10 2 and 4

The truth is, of course, that the curtness of the Ten Commandments is an evidence, not of the gloom and narrowness of a religion, but, on the contrary, of its liberality and humanity. It is shorter to state the things forbidden than the things permitted; precisely because most things are permitted, and only a few things are forbidden. ― G.K. Chesterton

The most important commandment is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these [Two].”

Without the recognition of ‘Levels of Being’ or 'Grades of Significance’ we cannot make the world intelligible to ourselves nor have we the slightest possibility to define our own position, the position of man, in the scheme of the universe. — EF Schumacher ... For ease of remembrance we might call these Four levels of being the 4c’s: Creator, creation, culture, creature. — Bob Love

... and 4?

Even given the dismal state of education today, a large number of people still recognize [and some even revere] the notion of the 10 commandments. A much smaller number would be able to state the 2 commandments that summarize the 10. And almost nobody would even understand the question if you asked them to identify the different levels of being on which they "exist" — because, to my knowledge, no definitive statement has been made and rendered acceptable over generations in answer to this odd question.

However, it is precisely the levels of being on which we "exist" that form the invisible basis for most of our thinking and action. Let me explain ... from the bottom up.

Creature

Those who want to start the study of human action from the collective units encounter an insurmountable obstacle in the fact that an individual at the same time can belong and--with the exception of the most primitive tribesmen--really belongs to various collective entities. The problems raised by the multiplicity of coexisting social units and their mutual antagonisms can be solved only by methodological individualism.

The Ego is the unity of the acting being. It is unquestionably given and cannot be dissolved or conjured away by any reasoning or quibbling. The We is always the result of a summing up which puts together two or more Egos. If somebody says I, no further questioning is necessary in order to establish the meaning. [Really!?] The same is valid with regard to the Thou and, provided the person in view is precisely indicated, with regard to the He. But if a man says We, further information is needed to denote who the Egos are who are comprised in this We. It is always single individuals who say We; even if they say it in chorus, it yet remains an utterance of single individuals. The We cannot act otherwise than each of them acting on his own behalf. — Mises, Human Action

Here we have the majority assumption about reality in modernity and, perhaps, in history as well.  It is considered self-evident, because it has never been proved. And until the advent of quantum fields and entanglement, it had never been disproved either.

Culture

However, no sooner is the rugged individual established than he acts as a member of some society. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable [individual] Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Thus we spring from the self-evident [theoretical or natural?] individual to the self-evident communitarian ... from imaginary micro to imaginary macro ... an imaginary bottom-up explanation of things. [For insights into the incoherence between the imagined individual and the actual history of community, a good primer is the work of David Graeber.]

Creation

But by merely considering society and culture, have we really arrived at "macro" in any comprehensive and coherent sense? Rachel Carson and Aldo Leopold [along with other emerging voices like Kate Raworth and Nate Hagens] say NO:

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe. — John Muir

Creator

And so, man expands his search for [much less establishment of] meaning from one end of the universe to the other only to find that wherever he looks he finds ONE thing ... hear O Israel, the Lord is ONE.

You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths of hell, you are there. — Psalm 139

And so, step by step in 4 steps, the unity of the Creator arises from the diversity of the creature.

... the 2 [or is it 3?]

If we allow ourselves a little room to imagine, we might attach 3 greek words to our thinking thus far:
logos — reckoning, principle/principal, rule[r] ... Creator?
oikos — household ... creation?
nomos — that which is habitual in practice ... culture?

And from these 3 words we might create 2 ... where one acts as the medium which unites the other two:
oikos-logos — Ecology
oikos-nomos — Economy

Do these 2 concepts remotely resemble the 2 commandments to "love God" and to "love your neighbor"?

How do we do this ... do two things at the same time? Think about it. An utterly fascinating confirmation and further explanation of this "hemispherical" approach to thinking about things can be found in the neuropsychological work presented in Iain McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary which also stresses the need for properly maintaining the hierarchical order between Ecology and Economy.

... and finally the 10

If our thinking thus far is sound, can we understand the 10 commandments in terms of the 2? The easiest way is simply to divde the 10 into 2 parts:

• commandments 1-5 have to do with Creator and Ecology
• commandments 6-10 have to do with culture and Economy
• and they interface thru Education [the 3E's] by sharing the creation ... a medium of exchange of ideas if you will ... in which both sides co-labor-ate ... in LIFE as one big classroom dialogue.
  

Could it really be that simple? Master and students?

The BIG picture

What happened to the creature ... the rugged individual with whom we began as the assumed foundation for existential reality? What about each one of us?

Perhaps, a helpful way to think about the creature is
~ as a co-participant with the Creator
~ thru the culture and the creation.

If we can formulate a larger understand of our placeS [plural] in the cosmos ... as Schumacher recommended ... perhaps, we can do a better job living together in it ?