Religion and ethics were not always - or even frequently - mutually compatible. The demands of religious absolutism or fundamentalism or rampaging relativism often deflected the worst aspects of contemporary culture or prejudices rather than a system which both man and God could live under with a sense of real justice.
There is no envy, jealousy, or hatred between the different colors of the rainbow. And no fear either. Because each one exists to make the others’ love more beautiful.
There is nothing sane, merciful, heroic, devout, redemptive, wise, holy, loving, peaceful, joyous, righteous, gracious, remotely spiritual, or worthy of praise where mass murder is concerned. We have been in this world long enough to know that by now and to understand that nonviolent conflict resolution informed by mutual compassion is the far better option.
Poetry empowers the simplest of lives to confront the most extreme sorrows with courage, and motivates the mightiest of offices to humbly heed lessons in compassion.
Diversity is an aspect of human existence that cannot be eradicated by terrorism or war or self-consuming hatred. It can only be conquered by recognizing and claiming the wealth of values it represents for all.
Millions cheer the warriorspilling blood across the ringwhile the one who stands for peaceis ridiculed and shamed.Must hearts forever sufferfrom ignorance and greed?Can bombs heal our soulsor set our spirits free?
In the days when hyenas of hate suckle the babes of men, and jackals of hypocrisy pimp their mothers’ broken hearts, may children not look to demons of ignorance for hope.
We ache with the yearningthat turns half into wholeand offer no excusesfor the beauty of our souls.
You never know what people live through. Be kind to all people.
May we love each other with brotherly love. Love cast out all fears.
And if I have the gift of prophesy, all-wisdom and great faith but without love, I am nothing.
This is what the LORD requires of every man; to do justice, to love mercy and to humbly work with God.
Our greatest power as nations and individuals is not the ability to employ assault weapons, suicide bombers, and drones to destroy each other. The greater more creative powers with which we may arm ourselves are grace and compassion sufficient enough to love and save each other.
This is God's universe and he is the master gardener of all. If we were to eliminate all colors in his garden,then what would be a rainbow with only one color? Or a garden with only one kind of flower? Why would the Creator create a vast assortment of plants, ethnicities, and animals, if only one beast or seed is to dominate all of existence?
May we have equal concern for each other to create a unified world.
Individual cultures and ideologies have their appropriate uses but none of them erase or replace the universal experiences, like love and weeping and laughter, common to all human beings.
At the different stages of recognition, reflection, and redress, practicing compassion provides potentially world-saving opportunities which otherwise likely would not exist.
If the idea of loving those whom you have been taught to recognize as your enemies is too overwhelming, consider more deeply the observation that we are all much more alike than we are unalike.
In Astrology, the moon, among its other meanings, has that of "the common people," who submit (they know not why) to any independent will that can express itself with sufficient energy. The people who guillotined the mild Louis XVI died gladly for Napoleon. The impossibility of an actual democracy is due to this fact of mob-psychology. As soon as you group men, they lose their personalities. A parliament of the wisest and strongest men in the nation is liable to behave like a set of schoolboys, tearing up their desks and throwing their inkpots at each other. The only possibility of co-operation lies in discipline and autocracy, which men have sometimes established in the name of equal rights.
The acknowledgement of a single possibility can change everything.
Acceptance is a thing... look into it.If it is something in you, about you, done by you... and you aren't happy with it... you don't have to accept it. You have the power to affect change.If it something in someone else, about someone else, done by someone else... and it doesn't directly effect you in a negative way (actual effect, not perceived, mind you) ... you can rally against it, or accept it. While you may have the power in someway to force change on others... acceptance is also totally a real thing... seriously. Look into it.Don't like what others think, or feel, or do with their lives? Neat.Do those things have a direct negative impact on you?If yes, then communicate (in whatever means are situationally appropriate) and seek a positive resolution.If no, then do as I tell my eight and ten year old children... ignore them.You... no matter your age, gender, sexual orientation, belief structure, occupation, or affluence (real or perceived)... You absolutely have the right to accept others.Honest.
We know Jesus taught that if someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to the left. We know that Mohammed was sacked from his village and stoned at Ta'if, but he quietly left for Medina.If both of these men, beaten, and bloodied—the incarnations of their respective faiths—asked God to forgive their aggressors, then who were today's religious leaders to advocate holy war?
No human being should be maltreated under any circumstances. We are all wonderful creation of God. May we affectionately love one another.
Beneath the armor of skin/and/bone/and/mindmost of our colors are amazingly the same.