The Golden Rule has been around for centuries and is accepted by most all religions and philosophers:
Judaism and Christianity (Leviticus 19.18):
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Christianity (Matthew 7.12): Jesus said: “Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.”
Buddhism ((Sutta Napata 705): Comparing oneself to others in such terms as “Just as I am so are they, just as they are so am I,” he should neither kill nor cause others to kill.
Hinduism (Mahabharata, Anusasana Prava 113.8): “One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality. All other activities are due to selfish desire.”
Confucianism (Mencius VII.A.): “Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence.”
Islam (Forty Hadith of an-Newari 13): “Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”
In the midst of treating others as you want to be treated, it helps to incorporate positive selfless acts into your daily life. Being remorseful and apologetic when wrong, as well as being courteous, friendly, compassionate, empathetic, forgiving, loving, humble, and generous are some examples of positive attributes.
When you practice self-awareness, and implement some of the above characteristics into your daily life, applying the golden rule becomes a reflex action and just smoothly transpires. Becoming spiritually well or mature requires applying a conscious effort to how you think, react and behave towards yourself and others.
This principle depicts the reciprocal or two-way street involved in relationships, implying equality and mutual treatment. This rule exemplifies the fact that you should treat others in a manner in which you want to be treated. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean, however, that just because you treat others fairly and non-judgmentally, that they will reciprocate. You may have mean-spirited family members or work associates that you interact with regularly. As a conscious practice you can teach them through the power of example by not engaging or reacting to their ill-natured presence. This is not easy because the ego is always looking to defend itself! Just keep doing your inner work, your positive influence may eventually rub off on them. Kill them with kindness!
Often, an individual will have a projected low self-worth and treat themselves with disrespect because they lack self-love. As a result, it can be quite difficult for these types to do right by others, when they can’t do right by themselves. At the same time, many allow themselves to be treated poorly by others due to low self-esteem and/or prior abuse. They feel as though they deserve to be mistreated because they remain attached to this false self-image that they identify with.
With that said, The Golden Rule can be overly-simplified, vague, and misleading. You may NOT want to treat others as you do yourself if you are treating yourself crudely. The following universal principle may be far more helpful (or at least compliment The Golden Rule):
THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO FOR OTHERS IS TO WORK ON YOURSELF!
When you work on yourself not only are you creating a better version of YOU, but your helping everyone else around you at the same time! This not only allows you to advance on your own spiritual journey, but gives others an example to imitate, thereby helping them to advance on their conscious journey as well.
Not everyone is expected to progress at the same level spiritually, although everyone is at the PERFECT level of consciousness in the present moment. Accepting or being around others who act unconsciously, are unable to grow, and have no interest in doing their inner work or becoming more improved conscious minded people, can be QUITE challenging for those who work diligently on themselves. Often times these more unconscious ego-centered individuals will claim “that’s just the way I am, take it or leave it”, not knowing that this is the furthest thing from the truth. That is only their STORY and the limited reality they create for themselves!
Many of these types refuse to grow and may never get in touch with their “TRUE identity” in this lifetime. They may just continue to lug around the emotional baggage and backwards belief systems they have collected for countless years. They either believe they can’t change or they think they don’t need to change, both of which are far from truth.
If one is to advance on their spiritual journey spending too much time around this type of negative stagnation and toxicity can adversely impact your own inner growth, so it is ultimately your choice if you choose to do so. Sometimes the power of example may work or killing them with kindness, but their overpowering ego may also see you as weak and take advantage of your kind nature even more so lowering your vibration and hindering your OWN growth.
Acceptance is one thing, but no one is spiritually responsible to remain in a close personal relationship with anyone who refuses or is unable to grow, and distancing yourself may be your only option unfortunately. The distance may even help them to become more aware of their behavior so they can make a conscious effort to better themselves. If not, continue to grow inwardly and move forward, embracing change. Remember, you can’t force anyone to change, the only one you can change is yourself!