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The World Is One Family
Take 1.
Love God. Love yourself. Love others.
Taking the love of your family seriously is a profound path to global redemption. Begin by loving yourself, as self-love is the foundation of all relationships. Extend this love to your children, who are a part of you. Then, love your spouse, who, despite not being genetically related, is your chosen partner. This makes them “the stranger” you have welcomed into your heart.
Next, extend your love to your extended family, and then to your community or nation. As your capacity for love grows, try extending it out to other nations, and ultimately, embrace the world with love. By nurturing your family, you contribute to a world filled with love, kindness, harmony, and peace.
The World Is One Family
Take 2.
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said the following:
YOU CHANGE THE WORLD
NOT BY THE IDEA OF POWER,
BUT BY THE POWER OF AN IDEA.
Here is an IDEA. It is an approach to promoting peace. It is an IDEA that has the power to uplift, unite, empower, and help create a kinder, more compassionate community and world. May this idea grow wings and fly like a dove that brings a message of hope.
Please join in spreading this IDEA. It is a basic truth that needs to be realized. If you'd like to join in spreading this needed message, feel free to email me and I'll send you a sticker with "The World Is One Family" logo to help spread the word. (Available while supplies last.)
Here's the short explanation:
All of Human life is sacred and precious.
The World is One Family because we all come from Adam and Eve.
The World Is One Family because we all share common ancestors.
The World Is One Family because when we trace our religion back to Abraham.
Here's my personal favorite:
The World Is One family because we are all the Divine's creation.
Our common humanity is greater than our differences and there is a love within ALL of our hearts that unite us. Let's lift up our vision and our discourse.
Do you also think it's an IDEA whose time has come?
The World Is One Family
Take 3
Rabbi Akiva taught: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). This is the most important rule in the Torah. (Jerusalem Talmud Nedarim 30b)
Love and kindness is the approach which will move us closer toward the ideal for which the world is destined.
We must learn how to truly love (1) ourselves, (2) our own family and community, and (3) ultimately those with different backgrounds including "the stranger." We should remember that we ourselves were strangers. Caring for the stranger is the work of all who wish to follow the lead of Abraham. It is also a core part of realizing peace and harmony in the world.
Trying to love the stranger is not easy but it is a requirement.
There are those who mean to do violence and to destroy in this regard we need not be foolish. I am not suggesting that we bury our heads in the sand or disassemble necessary defenses. At the same time, we must not let fear stop us from caring for the stranger and making progress toward wholeness, unity, lovingkindness and and peace. As we move forward with faith and hope and kindness, we will grow more united, stronger, more resourceful and resilient.
So many of us long for the day when we can "beat our swords into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks" and when "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore" (Isaiah 2:4). This has always been our ultimate dream and we will never abandon it. We sincerely long for the day of divinely inspired cooperation and harmony.
May the day soon come when less money will need to be used for weapons, and more money will be used for constructive, life giving, productive purposes.
On a local level, let's take little steps to reach out to the stranger, those who have fallen through the cracks, those with no voice, and those who are suffering from hunger or are lacking other basic necessities. With kindness, caring, and sensitivity, we can provide help and share resources. We have the strength to lend a hand and this is perhaps the surest way to create more goodwill among neighbors.
The World Is One Family is not my own brainchild. The message is wide spread. You can see it on great buildings and watch the message displayed in the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics. It is a pristine vision worth moving toward even while all nations are still so far from the ideal of purity. https://olympics.com/en/news/beijing-2022-opening-ceremony-one-world-one-family
Additional note: Music and song can bring a person where words alone can not: Watch and listen to "Hinei Ma Tov Singalong with Isaac Zones (lyrics video)" which I found on YouTube https://youtu.be/ehnKHhJ26pQ If we can sing together then maybe we will come to understand and "Behold how good and how pleasing/ for brothers (people) to sit together in unity." This is the translation to the song.
Shimon the Righteous was accustomed to say: The world is based on three things-on the Torah, on the service of God, and upon acts of loving-kindness (Pirkei Avot 1:3)
A great yoga master, Kripalu, who I've studied said that "No matter what religion we are following, if we cannot love others then we are not following religion but the illusion of religion. Where there is no unity, no love, no harmony among each other, how can there be religion?"
