October 27 Daily Devotional

The Golden Rule

[The golden rule] is nothing, of course, but an epitome of the commandments which our Lord has summed up elsewhere in the words, ‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’.... You do not start with the other person; you start by asking yourself, ‘What is it I like? What are the things that please me? What are the things that help and encourage me?’ Then you ask yourself, ‘What are the things I dislike? What are the things that upset me, and bring out the worst in me? What are the things that are hateful and discouraging?’ You make a list of both these things, your likes and dislikes, and you work them out in detail—not only in deeds, but also in thoughts and in speech— with respect to the whole of your life and activities. ‘What do I like people to think about me? What is it that tends to hurt me?’

... Having drawn up this list of all our likes and dislikes, when we come to deal with other people we have nothing to do but to say quite simply, ‘That other person is exactly as I am in these matters’. We must put ourselves constantly in their position. In our conduct and behaviour with respect to them we must be careful to do, and not to do, all the things which we have found to be pleasing or displeasing to ourselves.... You do not like unkind things said about you? Well, do not say them about others. You do not like people who are difficult, and who make your life difficult, and bring problems into your life, and constantly put you on edge? Well; in exactly the same way, do not let your behaviour be such that you become like that to them. It is quite as simple as that, according to our Lord. All the great textbooks on ethics and social relationships and morality, and on all the other subjects which deal with the problems of human relationships in the modern world can really be reduced to that.

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 207–8