Day 52, March 22 The golden way is to be friends with the world and to regard the whole human family as one. He who distinguishes between the votaries of ones own religion and those of another miseducates the members of his own and opens the way for discord and irrelegion. M. K. Gandhi This message seems especially appropriate in todays world. We live in a time when religion has once again become the most divisive issue in our world. Otherwise intelligent, and even apparently spiritual, people demonize other religions. The tenor of the current religious discourse, like that of the political, makes it impossible for religion and spirituality to serve its true function, teaching and using peace and love as the path to Oneness. It can, and should be, a calming balm for an injured and heartsick world. Instead, those who serve fear, anger and violence seize upon the words of the Koran to prove malevolent intent on the part of, or to induce violence in, all Muslims, ignoring the love poems of the Sufi movement. In the same way, the words of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible are used to justify an eye for an eye, ignoring the words of peace and forgiveness taught by the central figure in that religion, Jesus. At the same time, those who deny the validity of any spiritual path, point to all this as proof that religion is the problem, not the answer. The result is a religious environment that is truly the path to violence - not non-violence. Gandhi is urging us all, no matter where we fall on the religious spectrum, to accept that we are all on the same path. Only the love, compassion and tolerance inherent in any true connection with the Divine can bring the healing the world desperately needs. Once we see that we are all, in our way, on a spiritual path to our Oneness, only then can we truly walk the path of non-violence. Whether we seek it through a connection with God, or a connection with life, is irrelevant, for this is the golden way to non-violence. Affirmative Practice Today, I will meditate on how I live the golden way. Today, I will see how my spiritual path, whatever it may be, can contribute to love, peace and non-violence in the world. This is the path to non-violence. Let peace begin with you.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 11:00:08 +0000
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