Tag: Spread Love

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The Golden Rule: Can Religions Work Together?

“I’d been reading up on comparative religion. The thing is that all major religions have the Golden Rule in Common. ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ Not always the same words but the same meaning.”

— Norman Rockwell

The concept of the “Golden Rule” is taught in all major world religions. It is a statement, in summary, of the basic requirements for all human behavior. While the sentiment may be expressed in different ways, the message is the same: treat others the way you would want to be treated. The concept may seem simple enough, but oftentimes, it appears to be easier said than done. Although the Golden Rule is a fundamental obligation in all religions, as Blaise Pascal put it, “[m]en never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” This week, we’ll be thinking about whether or not truly adopting the Golden Rule can allow people from different religious backgrounds and beliefs to work together to make the world a better place.

Studies have shown that religion can have a positive influence on many aspects of society, and throughout human history, nations have made religion a part of their governmental systems. For example, Judaism teaches that when God established Israel as a nation, He gave them a theocracy to help govern them. Currently, 20% of the countries in the world have an established state religion. However, in almost all of the countries where state religions exist, a variety of abuses and atrocities have taken place. Religion has been used to control people rather than to serve them.

That said, it is important to consider how and why something born of pure intentions becomes corrupted. How do we go from the Golden Rule to religion being used as justification for hurting and/or controlling people? Perhaps it is because of some combination of humans being imperfect, ignorance, and self-serving interests that religion can be turned into a curse rather than a blessing. Perhaps it relates back to a person’s perception of God being based more on condemnation and judgment than love. Perhaps religion is seen by many as a means to an end rather than a journey of growth and enlightenment. It’s important for us to ask ourselves what, if anything, we want to accomplish by believing and to assess how that agenda impacts us and the world around us.

If the Golden Rule is fundamental for everyone, is it so impossible that we could find a way to co-exist peacefully in purpose, even if not in belief? If nations or different ideologies wanted to become allies against anything that violated the Golden Rule…the Rule of Love…is it so impossible that they could do it as “equal-but-different” partners? Instead of pushing conformity to one thing over the other, is it possible to learn to accept and respect the fact that there will always be differences? Different people may be pursuing or encouraging different final goals, but why can’t the Golden Rule be the metric by which we gauge how we interact with each other right now? Couldn’t it be possible for everyone to encourage each other to achieve the best that their different traditions require of them while working together to oppose the negative things we can agree on?

The “fish-run principle”, which Zen Buddhists derive from Chuang-Tzu, states: “A fish-run is constructed to catch fish: we should keep the fish and forget the run. A snare is to catch a rabbit: we should keep the rabbit and forget the snare. Words are to transmit meaning: we should keep the meaning and forget the words.” We may not all speak the same languages or come from the same cultures or believe in the same things, but it isn’t impossible for different people to find common ground. If we can agree on things like compassion, love, respect, humility, empathy, and just treating others the way we want to be treated, who knows what kind of impact that collective mission and purpose could have.

What do you think? Is the Golden Rule fundamental? Is it possible for people from different religious backgrounds to work together? What areas of common ground do you think exist? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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Journey to Forgiveness

Hello, my name is Paige Baxter. I’ve recently gone through a life-changing, personal healing journey. During that journey, my mindset, thinking, how I act, and even the things that I post on social media have changed. I was asked by my cousin to share my views with you all, not only on my journey, but on the power of forgiveness. First things first, though. I think it is important for you to know a little bit about my journey and how I got here……….

I’ve put tons of energy into myself in 2019. I’ve purposely invested time in myself in order to truly heal…heal my soul and my heart. Through my healing journey, I was blessed enough to find God again, and at a time in my life when I needed him the most. You see, I was at a place in my life where I needed to re-find my glory, remember whose child I was, and rediscover my true life’s calling. Finding God this time around was different than when I found him during my years in the church. Being able to reconnect with him on a spiritual level has given me the ability to not only understand certain things in the Bible, but to have a better understanding of how the universe, karma, vibrations, thoughts, and energy all work and flow together to create our reality. My faith and belief in God are stronger than ever before and it’s now a bond and a unique understanding that can never be broken. No, I’m not Christian, and I do not practice religion. I believe in spirituality, meditating, smudging, crystals, chakras, sage, and energy. I believe in the power of the SOUL and its ability to connect with God on a spiritual level.

As I poured energy into myself and God, beautiful things began to take place in my life. Once strained relationships began to heal all on their own, my spirit became lighter, my light began to shine brighter, my heart became happier, and my smile became infectious. I realized that in doing this I had begun to heal myself from the inside, which in turn manifested into my reality on the outside.

One day, I sat back and took the time to realize how healing my soul also allowed me to forgive, major key! We will all face hurt, pain, and trauma in our lives. It’s similar to death in that it’s inevitable. I realized that before I took the time and effort to heal myself, I had never been able to forgive the people who had hurt me throughout the years; the people that betrayed me, played me, abandoned me, tried to break me, and legit prayed for my downfall. I carried that pain with me every day and I took it everywhere I went. It became the unseen baggage in my life. It created an internal weight on me, causing me to become emotional every time I spoke about it. It made my soul heavy. 

It’s funny to me now because I used to preach forgiveness to my friends and family, but I didn’t even know what it was or what it even really felt like.  Through healing and through God, first and foremost, I was able to be made whole again, and in that, I was able to forgive all of those that spoke against or trespassed against me. Through loving God and myself, I was able to let go of the pain and the baggage, truly letting the past stay in the past; it was at that point that I realized that I was able to forgive EVERYONE! I did not carry them with me everywhere, and I no longer took that pain and anguish with me either. My soul became lighter and started to shine brighter and brighter.

What are the lessons about forgiveness that I have learned throughout my healing journey, you ask?

Recently, I was on social media and I ran across a post from one of the many people who have trespassed in my life.  I immediately began typing, preparing to point out their hypocrisy and decided to speak my “truth” and “expose” them. As I laid there trying to come with what I was going to say, how I was going to say it, and if it would be too many characters to fit in the comment box….something happened. A voice (God) came over me, and I felt a sense of calmness, and “exposing” that person was no longer on my spirit. Through forgiving them and a strong relationship with God, I realized that having the last word is not always needed. I know what happened, they know what they did, and no matter how it’s masked, in reality, there is also another person that knows, too: my mighty and faithful God. 

At the end of the day, we all have to answer for our sins, mistakes, shortcomings and wrongdoings. I won’t have to answer for what they did, but I will have to answer for what I did with my time on this planet. When I thought about my answer to “exposing” said person, I realized I couldn’t even use the “I didn’t know better at the time” excuse; I did know better, so I listened to God and decided against it.

Growth for me was walking away from an opportunity like that and keeping it between God and I. When I sat down and thought about it, I was able to do that through the power of forgiveness. When I realized the power that forgiveness created in my life, I realized the pain, hurt and the people that did those things no longer had power over me. For years, I’ve heard people say “you forgive people for yourself, not for them” and never got it…until I was today years old. Through the power of forgiving, I was able to release my traumatic baggage by relinquishing their power/hold over my life. 

All in all, my good people, don’t let the trespassers against you win. Believe in God, believe in yourself, in your light, and in love. If you don’t take away anything else from me and my journey, just remember, they failed because God WON! Peace, Prosperity, Positivity, Aśe! – Paigey B.

Paige Baxter was born and raised on the west side of Detroit. She has a BA in Psychology from Wayne
State University. Her love and passion for mental health and for working with children placed a calling on her life to be a social worker, a field she’s worked in for the last 3 years. She seeks to impact the world through her testimony, her ability to uplift, encourage, and inspire others to believe in themselves. She wants people to see the beauty within themselves and recognize their own worth and just how amazing and magical they can be. She takes pride in being blessed so that she may be a blessing to others. She believes that is the true meaning of being human and being a child of God.


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David’s Truth

by David Baxter

Hello, my name is David Baxter. I was born in 1956 to an interracial couple in the City of Detroit, MI. Growing up amidst the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements while having a Caucasian woman as my mother made my adolescent years extremely challenging. It became clear to me that being fully accepted into the society I lived in was never going to happen. Even excelling athletically (I was the 61st player selected in the 1978 NBA Draft) could not get me over the hump. After a brief professional career, I retired and used drugs and alcohol to mask the pain caused by years of rejection.

In 1984, a high school friend shared his faith in Christ with me and after a few Bible studies, I became a Christian, too, and I was baptized. That suppressed my pain for a while and I served faithfully in my church for 30 years, only to reach a place where I discovered that I had more questions than the church’s teachings had answers. My faith gave way to doubt and my uncertainty in God’s love for me led me to choose the path of the prodigal son, and I ended up going to a proverbial “far country.”

While I was in the “pig pen” expecting God’s wrath to come in whatever form, even illness or death, I waited…and waited…and it was there that I actually discovered His mercy. Whether I stayed in the “miry clay” or returned to “my Father’s house”, He revealed to me that His love has no conditions. That revelation freed me, and I chose to return to my amazing wife and children. My family also embraced me for who I was, a flawed human being. Their capacity to forgive me and love me through my healing as they were going through their own healing processes helped me to see in them something I’d never seen before: the love of God with no conditions.

I now have a newfound hope and renewed purpose and I can say, like God’s servant Job in Job 42:5, “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you.”
Thank you, Father. Thank you, Renée. I love you.