ADVICE as to practicing the Golden Rule has been presented to the race mind for ages, long before the physical birth of Jesus on earth. Ancient Hindu and Chinese philosophers and teachers were emphatic in teaching that the Golden Rule is the basis of proper human relationships on earth. In our present age we read much about why the Golden Rule should be practiced by national leaders, politicians, religious sects, and industrial organizations.
In fact, almost all of us admire the Golden Rule philosophy and think it a wonderful thing for the other fellow to follow! But surface thinking brings little return in changing character and subconscious actions and reactions. It is the training of the personal subconscious mind by each individual that resuits in the automatic Golden Rule reaction taking place in situations confronting the individual.
"All things... whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also unto them: for this is the law and the prophets." Doing to others as you would have others do to you requires a thinking through clearly and a control of emotions, a personally accepted responsibility for your own thought and reaction. Can you remain calm if someone calls you a liar or cheat when it is an unjust accusation? Can you look on the troubles of the world and see that each person's troubles start in his own mind, and that redemption and deliverance can come only through personally controlled subconscious change? Can you cease blaming ancestors, national leaders, or even God Himself for the circumstances around you? If you can, you are to be congratulated, because the indications are that you have discovered a great truth: namely, to do first to others in personal thought and action that which you wish done to you.
In other words, you have found that thinking produces mental images that invoke laws bringing back to each one the results or manifestations of his thoughts (or what he has accepted from others.)
Approximately five hundred years before Christ, Confucius, the great philosopher and teacher of ancient China, advocated the Golden Rule as the Rule of Wisdom for personal unfoldment and also the rule to be taught to all emperors, judges, and others in authority in the Chinese Empire. Confucius is credited with having so educated the rulers of a certain province through Golden Rule practice that jails were emptied in two years and judges and lawyers had no work to do! Crime and war had disappeared because of the right mental training given to all people of that province.
What happened in those days can happen again in our modern age if enough people learn to love and practice the Golden Rule. Think what would happen if enough people who understand correct principles of thinking and acting would pray definitely for the illumination of all governmental officials over the earth!
What we send out comes back to us. As we learn to practice the Golden Rule until it becomes a subconscious habit, it attracts back to us what we send out. To do this successfully a series of prayer statements will help wonderfully:
I do first just what I would have others do to me. I do not do for others what they are unwilling to do for themselves. I refuse to accept (consciously or subconsciously) any person's opinion of me not based on Truth. I no longer hold anyone in bondage with my personal thoughts or feelings or actions. I express and ask for forgiveness whenever necessary. I love God with all my mind and heart, and I love my neighbor as I love my higher self.
Every day, I pray that all leaders of all nations and all people in positions of human authority become illumined and practice the Golden Rule in all their activities.
