Italian version

Free decalogue

  1. Do not judge.
  2. Forget all kind of morals you have been taught.
  3. Observe the behaviour of other people and try to understand it.
  4. Let life teach you.
  5. Always remember that nobody is able to evaluate if their thoughts are well-founded.
  6. Smile and enjoy simple things.
  7. Share your opinions with other people, but don't try to impose them.
  8. Love those who are with you.
  9. Love what you are.
  10. Love what you do.

These few simple but not banal guidelines summarize what I have learnt in the twenty-five years of my life.
This "free decalogue" is free both because it is inspired by a principle of freedom in planning one's life and relationships and because everyone can use, interpret, modify or adapt it freely.

Do not judge. People condemn, absolve, pass judgement on themselves and on others. There is no worse judgement than the one formed without knowledge and there is no form of complete knowledge.

Forget all kind of morals you have been taught. This is not an invitation to debauchery, but to reflection and respect. Morals, always ready to be applied to every personal and collective aspect of life, to impose their laws and their schemes, their judgement on good and evil, cannot but prevent us from understanding ourselves, other people, our relationships with the others.

Observe the behaviour of other people and try to understand it. The first two points are propaedeutical for the third. Trying to understand what is beyond our microcosm also means developing and overcoming the self-centredness so typical of our time.

Let life teach you. A lot of people try to convince themselves that their world view is right, but this will not alter the nature of things, that never has been influenced or changed by simple opinions.

Always remember that nobody is able to evaluate if their thoughts are well-founded. This means accepting the insuperable limits of ourselves and of all human beings with humility.

Smile and enjoy simple things. This attitude, besides helping to live, also reveals one's intelligence.

Share your opinions with other people, but don't try to impose them. A lot of mistakes and misunderstandings derive from a sense of superiority which is easy to fall in.

Love those who are with you. Love what you are. Love what you do.

I do not need to add any other words.


Francesco Galgani
www.galgani.it

June 9, 2008