The Fifth of Six Facts With Which to Humble Oneself
The Fact: Proper rules include some which cannot be disambiguated, thus forcing empathy/exploration.
How It Works: This is a paradox for people who attempt to overcome personal imperfection by obeying time-tested principles (which surely reflect wisdom greater than that of the average individual). Mocking "legalists" doesn't undermine them--mockers are obviously foolish--but legalists are undermined by their own principles when their principles direct them towards activities in which their personal imperfections cannot be avoided: invention, interpretation, empathy. Such principles grant legalists the kind of humility required to keep legalism in balance.
Diverse Citations:
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Vayikra 19:18
He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord demands of you: to do justice, to love loving-kindness, and to walk discreetly with your God. Michah 6:8
Specious, but wrongful deem the speech of those ill-taught ones who extol the letter of scripture, saying, "This is all we have, or need" Bhagavad Gita 2.42-43
Be thou yogi...and of such, truest and best is he who worships Me with inmost soul, stayed on My Mystery! Bhagavad Gita 6.46-47
Give Me thy heart! Adore Me! Serve Me! Cling in faith and love and reverence to Me! And let go those rites and writ duties! Fly to Me alone! Make Me thy single refuge! Bhagavad Gita 18.65-66
The sage acts on the principle of does not insist on uniformity. Laozi 2
Learn to be unlearned; liberate the people of their past; assist all things in returning to their essence; and not dare act. Laozi 64
Look upon the world as a bubble, look upon it as a mirage. Dhammapada 170
Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth! Dhammapada 223
When the Buddha explains these things using such concepts and ideas, people should remember the unreality of all such concepts and ideas. They should recall that in teaching spiritual truths the Buddha always uses these concepts and ideas in the way that a raft is used to cross a river. Once the river has been crossed over, the raft is of no more use, and should be discarded. Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita Sutra, Chapter 6
Fan Chi asked about Goodness. The Master replied, "Care for others." He then asked about wisdom. The Master replied, "Know others." Lun Yu 12.22
Do not impose upon others what you yourself do not desire. Lun Yu 15:24
Whatever you want people to do to you, do to them too--this sums up the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12
And if I were to have prophecy and to have perceived all the mysteries and all knowledge, and if I were to have all faith so as to even shift mountains, but had not love—I am nothing. Even were I to donate all my goods, and if I had surrendered my body, that I might elevate myself, but had not love—I have gained nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2-3
Let there be no compulsion in religion. Quran 2:256
Give freely of that which ye love. Quran 3:92
The Holy Prophet said: "He whose two days of life are the same, making no spiritual progress, is at loss." Bihar-ul-Anwar, vol. 71, p. 173
On the mandate for exploration in science, see Kulkarni, D., & Simon, H. (1988). The processes of scientific discovery: The strategy of experimentation, Cognitive Science, 12, 139-175, and Dunbar, K., & Fugelsang, J. (2005). Causal thinking in science: How scientists and students interpret the unexpected. In Gorman, M.E, Tweney, R.D, Gooding, D., & Kincannon, A. (Eds.), Scientific and Technical Thinking (pp. 57-79). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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