In a small group that I attend every few weeks, we’ve been learning about John Wesley’s General Rules of Methodism. The first of these rules is to do no harm. Wesley defines this rule by listing several practices that should be avoided. Some of them seem intuitive, such as “Doing to others as we would not they should do unto us.” Some are much more practical, dealing with economic issues that were highly relevant at the time that Wesley was writing. Others I have more trouble agreeing with. For instance, “The singing those songs, or reading those books, which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God.” I have some difficulty seeing how singing songs or reading books that aren’t directly related to the Divine is a practice that does harm.
This leads me to ask a few questions, the first of which being: what constitutes harm? And importantly, harm to whom or what? As we discussed John Wesley’s writings, we came up with a few other practices to do no harm that we felt were relevant today. One of these was taking care of the environment. Another was to practice self-care, especially relating to matters of mental and physical health. The third was being respectful toward others, in our words and in our actions.
While all of these practices would seem intuitive to many, they can be surprisingly difficult to follow. It takes awareness commitment, both financial and personal, to consistently do environmentally sustainable practices. I continue to struggle with effective self-care, as I still have to learn to recognize when I’m feeling overwhelmed by stress and anxiety, or when I need to take some space and time for myself. Perhaps one of the most challenging ones is to be respectful toward people we dislike, or people with whom we don’t get along.
Learning how to perform these practices on a regular basis takes time, energy, and a lot of mindfulness. Someone once told me something that brought me comfort, though: “You can do no harm by simply being.” As we rapidly approach the end of the semester and periods of stress, I encourage us to be mindful of practices which tend to the creation of the Divine, and those that cause injury to it.