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DIVINE FEMININE

The voice inside the mountain speaks to me, tells me again not to be afraid, tells me that there is only love in this world. Our choice is to be in love or in fear. But to choose to be in love means  to have a mountain inside of you, means to have the heart of the world inside you, means you will feel another’s suffering inside your body and you

will weep. You will have no protection from the world’s pain because you will know it as your own….Do not be afraid. The body remembers, it never forgets. It is your own knowing that you hide from, and do not know.
China Galland, “Longing for Darkness: Tara and the Black Madonna.” Quoted in the “Chrysalis Connection.”
 

HINDUISM

If one takes one’s own or another’s life, one becomes an outcaste.
Apastamba Dharma Sutra 1.10.28.17
They that are desirous of victory do not conquer by might and energy so much as by truth, compassion, righteousness, and spiritual discipline.
Mahabharata, Bhisma Parva 21 Quoted in “World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts,” p 342, 744.
 

BUDDHISM

Victory breeds hatred, for the defeated live in pain. Happily live the peaceful, giving up victory and defeat.
Dhammapada 201. Quoted in “World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts,” p 708.
 

ZOROASTRIAN

Those are the future saviors of the peoples
Who through Good Mind strive in their deeds
To carry out the judgement which thou hast decreed,
O Wise One, as righteousness.
For they were created the foes of Fury.
The Zend Avesta of Zarathustra, Yasna 48.12 “World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts,” p 741.
 

ABORIGINAL RELIGIONS

Mitakuye owasin -– all my relations.
God put four relatives on this earth (humans, animals, birds and medicines) and I want to acknowledge them….Those four relatives have an important role in helping me try to live my life. That is why I want to say, Mitakuye owasin -– all my relations….
So, if I don’t want to learn bad things then I have to learn about compassion, forgiveness, respect, gifts, trust, truth and honour…. I have to go and put them in action. To me, if somebody followed those steps there would be nothing broken. If there is a brokenness, then they got to go back to their learnings and understanding things again.
A Dakota Perspective on Compassion and Forgiveness. Bob Wasicuna. In “Compassion and Forgiveness.”

Reach consensus involving the whole community.
Reconciliation and restitution rather than punishment.
Focus is not blame but the wider reasons.
Restore harmony through learning and healing.
Four Principles of Aboriginal Justice. Rupert Ross “Return to the Teachings.”
 

JUDAISM

Thou shall not kill.
Exodus 20:13
How do you pray that sinners die?
Rather pray that they should repent,
And thus there will be no more wickedness.
Talmud, Berakot 10a. Quoted in “World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts,” p 743.
 

CHRISTIANITY

So stand your ground, with truth a belt around your waist, and uprightness a breastplate, wearing for shoes on your feet the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace, and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to quench the burning arrows of the Evil One. And then you must take the salvation as your helmet and the sword of the Spirit, that is, the word of God.
Ephesians 6.14-17 The New Jerusalem Bible.
 

ISLAM

What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the wrongs of the injured.
Hadith. Quoted in “Allow Us To recognize Thee…”
The Prophet declared, “We have returned from the lesser holy war (al jihad al-ashgar) to the greater holy war (al jihad al-akbar).” They asked: “O Prophet of God, which is the greater war?” he replied, “Struggle against the lower self.”
Hadith. Quoted in “World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts,” p 523.
So this light of Unity
Has shone in all ages and among all nations,
Through chosen Messengers of Allah, who came
As people to dwell among people,
To share their joys and sorrows,
To suffer for them and with them….
At length came the time when the Voice of Unity
Should speak and declare to the People….
To declare with unfaltering voice
The Unity of Allah, the Family of Humanity,
And Grace and Mercy , Bounty and Love,
Poured out in unstinted measure forever and ever.
Commentary 7, 8, 11. The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an ‘Abdullah Yusuf ‘Ali
 

Hazrat Inayat Khan

Religion which was given and is given, wherever it is given, religion which was given for unity, for harmony, for brotherhood/sisterhood, was used by childish human nature to fight and to dispute and to engage themselves in battles for years and years.
Hazrat Inayat Khan. The Unity of Religious Ideals.