Inspiration
Every tradition, one instruction: love one another. A library of unity-consciousness from the world's scripture.
Beneath every path is a single teaching, dressed in different words. Here it is, gathered from the primary bodies of the world's scripture — the golden rule, the command to love, and the vision of one life in all of us.
O mankind, We have created you from male and female, and made you into peoples and tribes that you may know one another.
When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.
Recognize the whole human race as one.
May all beings be happy; may all beings be free from illness; may all beings see what is auspicious; may no one suffer.
I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.
Truth is one; the wise call it by many names.
Within the four seas, all people are brothers.
There was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.
No one is my enemy, and no one is a stranger to me. I get along with everyone.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.
He inviteth them all to come unto him, the black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he denieth none that come unto him.
The believers are but brothers, so make peace between your brothers.
Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
One who sees all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, hates no one.
Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.
Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.
The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.
The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
This is mine, that is his — so think the small-minded. To the large of heart, the whole world is one family.
Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless love toward all beings.
The sage has no fixed heart; he takes the heart of the people as his heart.
None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Is there one word that can guide a person’s whole life? It is reciprocity: what you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.
Show forgiveness, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the ignorant.
The sage is good at saving people, and so no one is rejected.
Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good: to act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
From the One Light, the entire world has arisen. Who then is good, and who is bad?
Feed my sheep
Christ’s last charge to Peter was not a riddle: “Feed my sheep.” Across every tradition the same word comes down — feed one another, for the hungry guest is God in disguise, and the food on our table is God.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat… whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
He who earns by his own labor and shares with others — O Nanak, he alone knows the true way.
O Son of Man! Bestow My wealth upon My poor, that I may bestow on thee My heavenly kingdom.
He who gives food gives strength; he who gives clothes gives beauty; he who gives shelter gives ease; but he who gives the Dhamma gives the deathless.
And they give food, out of love for Him, to the poor, the orphan, and the captive, saying, “We feed you only for the sake of God.”
Feed the hungry, visit the sick, and set free the captive who is unjustly bound.
Leave the gleanings of your harvest for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you.
From food all creatures are born; having been born, they grow by food. Food is eaten and it eats things. Food, verily, is Brahman.
Feed my sheep.
The righteous who eat what remains after offering are released from sin; but sinners who cook only for themselves eat sin.
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, your light will rise in the darkness.
Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food… and one of you says, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs — what good is it?
Righteousness is to spend from your wealth, out of love, for kin, orphans, the needy, the traveler, and those who ask.
Thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support.
Ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need.
Give. Do not refuse food. Give food. Cook and give; practice giving.
If ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart not of your substance, behold, your prayer is vain.
Ye will seek them for the intent to do good — to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.
No “-ites”, no “-isms”
One ancient record tells of a people who had “no manner of -ites” — no labels, no factions, only one. A modern voice sang he was “sick and tired of your isms and schisms.” Every tradition carries the same cry: drop the labels, keep the love, and be one.
Hold fast, all together, to the rope of God, and be not divided among yourselves.
We’re sick and tired of your ism-skism — sick and tired of your ism-skism. Rastaman live up, dreadman live up.
One love, one heart. Let’s get together and feel all right.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; none but ourselves can free our minds.
Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war.
Religion should be the cause of love and unity. If it becomes the cause of division and contention, it is better to be without it.
You can fool some people some times, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.
As for those who have broken their religion into sects and become separate factions, you have no part in them.
There is no “you and I” — only I and I. The living I in each of us is one with the living I in all of us, and one with the Most High.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
How good and how pleasant it would be before God and man, to see the unification of all Africans.
There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; for they were one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.
He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me … Behold, this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away.
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, that all of you agree with one another in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you.
