I did my morning “quiet time” on the Ten Commandments. I always thought they were trite and childish until I was able to unpack them in a deeper, more esoteric way.

The 10 commandments unpacked:

1) No other Gods before me: do not find your source of contentment in things that pass away, but only in that which has no beginning or end.

2) No graven images: don’t mistake your screen of mental interpretation as ultimate reality. Let things “be” in your heart of hearts first, and realize your opinions and judgments are secondary and subject to the conditioning of your past. Things are as they are, regardless of your thoughts, images, and ideas about them.

3) Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain: Don’t think that language is ultimate. Language only points to reality and must be viewed merely as a sign post, not the thing itself. “God” can mean 50 different things to 50 different people. Embody love first, then let language flow second.

4) Remember the sabbath day: You will have moments of emotional reactivity, such as cortisol, adrenaline, and dopamine. But realize these are supposed to be short neurobiological events that come and go quickly: do not be attached to them. Let them pass and return to “sabbath”, that place of peace, equanimity, and forgiveness inside yourself. This is a literal neurobiological state of relaxation, called “homeostasis” in modern language. In other words, let tensions come and go naturally, and always return back to the resting state, in mind and body.

5) Honor thy father and thy mother: learn from the past. Do not use the past for the purposes of eliciting feelings of resentment, shame, regret, and hate. Use the past for learning. Honor the past by allowing it to be as it is without hating it in your heart. In other words, realize that the past only exists in your mind as memory for the purposes of learning and joyfully reminiscing. You can only resent something if you believe it to have power over you in some way. In an incredible paradox to this commandment, Jesus says we can only come unto God’s salvation if we hate our father and mother. This expresses that we honor the past by recognizing its non-reality, and we hate the past by recognizing its non-reality, just as you can only truly enjoy “the world” when you “hate the world”, which simply means to recognize that it passes away and was never meant to give you a sense of wholeness because you already are whole.

6) Thou shalt not kill: do not seek to harm through pursuing the unconscious cycle of thinking egotistical thoughts that fuel the release of adrenaline. Do not hate others in your heart. Only seek to heal others with compassion. Look at others with a sense of kindness and gentleness. Most especially be forgiving of yourself. If not, you will unconsciously externalize your own self-hatred onto others.

7) Do not commit adultery: don’t think that happiness is “over there” or “in the future” in any way. Be content right now in your heart of hearts. Do not think your “next wife” will be “the one”. Peace and thanksgiving and joy are only available in the present moment and have nothing to do with the quality of your external circumstances, such as who you are married to. You can be content and joyful and ALSO leave an abusive spouse. Staying married isn’t the point. As an example, if you decide to get a divorce, do so only from a place of forgiveness, peace, kindness, and mercy, because resenting your spouse only makes you suffer. Be careful with literalizing Jesus’ teaching in the gospels: many women have stayed in abusive relationships because of the literal understanding of scripture, when the deeper spiritual meaning would have allowed them to not only safely leave their harmful situation, but also embody a sense of freedom from the inner fear and hate they were carrying around as well.

8) Thou shalt not steal: God will provide for you your daily bread. He will give you what you need. Stealing means you were afraid you would not “have enough” mana for the next day. Be content with nothing, and you will get everything. Desire what you already have, and you will have everything that you desire. Look at the birds of the air, how your heavenly father feeds them.

9) Thou shalt not bear false witness: be aware of the world around you without the screen of judgment and opinion making that colors and distorts. Let things be as they are in your perception. See without judgment, so you may see truly. Do not believe the chattering mind with its analyzing and condemnation and enemy making. See and speak and act from this place of pure non-judgmental awareness.

10) Thou shalt not covet: overcome attachment to desire. Let go of the clinging and neediness that plagues your contentment. Be at peace. Be happy for others and be happy for yourself. Do not think that “if only I had that” or “if only this happened THEN I could be content.” Contentment is found now, within, no matter what your external situation might be. Use desire as a fuel for joyfully seeing what God will bring, not as a poisonous desperation to get what you think will make you finally feel complete.