Spiritual Growth Network of Kentucky

A GLOBAL ETHIC, by Ingrid Shafer,

Planting Seeds of Loving Kindness:
A Meta Religion to bridge chasms and celebrate creative spiritual diversity
Ingrid Shafer 1974

The time has come for a new religion--not to supplant or replace the religions of old, but to connect, complete, and complement them. The time is ripe for a new faith--a faith without a church, without an anointed priesthood, without offerings and buildings and material trappings, without all the symbols of wealth and power which have polluted the waters of religious intention since times immemorial. This new faith transcends all religions by accepting their partial validity while denying that there is any One True Path or exclusive mode of salvation. This new faith can be followed by adherents of all religions and none, simply by appealing to their own basic tenets of love and mutual cooperation. It demands of them only a deepening of their commitment to the highest ideals of their particular faith (in the broadest sense to include secular humanism, for example) and the willingness to accept truth both as having a transcendent ground and as an organic, dynamic function of space and time.

This new faith is a way of life to be practiced every moment of every day according to one's capabilities. It assumes that everyone, even the most hardened criminal and social outcast, knows occasional moments of goodness, and knows them for what they are deep in his heart. It does not demand but invite--invite to love, to share, to forgive, to care--as much or as little as one can for the time being without causing excessive discomfort to oneself. It is not a faith for martyrs and demands no feats of self denial and self-flagellating altruism. It simply reminds us to attempt to live up to the best we can be at any given moment, and it assumes that as human beings we can, in fact, be centers of love and light. It does not saddle us with shame and guilt and secret fears. Because we are human we may fail; because we are human we can succeed!

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives; the past has no power over us; we can atone for the sins of our past in and through the positive thoughts and actions of the present and future.

There are no church services, no sacraments, no sermons, no specific commandments--apart from the insistence on leading our lives in the spirit of truth and love, and on treating others fairly, as equals, as persons worthy of respect, the way we would want them to deal with us. There are no prayers for personal gain or miraculous intercession into the inexorable workings of nature. The only prayer which followers might find helpful is a quick thought which requires no particular bodily attitude or sacred environment: "Divine source of love and truth, be my guide through darkness and confusion." This prayer should be repeated as many times during the day as opportunities for rash and unloving actions arise. The thought alone might stop the lying word, the destructive act, the vengeful plot.

We shall never know how far our influence extends. Like engenders like. If we do good we not only develop a personal habit of doing good but we plant a seed which might fall into fertile soil and take root in the minds and hearts of others. If we do evil we also plant a seed, and it too can grow within us and the soul-soil of others. Let us determine today to plant as many seeds of loving kindness as we can. Let us envision those seeds taking root and growing into a forest of healthy trees which will crowd out the tangled underbrush of envy, hatred, and deceit.

Peace, Ingrid
The Global Ethic Project

Ingrid Shafer

posted by Paschal Baute @ 4:27 PM |