In an earlier post (See below, “The Ethic of Three Metals; February 22 2017), I cited the Platinum Rule as formulated by the philosopher Karl K. Popper in his book “The Open Society and Its Enemies”.
Popper’s reference was somewhat offhand, embedded in the making of a larger point on standards of behavior:
“But although we have no criterion of absolute rightness, we certainly can make progress in this realm. As in the realm of facts, we can make discoveries. That cruelty is always ‘bad’; that it should always be avoided wherever possible; that the golden rule is a good standard which can perhaps even be improved by doing unto others, wherever possible, as they want to be done by: these are elementary and extremely important examples of discoveries in the realm of standards.” (p 501 of 1961 edition)
That the wishes of the person who is the “object” of our action are critical in judging the action we take is the important distinction between the golden and platinum rules.
Jean Klein, the 20th century teacher of non-dualism in the Advaita-Vedanta tradition, in his book “I Am” first published in 1989, makes this point explicitly.
He states The Platinum Rule (without calling it that) in his comment on the idea of “help with discrimination”. He says:
“Give to your fellow what he needs to accomplish what life asks of him (Klein’s added emphasis on “him”). Do not impose on another your idea of how he should best live. Indiscriminate ‘help’ is all around us. It doesn’t come out of freedom from the person. In a way such interference is violence, war.” (p 29 of Kindle edition)
Klein was a physician and musicologist who emigrated to France from Germany in 1933. He spent several years in India after WWII and became a well known teacher and author on the subject of non-duality. He is seen as a bridge figure between the Indian generation of teachers in the line of Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj and the contemporary teachers Francis Lucille, Rupert Spira and others.
Klein’s insights also parallel some of those of his contemporary, the English spiritualist Paul Brunton, who also studied and wrote about the Indian non-dual traditions.
Now, the core teaching of Judaism is also non-dual.
The fact that the “God is One” or “Adonai Echad” statement is taken by some to mean that there is only one God and by others to mean that the nature of God is oneness or unity is not of great consequence for our purposes, but it does bring up an important point.
In the context of the religious practices of its time, the statement that there is only one God was itself revolutionary and served the purpose of distinguishing the Israelites from surrounding peoples and cultures.
But the exhortation against objectifying God, even given the anthropomorphism of the Bible, is clear.
In a phrase often used by Rupert Spira, attributing human qualities to God is a “compassionate concession” to the requirements of language and the need to communicate with a diverse audience at many different levels of spiritual development.
We use language and descriptions appropriate to the communication required and the audience addressed.
To those best reached at the level of “there is only one God”, the ambiguity of the Hebrew serves its purpose. To those best reached by the impersonal, non-objective idea of non-dual unity, the same Hebrew words also convey their understanding of truth.
I’ve always been fascinated by the spiritual teachings of India. Long before I studied Judaism, while still in high school, and at the time a practicing Roman Catholic, I was drawn to the classic Indian collection of texts called The Upanishads. My study at that time was very superficial – just reading, really – but it was deep enough to make a lasting impression.
When I did begin to study Judaism, one of the first associations that struck me was of the correspondence between the “God is One” core principle of Judaism and the non-dual teaching of Advaita Vedanta.
Truth is clearly not the possession of any one person or group, whether ethnic, national, religious or otherwise defined. Truth will arise, I believe, when, where and as conditions for it to arise permit. Those conditions can certainly include the influence of one person or group on another.
There are some fascinating studies that grow from questioning and analysis of Genesis Chapter 25; the end of Parashat Chayei Sarah. Sarah has died. Isaac is safely wed to Rebecca. And then we find:
“And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah (a list of Abraham’s children by this wife is recited) And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. But to the sons of the concubines, that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts; and he sent them away from Isaac, his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.” (Gen 25: 1-6)
Some interpret “eastward” to mean that Abraham sent his sons to Arabia because the Arabs are sometimes described as ‘children of the East’. And many early Jewish commentators see these “sons of Keturah” as a continuing and nearby threat to the descendants of Isaac. But others view “eastward, unto the east country” in a very different way.
They ask: Did Abraham give the sons of Keturah the mystical traditions, which he is said to have mastered, as their special inheritance? Did they actually travel farther eastward into what we now know as India and plant the seeds for what has become Advaita-Vedanta? The timelines of the events certainly allow that possibility.
A fascinating analysis of commonalities can be found at: www.torahveda.org for those who are interested.
Klein’s statement of The Platinum Rule is a clearer one than that of Popper. It is not an “appendage” to a comment on the Golden Rule and Klein clarifies his statement of what the rule IS with one regarding what it is NOT.
Klein’s clarification statement is actually a straightforward version of the Silver Rule, And Klein specifically warns against the dangerous possibilities of misuse of the Golden Rule.
That Klein’s statement comes from an acknowledged master of the Advaita-Vedanta non-duality tradition opens some interesting avenues of further investigation.
©Charles R. Lightner