The Golden Rule and the Unity of Religions.
Luis
Henrique Beust
April 2014
Translation to English: Arian Monadjem
We are used to seeing religions as distinct
entities. We are taught to pick out the differences rather than the
similarities amongst them. Furthermore, we learn to consider our own religion
(or the one that relates to our culture) as the correct one, and to see all
others as fantasies, if not false beliefs and ideologies.
However, when we commit ourselves to
studying the many world religions without prejudice and with both a scientific
and compassionate approach, it becomes evident that they have far more in
common than was initially thought. In fact, they appear as variations of the
same universal themes: 1) the Creator, 2) His Creation, 3) His love for His
Creatures, 4) the revelation of the Creator to His Creatures and 5) His
teachings so that they may achieve salvation.
The revelation of God is always attributed
to an intermediary character: a Messiah, a Prophet, a Messenger, a Manifestation.
Some of Their Names have been preserved throughout history: Krishna (Hinduism),
Moses (Judaism), Zoroaster (Zoroastrianism), Buda (Buddhism), Jesus Christ
(Christianity), Mohammed (Islam), the Bab (Bábí Faith), Bahá’u’lláh (Bahá’í
Faith), and many more that have been forgotten over the passing of millennia.
Generally, the followers of each of the Founders
of these religions place their own Prophet above all others. From the Bahá’í
point of view, this is a sad mistake, which leads to prejudice and fanaticism.
According to the Bahá’í teachings, the same and unique God sends all the Prophets,
to illumine humanity with Their words in each era. They are like unto distinct
teachers in the same Divine School.
In Christianity, we see that some people
refuse to believe that Jesus was a Prophet. They place Him above all other
Manifestations because of His title: the “Son of God”. All Prophets have had
some kind of title: Moses was “the One who spoke with God”, Abraham was the
“Friend of God”, Bahá’u’lláh is the “Glory of God” and so on, and so forth.
Whoever refuses to see Jesus as a Prophet like the others, therefore, is
negating the Bible itself. In the Old Testament, when Moses prophesizes the
coming of Christ, it is said:
The Lord thy God
will raise up onto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy
brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken. –
Deuteronomy 18:15[1]
In the New Testament, St. Luke, in the Book
of Acts, confirms that this prophecy refers to Christ:
…And he shall send Jesus Christ,
which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the
times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all
his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers,
A prophet [Christ] shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say
unto you. And it shall come to pass, that
every soul, which will not hear that prophet [Christ], shall be
destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and
those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these
days. – Acts 3:20-24.[2]
Similarly,
in the Gospel of John we read:
Philip findeth Nathanael,
and saith unto him, we have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the
prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. – John 1:45
Then those men,
when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that
prophet [Christ] that should come into the world.” [3]
– John 6:14
We must
understand that being a “Prophet” does in no ways diminish the greatness of Christ,
quite the contrary. Throughout the millennia, the title “Prophet” was always been
reserved for the Holy Manifestations of God, the Intermediaries between the
Creator and His creatures.
If we
decide to investigate the similarities between the diverse world religions, it
will not be hard to see that all their spiritual teachings are identical. All
of them, without exception, teach us to love God above all things and to love our
“neighbor” as we love ourselves. They all taught goodness, justice,
truthfulness, compassion, forgiveness, honesty, fidelity and all other virtues
and moral values.
Not a
single religion taught hate, dislike, lying, injustice, mercilessness. So why
are they different? Bahá’u’lláh (1817-1892), the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith,
taught that religions have two great dimensions: 1) Spiritual dimension, and 2)
Social dimension. In the Spiritual dimension, all religions are identical: all
teach good and condemn evil; but in the social dimension, each of the religious
teachings are adapted to the historical and social reality of the people they
are born into.
In other
words, Religions tend to the spiritual, social and cultural requirements of the
time and people they are born in. In what regards their social aspect, these
world religions differ just because the conditions of humanity in each period
is different from another. That is why teachings such as fasting, divorce,
dietary restrictions, etc. differ from one religion to the other.
According
to this vision, the different religions may be seen as different islands,
which, on the waters surface, may seem distinct and separated from one another,
but on the bedrock, they all share the same foundation. Bahá’u’lláh wrote:
Know thou assuredly that
the essence of all the Prophets of God is one and the same. Their unity is
absolute. God, the Creator, saith: There is no distinction whatsoever among the
Bearers of My Message. They all have but one purpose; their secret is the same
secret. To prefer one in honor to another, to exalt certain ones above the
rest, is in no wise to be permitted. Every true Prophet hath regarded His
Message as fundamentally the same as the
Revelation
of every other Prophet gone before Him […] It is clear and evident, therefore,
that any apparent variation in the intensity of their light is not inherent in
the light itself, but should rather be attributed to the varying receptivity of
an ever-changing world. – Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh XXXIV.
Bahá’u’lláh
also compares the religions to the education that children receive at school,
and the different Prophets to the different teachers, entrusted to relay the
adequate knowledge to the age and development of the children in each grade.
Although they are distinct, all teachers have the same purpose: advance the
children’s knowledge and wisdom. Bahá’u’lláh calls this process “progressive
revelation”, in other words, God manifests Himself progressively, through several
Divine Messengers, Who founded the different religions, conducting humanity
step by step to higher levels of perception, understanding, spirituality and
social development.
As
an example of this unity of the teachings in the diversity of religion, consider
the so-called “golden rule”, existent in all spiritual traditions of humanity.
It is understood as the “holy of holies”, the essence, the core, the
fundamental nucleus of the teachings of all world religions, and throughout the
millennia – although expressed with different words and phrasing –, it has
always been the same.
Nowadays,
in the 21st century, it is possible to eliminate religious prejudice
and hatred from people’s hearts through a historical and scientific perspective
that knowledge allows us to have. Certainly this would be the most noble thing
about a man’s faith: To follow the golden rule of his religion to the utmost,
in a universal and truthful manner, and so, find in the followers of all other
religions, true brothers in the mystical and ineluctable journey towards the
Creator.
The Golden Rule
Holy Scriptures and
traditions of the world
Hinduism (Krishna, 5000 years ago,
India)
"Do not to others what ye do not wish
done to yourself; and wish for others too, what ye desire and long for, for
yourself. This is the whole of Dharma [Law], heed it well." — The Mahabharata. Anusasana Parva 113.8
Judaism (Moses, 3400 years ago,
Egypt-Palestine)
What is hateful to you; do not to your
fellow man. That is the law: all the rest is commentary. — The Talmud
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself. Leviticus 19:18
Zoroastrianism (Zoroaster, 2600
years ago, Persia)
That which is good for all and any one,
for whomsoever – that is good for me. What I hold good for self, I should for
all. Only Law Universal, is true Law." - Yasana-Gathas
Buddhism (Buda, 2500 years ago,
Nepal-India)
There is nothing dearer to man than himself;
therefore, as it is the same thing that is dear to you and to others, hurt not
others with what pains yourself. — Dammapada 5:18
Christianity (Jesus Christ, 2000
years ago, Palestine)
All things whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to them.
— Matthew 7:12
Yorubá tradition (1200 years ago, Nigeria)[4]
One going to take a pointed stick to pinch
a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts.
Islam (Mohammed, 1400 years ago,
Arabia)
Not one of you is a believer until he
desires for another that which he desires for himself. — Number
13 of Imam “Al-Nawawi’s Forty Hadiths
Bahá’í Faith (Bahá’u’lláh, 170
years ago, Persia)
Lay not on any soul a load which ye would
not wish to be laid upon you, and desire not for any one the things ye would
not desire for yourselves. This is My best counsel unto you, did ye but observe
it. — Gleanings From The Writings of Bahá’u’lláh LXVI
O son of man! If thine eyes be turned
towards mercy, forsake the things that profit thee, and cleave unto that which
will profit mankind. And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou
for thy neighbor that which thou choosest for thyself. — Bahá’u’lláh’s “Words
of Paradise”.
