Golden rule examples:
NonJewish or nonChristian:
Plato: "May I do to others as I would that they should do unto me." (Greece; 4 th century BCE)
Socrates: "Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you." (Greece; 5 th century BCE)
| Seneca: "Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your superiors," Epistle 47:11 (Rome; 1 st century CE) |
Epictetus: "What you would avoid suffering yourself, seek not to impose on others." (circa 100 CE)
Confucius: "Do not impose on others what you do not desire others to impose upon you." (Confucius, The Analects. Roughly 500 BCE.
"Let no man do to another that which would be repugnant to himself." (Mahabharata, bk. 5, ch. 49, v. 57) and "This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you". Mahabharata, 5:1517
"Hurt not others in ways you yourself would find hurtful."
(Udana-Varga, 5.18)
Zoroastrian sacred literature: "Human nature is good only when it does not do unto another whatever is not good for its own self."
(Dadistan-I-Dinik, 94:5; in Muller, chapter 94, vol. 18, p. 269)
Buddhist sacred literature: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." (Udanavargu, 5:18, Tibetan Dhammapada, 1983)
"...a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?"
Samyutta NIkaya v. 353
The Greek historian Herodotus: ". if I choose I may rule over you. But what I condemn in another I will, if I may, avoid myself."
(Herodotus, The Histories, bk. III, ch. 142. Roughly 430 BCE.)
Isocrates, the Greek orator: "What things make you angry when you suffer them at the hands of others, do not you do to other people."
Hurt not others in ways you yourself would find hurtful." (Udana-Varga, 5.18)
"I will be as careful for you as I should be for myself in the same need." (Calypso, to Odysseus, in Homer, The Odyssey, bk. 5, vv. 184-91. Roughly late 8 th century BCE.).
"That which you want for yourself, seek for mankind." (Sukhanan-i-Muhammad, 63)
Jewish:
Philo, the great PreChristian Jewish philosopher of Alexandria, wrote, "What you hate to suffer, do not do to anyone else."
"What you hate, do not do to anyone." (Tobit 4: 14-15. 2nd century BCE.)
Hillel, prechristian Rabbi, : ?What is hateful to thee, do not to another. That is the whole law and all else is explanation." (b Shabbatt 31a; cf. Avot de R. Natan ii.26)
Christian :
"do not lie and don't do what you hate...", Gospel of Thomas 6.
?Do not do to others what you would not like done to yourselves,? it occurs in the 2nd-century Christian documents Didache and the
Apology of Aristides: They do not worship idols (made) in the image of man; and whatsoever they would not that others should do unto them, they do not to others
The Positive Golden Rule is also found in Jewish literature (Mishneh Torah ii: Hilekot Abel xiv.I)
"Textual variants in Acts 15 :20,29 & 21:25 are quite involved...D and various Western texts (like the Bezan text) add the Negative Golden Rule, 'Do not do unto others
Irenaeus Against Heresies 3:12,14)quoting Acts 15 uses the negative form of the "golden rule:" "And whatever you do not wish to be done to you, do not to others."
Tertullian : Christ extended to all men the law of His Father's compassion, excepting none from His mercy, as He omitted none in His invitation. So that, whatever was the ampler scope of His teaching, He received it all in His heritage of the nations. "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." In this command is no doubt implied its counterpart: "And as ye would not that men should do to you, so should ye also not do to them likewise." Against Marcion 4:16). ...
There are other examples of this idiom in both positive and negative forms. Often we hear Christians claim the superiority of the positive over the negative injunction and claim it?s moral superiority over the Jewish and ?pagan? forms. This is just ignorant. First, the so called ?positive? is not limited to Christianity nor is the ?negative? exclusively nonChristian as can be seen by the above quotes. Secondly, neither motto taken alone actually works in the real world. For instance if I were to use only the negative I could be excused to sit on my bum and do nothing to help when my neighbor needs me. Conversely if I were to use the ?positive? and assume that what I want is what others want, I could go about offending others and imposing my will on them. For instance I may like SUVs and want one myself but giving one to a person in need who is unable to afford the gas or who sees them as wasteful and destructive, I have not done the best for them I could have. Or taken to an extreme, if I like sex and want it quite often, I using the positive golden rule, am going to assume that those around me want it and make sexual advances. Neither ?rule? works standing alone. Tertullian understood this as may be seen in the snippet above. A better way of expressing the spirit of the idiom perhaps would be:
"Do Unto Others as They Would Have You Do Unto Them."
IOW take time to learn about your neighbor's tastes, their mood, their needs, their principles before you start "doing" things "unto them." Treat others the way they want to be treated.