The Third Tablet

It is said that Moses received from God a third stone tablet of laws, but he shattered it in anger. Or did he accidentally drop it, being human, and this too was ordained, since the laws engraved upon it were too abstruse for that age?

Perhaps, as a result of God's mood swings, the laws on the third tablet contradicted the laws on the other two. Is there not evidence in scripture that the Almighty is bi-polar? But this may only be a flaw of human perception, refracted through regret over the past or anxiety about the non-existent future. For when we behold the Almighty as pure Presence, we avoid the polarizing effects of time, and God appears quite sane. It is in such moments of Seeing that the third tablet is miraculously restored, and takes precedent over the other two.

Whatever the explanation, we may now receive the revelation of the third tablet, which was discovered intact in a chamber beneath the Sphinx. 

* Thou shalt not worry, for what is, is.  
  
* Thou shalt not honor any power above gentleness. 

* Thou shalt not listen to the belly crying 'More!' or the brain crying 'Less!' but only to the sigh of the heart, 'Enough.'

* Thou shalt not search for any human dignity greater than walking, standing, sitting or reclining. For my supreme gift to the universe is the relaxed composure of a human body, just as it is.

* Thy senses are pathways to Me; thou shalt not suppress their delight. If thou dost honor as a sacrament the faintest sensation of skin, eye, ear, nostril and tongue, thou shalt crave nothing more violent or addictive. Ye, merely to breathe shall be thine ecstasy.

* Thou shalt not repress thy sexual nature, nor holy desire. Only make love with care and respect, and never betray thy heart's chosen partner.

* Thou shalt not worship any concept or image of Me in thy mind, for idols graven of thought are more dangerous than idols of silver and gold.  

* Thou shalt not seek my name and form in any temple but thy heart. And when thou findeth Me there, thou shalt see Me in the humblest form: a leaf, a flower, a glittering little piece of dog shit.
* Thou shalt not define thyself through any story of the past or any hope of the future: for thou art the radiance of the present moment, and in this radiance I Am.


* Thou shalt not doubt that I am Thou, and Thou art I.
Do we not both say, I Am? In this Am, We are one.

These are the laws of the third tablet. They are unbearably simple, unspeakably self-evident, and impossibly easy to follow. That is why they have never been given until now, and will never be given in the future.

1 comment:

Lion Goodman said...

A beautiful offering. Thank you.