to love their faith in me. But I don’t need your people’s faith. I am giving you something better than faith to love. Love truth instead. Not only will it serve you better, but it will
force you to follow my very first suggestion, which is as I would wish.”
“I’ll do it; but I foresee problems convincing my people to accept that truth is better than faith. The Eldermoot, our council of spiritual advisors, will surely object.”
“Of course, Moses,” God rejoined, “without your people’s faith they would have little influence in your people’s affairs.”
“You are certainly right about that; and I see your point. If everyone really understood your First Suggestion and all that it implies we wouldn’t need spiritual advisors. The Eldermoot would be obsolete. When in doubt about the right way to apply your Suggestion to a particular situation we could just discuss it among ourselves and arrive at a good decision. In a way, it would be as though everyone would be part of the Eldermoot. Only its exclusivity would be obsolete. I like that…though I see little hope of making it a reality. So what are the last two suggestions?”
“Here they are,” said God:
“God’s Number Nine Suggestion: When you make laws and regulations, do so only to empower the hands and hearts of those who would live by my First suggestion, and to forbid the harmful acts of those who would ignore my Second Suggestion.”
“And:”
“God’s Number Ten Suggestion: When your laws and regulations are in conflict with my Suggestions, let the Suggestions prevail; your laws existing only to serve the higher purpose of the Suggestions.”
“Oh, my God!” I exclaimed. “The Eldermoot is going to hate me after today. They have been making up laws like crazy; and a lot of them don’t fit these criteria at all. What with taxes and campaign offerings and executive privileges and special dispensations and all…they are going to put up a great fight to discredit these last two suggestions.”
“They have the distinction of being the first self serving group to respond negatively, Moses, but I assure you they won’t be the last. Take heart. Be true. You need not fail.
“Great One,” I said with a sigh, “your suggestions leave nothing to be desired. Before I return to my people I pray you tell me ought else you would have me know that will help me in the trials I am about to undertake; for surely my people’s acceptance of these Suggestions will threaten the aspirations of many while they gladden the hearts of a few.”
“To be sure, Moses; to be sure. Therefore, before you tell any of your people about our conversation it would be well if you related the story to the trusted scribe, Adam Kadmon, who alone among your people you can most count on to help you lay the cornerstone of the ‘Evolutionary Ethic’. Require of him that he set down your story as accurately as possible in multiple copies, upon the most durable of materials available; and in the years to come to disseminate these scrolls far and wide about the earth so that the true message is never lost.”
“I thank you, Great One,” I said prostrating myself before the stone tablets, “God’s suggestion is my command.” And at these words the Burning Bush extinguished itself with the sound of a cork being drawn from the mouth of an earthen jug; and I felt God’s presence withdraw. When I looked up I saw the sun was almost setting, just as it had been at the very beginning of my conversation with God. So I sat there through the night pondering all that I had learned; and in the morning I started down the mountain.
EPILOGUE BY ADAM KADMON
It has been only a moon and a day since I set down on papyrus for the first time the tale of Moses and the Ten Suggestions. Yet it seems like a year. So much has happened. So much turmoil and strife continue to result among the people. The central point, which I believe to be worth noting, is the fact that almost overnight our citizenry has broken into conflicting factions. The one thing on which almost all seem to agree is their need to call the Suggestions by the name “Commandments”. No amount of argument by Moses seems to prevail in overcoming this general objection. And while some seem to have accepted the overall admonition to “be like unto Him” contained in the First Suggestion, there are very few who don’t want some special concern of theirs to be mentioned explicitly.
For instance, the members of the Eldermoot, our council of spiritual leaders, want to change the first Suggestion to tell us to revere God above all else rather than truth. Some even want it to tell us to be more like them, as if we need either their example or their explanation to recognize the truth. This group also wants to
include an admonition to set aside a whole day each week to just listen to what they have to say.
Then there is the guild of craftsmen and jewelers who want the suggestions to provide some protections or special privileges for them. And there is a contingent of disgruntled parents and grandparents who insist on including admonitions to the young to treat their elders better.
There is an emerging censorship group that wants to limit free use of the word “God”. The Eldermoot is threatening to support this by demanding that only they should have the right to talk to God directly or about God generally. Others are demanding that the so-called “Ten Commandments” should say something forbidding common crimes and sexual misbehavior; while the wealthiest group among us wants restrictions limiting aspirations of financial competition and material advantage.
As could be expected, still another group rejects the term “Evolutionary Ethic” and wants to see all reference to evolution stricken from the Commandments. In short there seems to be no end to the efforts people will make to subvert the original message from God or to bend it to the service of their own special interests. I
am appalled by the fact that so few can see in the message the foundation for the most profound personal, spiritual, social, political, and economic success imaginable. It’s literally a diagram of how humans can become gods or godlike. Accordingly, I hasten to the task allotted me.
God’s Ten Suggestions
“God’s Number One Suggestion: To the best of your ability be like me: love truth above all else; increase the awareness of all people; nurture creativity and personal evolution in yourself and others; and harm no one except to prevent them from harming yourself or others.”
“God’s Number Two Suggestion: To the best of your ability, avoid falsehood and deceit; discourage destructiveness and personal stagnation in yourself and others; and permit not harm to yourself or to others.”
“God’s Number Three Suggestion: Think not that you can follow God’s Number One Suggestion whilst ignoring God’s Number Two Suggestion.”
“God’s Number Four Suggestion: It is wrong to tolerate others’ harmful behavior.”
“God’s Number Five Suggestion: It is wrong to do nothing; for to do so is to permit others to do harm.”
“God’s Number Six Suggestion: Defend yourself and others actively against injury or deceit when you or they are imminently imperiled by another’s harmful behavior.”
“God’s Number Seven Suggestion: Withhold the augmentation of creative resources from anyone whose commitment to follow Suggestions One and Two you reasonably distrust.”
“God’s Number Eight Suggestion: Learn new objective truths as often as possible and test new information with doubt, avoiding the seductive trap of certainty; for certainty limits your access to truth.
“God’s Number Nine Suggestion: When you make laws and regulations, do so only to empower the hands and hearts of those who would live by my First suggestion, and to forbid the harmful acts of those who would ignore my Second Suggestion.”
“God’s Number Ten Suggestion: When your laws and regulations are in conflict with my Suggestions, let the Suggestions prevail; your laws existing only to serve the higher purpose of the Suggestions.”