The Golden Rule is a core principle of all mainstream religions, and it is the fundamental spiritual law of morality and ethics.

The Golden Rule tells us that we should treat others the way that we would like to be treated. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, this is expressed in terms of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Loving your neighbor means loving all others. Jesus went to great lengths to make sure that we understand that this include loving strangers and particularly the poor, the sick, the distressed, and our enemies.

As souls, we need to follow the Golden Rule if we want to evolve.

The Golden Rule teaches us to love without conditions which would benefit ourselves. This kind of love is called unconditional love, which leaves no room for selfishness in its expression.

If we wait to see how others treat us before we act, we would be practicing a coercive, judgmental, and bargaining kind of inferior love called conditional love. There is nothing in the Golden Rule about withholding our love till we know how others are going to treat us. Unconditional love requires our action when our help is needed. The Golden Rule says that we should make the first move!

The connection we share with others is far deeper that most of us will ever truly understand while we are anchored in the physical world. The reality is that we are all connected, and what we do to others we do to ourselves.

The Golden Rule requires us to consciously and constantly evaluate our thoughts, words, and actions. When we follow the Golden Rule, for most of us it changes our natural inclinations and behavior.

Built into the Golden Rule is the assumption that you treat yourself well. What good would it be to treat others the way you would like to be treated if you do not care how you are treated? However, the Golden Rule means that we cannot take advantage of or harm others for our own benefit.

The Golden Rule requires consistency and congruence. It requires that your behavior towards others is consistent with the way that you would like to be treated. If you do not behave in this manner it means that your thoughts, words, and actions are not congruent.

The Golden rule is easy to understand, but it is not easy to follow. It takes time and practice, and we need to be motivated.

People who naturally treat others with unconditional love do not need to know the Golden Rule or follow a religion. God wants us to love each other and all of His creation, but how we learn to love is not as important as whether we learn to love.

The Golden Rule requires us to manage our ego. This is because on a superficial basis, behaving with unconditional love provides no clear benefit to ourselves. It might even appear to put us at a disadvantage. You must put your self-image and importance aside in order to follow the Golden Rule and learn to love unconditionally.

When we follow the Golden Rule we treat all of God’s creation kindly and with respect, without the expectation of anything in return. This includes our planet and all of the life that it supports.

The Golden Rule is not called a “rule” for nothing. It is not a “Guideline” or a “Wish”! Rules are requirements that should be followed or consequences will be invoked. The consequences of not following the Golden Rule are provided by karma. Karma stays with us until it is resolved. We are eternal, so we cannot escape karma through death. If we avoid doing what we know is right there will be a karmic price to pay.

The Golden Rule shows us how far we fall short of unconditional love as individuals, societies, and nations. If we all followed the Golden Rule, war, poverty, and hunger would not exist.

When our bodies die and we return to the spiritual realms, we will experience a review of our recent incarnation so that we may learn from it. This is often referred to as a "Life Review". This review will show us the impact that our thoughts and actions had on other souls, from their perspective. The Golden Rule represents the standard by which our thoughts and actions are measured.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Leviticus 19.18

Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.

Christianity. Bible, Matthew 7.12

What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole of the Torah. The rest is commentary.

Hillel - From Talmud (complied 6th century) Shabbath

Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.

Islam. Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 13

A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated.

Jainism. Sutrakritanga 1.11.33

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.

Confucianism. Mencius VII.A.4

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.

Hinduism. Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva 113.8

Tsekung asked, "Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?" Confucius replied, "It is the word shu--reciprocity: Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you."

Confucianism. Analects 15.23

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.

Buddhism. Sutta Nipata 705 ​

Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.
C. S. Lewis

We have committed the Golden Rule to memory let us now commit it to life.

Edwin Markham

Practicing the Golden Rule is not a sacrifice it is an investment.

Author Unknown

The Golden Rule is of no use to you whatever unless you realize that it is your move.

Frank Crane

The first person to promulgate the Golden Rule, which was the bedrock of this empathic spirituality, was Confucius 500 years before Christ.

Karen Armstrong

Without feelings of self-love, the love we feel for others is counterfeit. We must love all others as ourselves.

Betty Eadie

If your actions were to boomerang back on you instantly, would you still act the same? Doing to others an act you’d rather not have done to you reveals a powerful internal conflict.

Alexandra Katehakis

How I treat a brother or sister from day to day, how I react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how I respond to interruptions from people I dislike, how I deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life than the antiabortion sticker on the bumper of my car.

Brennan Manning

We as humans tend to overlook lesser beings and things, but we should instead come to love and respect them. Sandranil Biswas

Hungry people should be fed. It takes some people a long time to figure this out.

Lemony Snicket, Shouldn't You Be in School?

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.

Confucius

What does it matter what we believe, as long as we treat others the way we want to be treated? Jeffrey A. White
To do, as one would be done by, and to love one's neighbor as one's self, constitute the ideal perfection of utilitarian morality.

John Stuart Mill

Above and beyond anything else, we must first learn to love, actually love, all people and all things the same way.

​Laurelynn Martin

The Golden Rule is the governing principle in the spirit world: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. People who truly practice the religion of love will find themselves in a universal sphere where everyone understands that true religion is to love others as ourselves.

Nora Spurgin

Golden Rule Living is the great simplifier. It places us in another soul’s shoes, taking what can appear to be a complex decision that involves another and streamlining it to a one-step process of deciding, “If I wouldn’t like this done to me, then I shall not do it to another."

Molly Friedenfeld, The Book of Simple Human Truths

We each have the power to give. It’s the most gratifying feeling ever. By reaching out to help another human being you're sending ripples of positive change.

Dana Arcuri

If you do not understand the Golden Rule, which is the most important law in the universe, then you are in trouble. All other rules in your holy books combined — are not as valuable as the ONE Golden Rule. Take two minutes to learn the most crucial law in life. Killing another human comes with the highest penalty, regardless of how you justify it. All life is sacred.

Suzy Kassem

Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought.

Augustine of Hippo

My mother was a Bible student, and when I was a youngster, both my mother and father would say, 'If people would only live by the Golden Rule, there wouldn't be the problems that there are.' In other words, 'treat people the way you want to be treated.' If somebody mistreats you, two wrongs won't make a right. ​

Monte Irvin

Doctrine, creed and race mean nothing in heaven. No matter what we believed we were all God's children. The only rule is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

May Eulitt

I found thru my experience a "universality" that all religions and religious beliefs are merely vain attempts to express a simple truth. That the Golden Rule was the central rule in which to live our lives!

William Harris

If you contemplate the Golden Rule, it turns out to be an injunction to live by grace rather than by what you think other people deserve.

Deepak Chopra - The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore