What did you do the last time a driver cut you off in traffic?

Did knowing you'd never see that person again spur retribution? Or did you simply tell yourself the other driver must be having a bad day or needed to get somewhere fast -- and let it go at that?

Those are the kinds of questions that Bonnie Phillips is hoping you'll ask. As the founder of the Golden Rule Project, she believes deeply in the principle of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

And she's in good company.

The Golden Rule has been at the heart of ethical and religious teaching across faith traditions for thousands of years, urging people to move beyond what is often their first instinct: to put self ahead of others, take unfair advantage or to be harsh, rather than kind.

Phillips and her mother, Jane Dooly Porter, created the Manners/Golden Rule Foundation in November 2003, to help encourage students and community organizations to adopt and practice the Golden Rule.

Though Porter died a year ago, her legacy lives on through the work of the foundation, not only in community outreach, but in providing a "safe space" for those who seek to implement the golden rule in a societal context.

Porter left her large home at 1229 E. South Temple to the foundation.

Known fondly by those who have been welcomed there as "Jane's House," it now hosts small gatherings as diverse as a recent group of Palestinians from the West Bank, board members of the Crossroads Urban Center, the Utah Interfaith Roundtable, chaplain residents from the VA Hospital, and artists from the Center for Documentary Arts, who are working on a project documenting the Civil Rights movement.

Phillips and her husband, Denis, also own and operate Phillips Gallery, the oldest commercial art gallery in the Intermountain West.

"The premise by which we open the house is to share the truth of the Golden Rule with as many people as we can," she said, noting that people who hope to solve problems must learn to understand the other person's point of view and treat the other with respect, even when they disagree.

"If we were having a meeting here about Proposition 8 (the controversial gay-marriage initiative in California last year), we would invite people both in favor of it and those opposed to it. They come into a very welcoming and congenial atmosphere ... with consideration of the 'other,' we're really off on the right foot when we approach something so controversial.

"That doesn't mean that every time a group comes here there is a 'black and white' side of things," she said. "Several groups have used it as a lovely place to meet that's just out of the ordinary. But they, themselves, are extraordinary."

Jane's House has increased the scope of the Golden Rule Project, which was originally envisioned as a way to use artistic presentation of more than a dozen of versions of the Golden Rule from faith traditions and famous philosophers or religious leaders.

Phillips said she was looking to particularly target middle schools and high schools in the local community, where bullying and peer group division often leave some students scarred for life.

The artwork is a two-page, framed diptych, measuring 21 inches by 13 inches (golden mean proportions) and hand printed on letterpress on hand-marbled Rives BFK paper.
Various local artists in the community contributed their time and talents to illuminate these diptychs to create unique works of art for each recipient school.

Phillips said she would "love to have a staff of 20" people to make presentations out in the community, but the foundation doesn't have that kind of funding. From 250 to 300 schools statewide now have the artwork on their walls, and volunteers who affiliate with the program do periodic presentations at schools or other community venues.

Another 200 Golden Rule art pieces are hanging in venues "all over the world" as people have become aware of the project and Jane's House.

"We've printed some in Spanish but we haven't done any other language yet," she said.

Occasional grants help keep the program viable with printing materials and maintaining Jane's House is done with money from the foundation, as well as revenue from groups who use it for their functions.

In harmony with the underlying philosophy, there is no hard and fast fee schedule, Phillips said. Groups who can afford to pay more are asked to do so in order to allow less well-funded groups to use the home as well.

Phillips lauded the many community organizations she has learned about since starting the project, most of them "working behind the scenes" to promote civil discourse and peacebuilding.

Michael Hall, who oversees Jane's House, said been impressed at the guests who come and "are touched by the possibilities with this house. They bring in another group," and the project then grows by word of mouth.

Phillips said the genesis for the Golden Rule Project percolated in her from the time she was a child. Her fourth-grade teacher led the students each day in reciting both the Pledge of Allegiance and the Golden Rule.

There were two Japanese students in her class at the time, shortly after World War II, "and I felt uncomfortable saying the pledge with them" because she worried that it made them feel uncomfortable.

"But I never felt uncomfortable about saying the Golden Rule with them there. That's always had a particular significance for me. It wasn't philosophical at the time.

"I just had this sense that the Pledge didn't include them, but the Golden Rule did. Now I can see it really was an instinctive truth."

For more information, see the Web site at www.goldenruleproject.org.

E-mail: carrie@desnews.com