Dear Reader:

You may be wondering why a psychologist is writing a book about the Ten Commandments. Actually, this is a topic I've been researching and studying with several teachers for more than 23 years.

When I was a rebellious teenager in the 1960's I was not very interested in the harsh "Thou shalt not " tone of the Ten Commandments. But during my senior year at Kenyon College in Ohio I was discussing spirituality with Dr. Rowland Shepard, one of my professors, who told me, "Maybe the Ten Commandments are mis-named. Maybe they should have been called the ten hardest things we try to do in our lives such as: how do you honor a difficult parent without dishonoring yourself; how do you deal with crushes, attractions, and affairs when you're in a committed relationship; how do you hold on to your integrity in a world of addictions, distractions, and false images; how do you unhook one day a week in order to reconnect with loved ones and to explore your spiritual side; how do you stop coveting or comparing your looks, your income, or your kids to someone else's looks, income, or kids? These are not ancient facts or outdated rules, but rather they are the psychological issues we all struggle with in our daily lives and relationships."

That new way of looking at the ancient words from Exodus 20 got me curious and for over two decades I've been studying what these ten principles actually mean in Hebrew and how they have been mistranslated and misinterpreted for centuries. Most people don't know that the Bible doesn't call them the Ten Commandments but refers to them instead as Ahseret Hadibrot, the Ten Words or Ten Things. For each of these ten things, I have found fascinating interpretations and helpful ways of living up to them that were developed by Jewish, Catholic, Protestant, Islamic, and Buddhist sources, as well as creative interpretations from feminist theology, mysticism, and the field of psychology, especially the writings of Dr. Viktor Frankl, a holocaust survivor and psychoanalyst who teaches that the best way to heal our emotional distress is to find a stronger sense of meaning and purpose. I've found that one of the best teachings ever written on how to live with greater meaning and purpose can be found in the Ten Commandments, once you get past the stuffiness of some of the mistranslations.

If you want to improve your marriage, resolve your family conflicts, improve the spiritual aspect of your sexuality, or learn how to live with more integrity and sense of purpose, I urge you to take a new look at these ten principles that have touched billions of lives and that still have a lot to teach us. Whether you consider yourself a spiritual person or a not very spiritual person, your health and your relationships can improve if you utilize these remarkable ten insights into living.