Download The Golden Rule: Basic Link of all Religions

The Golden Rule: Basic Link of all Religions
Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President
International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
Hon President & Professor, SBS Swiss Business School, Zurich
If we were to take a world-wide tour and visit the religious practices of
natives across every continent, we would discover a great variety of beliefs and
ways of spiritual behavior as a result. Some of them are centered on the belief of
one God, the source of anything that exists, while others tend to concentrate
more on a variety of sources that work together for the common good. However,
in spite of all this they all have one strong thing in common that is known
everywhere as the Golden Rule.
Meaning and Purpose
The Golden Rule concentrates on vital human relations that are mutually
beneficial in spite of numerous diversities that may exist as a matter of fact. It
deals with love and respect for our neighbor, that is, for every other human being
in our community, the nation and eventually the whole world. In Christianity,
for example, we find Jesus saying in the New Testament: “Do to others what you
would like others to do to you.” This has become a distinctive characteristic of
Christianity, which is found in virtually every country around the world.
In Islam we discover Prophet Muhammad saying in the Hadith: “Wish
for others what you wish for yourself.” A true believer is viewed to be one who
is genuinely concerned with the welfare of all other people without exception. In
Judaism we learn from Hillel in the Talmud: “What is hateful to you, do not do
to your neighbor.” This is considered as the essence of the whole Torah, all the
rest is viewed merely as commentary. In Buddhism we hear Buddha stating in
Udana-Varga: Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.”
In Hinduism we notice in Mahabharata the statement: “Do not do to
others what would cause pain if done to you.” This is viewed as the sum of duty
from which no one can escape. In Confucianism we read in the Analects what
Confucius has stressed to all of his followers: “Do not do to others what you do
not want done to yourself. “ To this end this religious leader advocated good
conduct revealed in loving-kindness.
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In Taoism, we hear Lao Tzu telling us in T’ai Shang Kam Ying P’ien:
“Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your
own loss.” This means we should identify our neighbor as an integral part of
ourselves. In Sikhism, Guru Granth Sahib expressed his basic message to those
embracing this religion saying: “I am a stranger to no one; and no one is a
stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all.” This approach has proved to be a
real source of peace.
Common Denominator
In the Baha’i Faith, Baha’u’llah underlines the importance of good human
relations stating: “Lay not on any soul a load that you would not wish to be laid
upon you, and desire not for anyone the things you would not desire for
yourself.” In Jainism, in Sutrakritanga the basic teaching of this religion was
expressed by Mahavira as follows: “One should treat all creatures in the world
as one would like to be treated.” In Zoroastrianism we find in Shayast-naShayast the following important statement: “Do not do unto others whatever is
injurious to yourself.”
In Unitarianism, we notice the following basic principle of Unitarians:
“We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of
which we are a part.” In Native Spirituality, as it is known, Chief Dan George
affirms the belief of his religious group stating: “We are as much alive as we keep
the earth alive.” This is based on the belief that for all people to live strong and
healthy as well as happy we must protect our environment from air and water
pollution. The quality of air and water we have does make a big difference.
Needless to say, the list of various religions we have in the world may go
on and on. Besides, each of the religions mentioned above has a lot of
denominational groups or sects within it. In Christianity, for example, there is a
big variety of such denominational groups, such as Orthodox Christians, Roman
Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists and so on. Regardless of the
various denominations or sects we find in each religion, the Golden Rule is
always there, even though some adherents may tend to disregard it.
The question that needs to be raised here is this: If every religion
advocates love and respect for our neighbor, how come we have had and we still
have so many struggles and wars, so much hatred and pain? This may be traced
to greed, envy, power-abuse, ignorance, pride, mistrust, disrespect, hypocrisy,
sadistic tendencies, and anything that is negative and destructive. Since the early
days of civilization, the world has always been saturated with beneficial and
vicious people who served as a benefit or a curse to our earthly community.
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For many centuries now, the dominant philosophy in human relations has
been based radically on the culture of war. Needless to say, the governments of
our respective nations must assume full responsibility for all the massacre and
pain they caused to tens of millions of good and innocent people. They always
resorted to secure the most sophisticated and devastating weapons to this end.
Whether they admit it or not, their hearts were full of venom and hatred toward
their fellow brethren whom God loved dearly as His own children. Let us keep
in mind the proverb: You can catch more flies with honey.
Retaliation as Self-Defeating Purpose
We are all familiar with traditional sayings such as: What goes around
comes around….. In a war everyone is a loser, no one a winner. In fact, at this
stage of history, the traditional concept of conventional war, like we experienced
in World War II, is no longer applicable. Today, the deadly struggles we are
experiencing are not between one nation fighting against another, where each
side knows where the other side is. Those nations that continue to amass more
devastating weapons, including nuclear bombs, are faced with a great handicap.
Their enemies are no longer nations, where you can locate them
geographically. They consist of small groups, which use small sling shots like
David of the Old Testament that are bound to hit and destroy Goliath, in our case
the United States and its military allies. Since such enemies cannot be identified
by nationality, they are just referred as terrorists who use entirely different tactics
than those which have been used in conventional wars over the past several
centuries. They simply try to destroy the economy of their targeted enemy.
How do they do it? They try to perform terrorist activities as to alarm the
government of that nation whose economy they plan to destroy, which is usually
a big power in the traditional sense. At this stage of history, the real target of
these few individuals is the United States. They will do anything to alarm the
United States as to force it drain billions and now trillions of dollars on building
more military bases, more warships spread in all oceans, and more devastating
airplanes. They are not afraid of all this since they have no real identification.
Since the United States still believes that it can control the world once it
has a strong military and highly devastating weapons, it seems there is no choice
as to identify these so called terrorists with a nation and then go to wage a
conventional traditional war there. In the process of doing so, millions of
innocent and good people are killed or maimed for life and their property is
utterly destroyed. This is viewed by the natives at large as cruelty and great
animosity has grown against the United States and its war allies as a result.
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In the meantime, the American people, which may be viewed as the
backbone of the nation, begin to suffer because their government has no money
left to provide them with a free good health care system, affordable housing
facilities and productive education for all. The United States can solve the
problem of terrorism, properly and effectively, through sound educational
means and not through a so called strong military. This nation can bring peace
on earth only through highly dedicated groups that are characterized by love
and service for their neighbor and not by hatred and threats.
Secret of Political Success
The United States, and its military allies, must adapt to the realities that
surround us. The choice is crystal clear: Just continue to adhere to traditional
conventional wars, which are now becoming totally outdated and fully
ineffective, or simply follow the instinct of every human being in every religion
by doing to others what you would want others to do to you. If you threaten
others, soon you will be threatened in ways totally unexpected. If you destroy
the property of others, soon the lives of your good citizens will be put in danger.
In a commencement address he gave at the University of Kansas in 1966,
former US military commander in Vietnam, General Westmoreland, said the
graduating students: The Vietnamese come to shoot us with rifles we use in the
USA for pigeons; at the same time, we have the most sophisticated and
devastating weapons one can imagine and yet we cannot subdue them. Unless
we have the support of the native population there is nothing much that we can
do. And the Vietnamese as a whole view us as enemies.
This was also confirmed by US military commander in Afghanistan,
General McChrystal, who, like General Westmoreland, said that without the
support of the people in Afghanistan there is nothing much that the United
States and its war allies can do. He pointed out flatly that the people in
Afghanistan in general viewed the US troops as enemies. There is nothing of a
surprise in this since many good and innocent civilians were killed by Americans
and had their houses and all of their belongings destroyed.
The USA may become the salvation of the world if it were to take the
initiative to change the nature of the military from one of destruction to one of
construction, from a belligerent entity to a humanitarian institution. All the
money used on the military would then be used only for constructive purposes
with positive results. But the USA still speaks of anti-ballistic missiles and of
sharing nuclear information with nations it views as allies. Of course, this keeps
encouraging the little Davids that are bent to destroy the Goliaths of our time.
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What is ironic lays in the fact that war alliances, headed by the United
States, cannot understand anything, which is not in line with the culture of war
mind-set. They still keep on thinking of wars fought between nations, which
have specific boundaries found in our various continents. Besides, such war
allied nations do not admit actions they take which are fully provocative, like the
case of American and South Korean forces performing joint military exercises
close to Japan and China.
Ultimate Choice in Perspective
In view of what has been stated, we may begin to realize and understand
why so called terrorist activities keep on going with no end in sight. Many of us
still cannot comprehend that the objective of these so called of terrorists is not to
“defeat” the United States militarily but merely to “weaken” its economic
potential by continuing to force this world power to spend money, not on the
vital needs of the American people, but on the manufacture and sales of
weapons, the maintenance of 746 foreign military bases, and the eventual
implementation of the star wars concept.
As a result, the United States has incurred the largest economic debt in
history, which is putting it on the road of economic collapse following the
footsteps of the Soviet Union. Is there a way out? Is there a way that would
outsmart the present terrorists and all prospective ones in the future? Is there a
way that would bring about a permanent world peace where everyone will be a
winner and no one a loser? The answer to such questions is a qualitative yes,
which is easily done through the implementation of the Golden Rule.
As a matter of fact, the Golden Rule remains the only hope we have at our
disposal for the eventual establishment of a permanent world peace. This brings
to our mind the warning former US President Eisenhower gave to the United
States Congress in his farewell speech. He said emphatically: “Remember that all
people of all nations want peace, only their government wants war.” In studies
made on so called terrorists it was discovered that these are generally young men
who lost their will to live along with the very concept of fear.
This was due to the fact that they lost several of their family members and
friends, along with the destruction of their properties through a conventional
war fought on their own land by foreign military forces. If the United States and
its military allies continue to use military force to solve human problems, not
only such problems would not eventually be solved, but they are planting the
seeds for an eventual Armageddon, where everyone will be a loser and no one a
winner. Respect for the Golden Rule remains the only hope for human survival.
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