Welcome to OneLife Ministries, an online ministry of Arem Nahariim-Samadhi and Love Light Fellowship. This site is here to lead you into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. We recognize “that of the Sacred in each one” and celebrate the diversity of expressions of our Oneness in Grace. We are for peace and nonviolence, and equal rights and justice for all. I hope persons of varied wisdom paths will find inspiration here. Welcome!
You are invited to join Arem at Love Light Fellowship on Facebook and his personal wall Arem Nahariim-Samadhi. You can book Arem for online or telephone spiritual guidance sessions, retreats, workshops, poetry readings, speaking or leading worship gatherings, ... His email is briankwilcox@yahoo.com .
We Share One Life, We Are One Life
Faith Affirmation of Love Light Fellowship
An Interspiritual-Interfaith-Integral Life Community
Let's stand together, as One..., and create a new world of Peace & LOVE..
Today, I am honored for Love Light Fellowship, and OneLife Ministries, to offer a worship presentation by Rev. Anthony Farmer. Rev. Farmer is from Richmond, VA, and lives in Washington, DC. He serves as an interfaith minister at Visions of the Heart Spiritual Life Center, in Maryland. He is an ordained member of the Order of Universal Interfaith and, also, Community of the Mystic Heart. Rev. Farmer was graduated by The New Seminary, in Interfaith Ministry. For more of the ministry of Rev. Farmer, go to www.revanthonyfarmer.com .
WALKING THE GOLDEN RULE
A Sacred Message given by Reverend Anthony Farmer, OUnI, CMH, at the 3rd Sunday Service of Visions of the Heart Spiritual Life Center, Mount Rainer, Maryland.
Our theme today is “Walking the Golden Rule.” I recall the music just heard "He Ma Durga," from Donna De Lory. In the song, she says “I want to love through your love. I want to feel what you feel.” The word Durga is one of the names for the universal Mother. In this form she is known as the protectress, or the savior, from crisis. De Lory writes, “I think of this as a call to the divine Mother, that we may embody her perfect example of unconditional love and compassion.”
This is ... “A call to the Divine Mother that we may embody her perfect example of unconditional love and compassion.” Many believe, including myself, that the Golden rule, “Do unto others as we would have done unto to us,” is a call for compassion.
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Most of us have been taught the Golden Rule as in the New Testament - Matthew 7:12, in George Lamsa's translatin of the Aramaic Peshitta: “Whatever you wish men to do for you, do likewise also for them; for this is the law and the prophets.” This is the Golden Rule as spoken through Christianity.
The Golden Rule is guidance on how we should treat people; some believe it is guidance on how we should treat others, which includes but is not limited to people. Through the many different religions and spiritual traditions, there are many different ways of understanding divinity, God, deities, beliefs and practices. However, there is a common thread within many, if not all, about how we are to treat one another. This is called the Ethic of Reciprocity:
In Hinduism it is written: “Do no do to others what would cause pain if done to you.”
In Jainism it is written:“One should treat all creatures in the world as one would like to be treated.” ... “In happiness and suffering, in joy and grief, we should regard all creatures as we regard our own self.”
In Native American Spirituality it is written that Chief Seattle taught: "Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.”
In Taoism it is written: “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain and regard your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.”
In each example we hear a recurrent theme of how to treat others ... threat them as you wish to be treated.
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The Golden Rule is a call for compassion in how we treat others. Treat them as we wish to be treated. This leads to the question. How do you wish to be treated? Do you wish to be treated with kindness, from a place of compassion, with dignity, from a place of love, honor and respect? And if this is how you wish to be treated, is this how you treat others?
Now, sometimes, people will present themselves in your life in such a way that can really challenge your understanding and implementation of the Golden Rule, especially if they “step you too incorrectly." Such as ... the driver who cuts you off ... the person in the grocery store who bangs your cart and looks at you as if you should not be in his or her way ... the co-worker who seems to take credit for the work you do ... the family member who believes you should be thankful and grateful that they are asking you for money.
It can be challenging to apply the Golden Rule. But the Golden Rule does not say you have to do what the other person wants just because they want it. Even though this may be what we want ... ”I want what I want when I want it.” I believe we all want what we want, but in our heart of hearts we do not want it if it brings harm to others. Also, we may want what we want, but that does not mean someone else must give it to us.
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So the Golden Rule says do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Treat them with respect and dignity and honor even if you have to say “No.” Treat them with respect and compassion even if you have to say “No, thank you.” The Golden Rule is not about giving someone what he or she wants. The Golden Rule is about treating them in an honorable way.
In Buddhism it is written: “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful”
In Shintoism it is written: “Hurt not others with that which pains yourself”
In Yoruba it is written: “One giving to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try in on himself to feel how it hurts.”
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Edwin Markham writes, “We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; let us now commit it to life.” To commit the Golden Rule to life, to walk the Golden Rule, is to let our actions and behaviors and thoughts be guided by the Golden Rule, or the Ethic of Reciprocity.
And I dare say that everyone here, to some degree, understands and tries to live with the Golden Rule, if not as your personal mantra, in some form.
However, I ask the questions: Are you living the Golden Rule when it comes to yourself? Are you treating yourself as you wish others to treat you? If you want others to treat you with dignity, honor, respect, compassion, humanity…. are you treating yourself with that same dignity, honor, respect, compassion, humanity? Are you treating yourself with the same loving hand and heart that you treat others?
In Sufism it is written: “The basis of Sufism is consideration of the hearts and feelings of others. If you haven’t the will to gladden someone’s heart, then at least beware lest you hurt someone’s heart, for on your path, no sin exists but this.”
The Golden Rule, as stated here, is a call to be considerate of another persona’s heart and another person’s feelings.
I offer that we must also apply the Golden Rule to ourselves. For instance: “The basis ... is consideration of the heart and feeling of myself. If I haven’t the will to gladden my own heart, then at least beware lest I hurt my own heart, for on my path, no sin exists but this.”
We all have heard, "You have to love yourself first before you can love others.” Whereas I agree with this, some hear it as being selfish, because it goes against what they may have been taught. So I offer, treat yourself with love, respect, honor, dignity, compassion and humanity AS YOU treat others with love, respect, honor, dignity, compassion, and humanity. Let us make it not an either or, but an AND.
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In Unitarianism, it is written, a Unitarian Principle: "We affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part."
You can personalize this as: "I affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which I am a part."
The Golden Rule is a call for compassion, dignity, honor, respect, love and humanity in how I treat others. It is also a call for compassion, dignity, honor, respect, love and humanity in how I treat myself as well.
In Shintoism it is written, “The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there, your own form.”
As you honor their heart, you honor your own, and as you honor your heart, you honor theirs. Compassion, or love in action, is how we commit the Golden Rule in our lives. Such is how we walk the Golden Rule.
I offer this to you in love, and so it is in love. Thank you.
