The Absolutes...

Rummaging through some old files of my writings, I came across a list of my own 'categorical imperatives' that I wrote twenty two years ago... this list was originally typed out on my old IBM Selectric typewriter.  For what it is worth, I am posting it today... by the way, after all this time, I still hold these imperatives to be as pertinent for me today as when I first banged them out the old fashioned way.

1. Treat yourself and others as one part holy and one part human.
2. Do not attempt charitable acts motivated by uncharitable feelings of guilt, shame, obligation, pity or moral superiority.
3. Do not consider your well-being or happiness as a present someone else holds in their hands.
4. Do not be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good.
5. Make your choice a conscious one when deciding what you want to give, to whom, when and how much.
6. Never leave a person, place or thing more disheveled than it, or they, were when you first found them.
7. Trust your instincts.
8. Question authority.
9. Honor all your feelings.
10. Do not usurp your own integrity nor let others decide your own value system.
11. Take responsibility for your own emotional and spiritual life.
12. Take the words: good and bad, right and wrong, out of your vocabulary.
13. See beyond the black and white of any situation and pray for the ability and sensitivity to see the grey areas.
14. Begin forgiveness where you perceive an ancient hatred.
15. Make allowances for human imperfection.
16. Celebrate the love you have for yourself and share it with others.
17. Feed at least one person's belly, mind, heart or soul daily.

Gracie Garp