Sharing
Ten New Commandments
As we move from celebrating Jesus' birthing in our lives into a new year, with new beginnings — Hill Connections shares Judith Pedersen-Benn's "aha" moment about commandments for living and loving fully in today's world.
Judith considers herself "to be a 'lay scholar and ecstatic dreamer' who is trying to live life passionately and deeply. Passionate about knowing this world we live in." she finds that "as I explore my own life and observe the lives of others, I get insights, ideas and awakenings. I believe ideas, thoughts and intuitions, like music, may come to one person but be appreciated by many." In sharing the commandments, she hopes that "my writing may strike a note with you, resonate and spark your own creative passion so that we may be one with all that is."
The Commandments
1. Thou shalt not pollute the Earth and yourselves.
What you do to the earth you do to yourselves.
Clean up your act.
2. Know thyself.
All knowledge is useless without self-knowledge.
Become yourself.
3. Thou shalt not take more than you need.
Taking more turns you into a glutton and others into beggars.
Be satisfied with less.
4. Love yourself.
You must love yourself before you can love anyone or anything else.
Embrace yourself.
5. Thou shalt face your suffering.
Fear causes you to run away from suffering. This prolongs it.
Let go of your fear.
6. Be silent.
Your spirit grows in solitude.
Give yourself growth.
7. Thou shalt not cut yourself off from the world.
Connection to people, places and things enlivens.
Join with the world.
8. Know that God is present.
God resides inside yourself and outside yourself.
Open to receive God.
9. Look for the joy in life.
Sing, dance, play and experience wonder.
Do the things you love to do.
10. Thou shalt not fear death.
Death is only a crossing over.
Welcome the mystery.
How Ten New Commandments Came to Be
This all came to pass one day as I was driving down the road after talking to a friend. During our conversation I had suggested that we were collectively being pushed toward a dangerous precipice from which there would be no return. I told him I felt “called” to do something to stop this from happening. And, I said I had no idea what I could do. I was so little and the problem was so large. We parted after sharing our sadness over this state of affairs.
Moments later I was driving home on the busy freeway trying to stay out of the way of speeding trucks and commuters with phones. Suddenly I heard a voice as low and clear as thunder. A powerful voice, soft yet insistent. This miracle of a voice said to me, “This is a new commandment.” It seemed like a good one to me. I wondered if there would be more. There were, in fact there were ten in all. When all were given the voice was still. It wasn’t until I heard the voice the second time that it dawned on me who might be speaking to me. The next words gave it away: 
“Those commandments fit those times, now, you need these to guide you." I wasn’t brave enough to speak back to the voice….not then.
Once I had arrived home, I felt compelled to write down what I had heard. Once written, I felt my job was done. These were good commandments. Over the next few days I developed a nagging feeling that there was more for me to do with them. Then the voice came again telling me to “Share the commandments with others.” The next day I left for a two-week vacation.
I had thought the vacation would help me escape the voice and the growing feeling that I needed to do something with these commandments. I was wrong. All during the day and sometimes into the night I would hear the voice giving me more details about how to communicate the commandments to others. One afternoon as I soaked up the beauty of a canyon, a poem came to me:
Sun warms my heart,
wind whispers my name,
and earth holds me fast to itself.
Share the secrets they sang,
share our secrets
so a new day can become.
I felt this poem was a directive for me to get going and do what was being asked of me.
I wrote everything down and when I returned home I began putting them together into a book.
You may question that this was the voice of God, indeed, I too questioned it. Why I was chosen I have no idea, but the fact remains that a voice not my own did give me these commandments and I choose to believe it was God’s voice. It was never my intention nor my idea to create commandments. I am writing only because they were given to me, and for that, I am obliged to share them with you. May they be an agent of positive change in your life as they have been in mine.