All ten of these commandments our basically an abstract extension of the one true commandment - Know thyself.
1. Negation of The False Self – In many spiritual teachings, the false self has also been referred to as the ego, or simply the self. The spiritual path involves an examination of the type of thinking that gives rise and sustains the false self. For instance: a strong identification with one’s reflection, or ones talents, or simply one’s own preferences can create an artificial sense of self that is actually a form of self-delusion from the enlightened perspective, as it divides ones consciousness from the real.
2. Negation of Emotional Attachments – valuing emotional attachments more than wisdom causes all sorts of mental delusions used to justify the continuance of emotional attachments. For instance: a strong emotional attachment to a particular place, particular person, particular status or career, or particular set of ideas or beliefs severs one’s consciousness from the real. However, many individuals will not be able to negate all emotional attachments. For instance: some individuals maybe strongly conditioned to require a biological companion to maintain sanity, and so my rule going – if you need it to maintain sanity, allow it with the supreme value of wisdom overpowering the attachment, but negate whatever one can.
3. Determinism /Causality – When one fully understands causality, one realizes that causes determine behavior and action to a large extent, and it doesn’t leave a lot of room for free will. Free will implies a free agent making choices independently of what is happening in his environment and within his own biological system. However, the further one examines the issue, one realizes that one’s thoughts are the world’s thoughts, and they are not special, unique or the product of free will, but rather the product of environment and biology. Moreover, this understanding does free up the mind to think in broader more vast ways, and this freedom could be thought of an the authentic free will, although it is still governed entirely by deterministic factors, rather than free choice. For instance: an understanding of the false opens up new cognitive possibilities, but those possibilities were still the result of causal factors.
4. Transcendence of Dualism – Going beyond dualism means that any type of thinking that divides you from reality is negated. For instance: believing in a personal god separate from one’s own mind is a form of egotistical dualism that should be negated. Your mind is the world’s mind, and your mind is the mind of god, therefore the human mind should be the primary focus. There is no need to focus on afterlives, metaphysical realities, or anything else that cannot be known with certainty. Dualistic fragmentation also happens when we behave in a way in which we do not understand that dualistic forces are one. For instance: self-destructive binge drinking is the result of not fully living the fact that excessive pleasure gives birth to excessive pain, so to get caught in that sort of mental duality causes unnecessary suffering, and unnecessary negative karma.
5. Reasoning Skills – The spiritual path involves the ability to make sound arguments and informed judgments. Reasoning implies the fearlessness to tackle any issue, and make a strong argument based on evidence, experience and logic. For instance: ones reasoning should never violate truths such as all things are dependent and born from other things. A thing is defined not only by what it is, but by what it is not, meaning what it is in relation to. This is the only way any sort of relationship or correlation can be derived. However, the boundary we create between things is actually a fiction, a necessary fiction used to make sense of the world, but the truth is that reality is undivided, as the separation we make cognitively between things isn’t actually present.
6. Acceptance – The spiritual path involves accepting the fact or our dark roots, our animal heredity, and the negation of the temptation to believe we are special in some way. It also involves an understanding of what imperfections within ourselves we can change, and which ones we cannot, and finding unique ways to manage those imperfections. Science in its highest form is an attempt to transcend imperfection. One becomes indifferent to future outcomes, but can still make plans, work towards goals, and achieve things. The difference is that the emotional attachment in future outcomes has vanished; one has accepted the flow of causality, has stopped fighting against reality with the false-self, and simply learned to live minimally.
7. Keep The Flame Burning– The spiritual path does not imply a finish line; it is a way of life, a way of thinking. One becomes eternally open, eternally inquisitive, curious, cautious, skeptical and not without discontent of how the world is. However, the discontent is not an emotional torture; it is not a ragging wildfire, but a small concentrated blue flame.
8. An Eye for Beauty – The enlightened mind has an eye for beauty in all aspects of reality, whether listening to a piece of music, or walking in the park, driving down the street, or performing some task. An enlightened mind can see infinity and beauty in the smallest of things, because at the smallest level, a unique expression manifests in a similar way as if one was looking at something much vaster. For instance: there is a certain beauty in a field of grass blowing with the wind, just as there is certain beauty in looking at photos of far off galaxies through the lens of the Hubble Telescope.
9. Expand One’s Knowledge– Study the world the lens of many empirical disciplines, not only philosophy, but interpret those findings through the absolute value of wisdom. And these extra scientific knowledge will add, complement and enhance the manner in which you are able to analyze the world.
10. Social Behavior – Maintain a balance between aloneness and time with others, and inspire others to live better lives within the limitations of the other person. A person not ready for truth could not be poked too aggressively. However, a person with no interest in philosophy can still be inspired to live a healthier life in other ways. Moreover, keep a balance between seriousness and the absurd. Allow yourself to weld humor when the situation warrants, and seriousness when the situation warrants it.
