Thanks for all of the personal emails to my last post on religion. Seems like it brought up a lot of beliefs for quite a few folks.
In the last week I came across something very interesting that I wanted to share with you. In focusing on the 90% where all religions seem to agree, I went to the core of each religion- to the Golden Rule…
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Interestingly enough, each major religion says pretty much the same thing…..
(listed in alphabetical order)
Brahmanish:
This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you. Mahabharata, 5, 1517
Buddhism:
Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. Udama-Varga, 5, 18
Confucianism:
Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you. Analects, 15, 23
Christianity:
All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7, 12
Islam:
No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother what which he desires for himself. Sunnah
Judiasm:
What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. Talmud, Shabbat, 31a
Taoism:
Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss. T’ai Shang Kan Ying P’ien
Zoroastrianism:
That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself. Dadistan-i-dinik, 94, 5
The next time when you feel a disconnect from someone else because of your differences, change to focus and go look for common ground. It’s always there for us if we look for it.
And if you get stuck, you can always revert to the one thing we share and just do unto others as you would have them do unto you. For no matter what language you say it in, or what religion you may practice, love is always the answer.
Love is always the answer,let the pride go by the wayside, and let it be unconditional. Hugs
Amen Gail! Lovely post again. Hugs, Patrick
Hello Gail. No doubt the Golden Rule has been working miracles for many generations. But this ancient guideline for living life together on our planet actually comes from a more potent rule. I like to call it the “Rule of Life”. These two rules are very similar sounding….but vastly different. Everyone knows the Golden Rule says “do unto others…..” of course, but that little word “others” means “separate”. It means you and I and billions of “others” are individual, separate people. O.K., but let’s suspend our disbelief for a moment and imagine every person and creature and thing in the world wasn’t actually separate. Imagine you and I and everything around us was a different part of One whole. Like different petals on One flower for instance. I know it’s a bit hard to imagine….because we haven’t been looking at things like this for a long time. But what if it really was true? We’d have a far more potent Rule to live our lives by. This one. Treat everything around you like it was part of you….because it is. In Golden Rule lingo that’d be: Do Unto Others (and the rest of the world) Like They Were You. Alright……so why is this Rule better? Would you harm other people if it was you being harmed? Would you destroy the environment if the environment was a different part of you? The Rule of Life is the Golden Rule on steroids….because following it would change everything. But the world isn’t one whole like this. Is it? Yes it is. But….sadly….we’ve been looking at things the wrong way to see it for literally Ages. And it’s destroying us. Ciao Gail. John Duffield