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“However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you
If you do not act upon them?”
Buddha
“The essence of all religions is love,
compassion, and tolerance.
Kindness is my true religion.
The clear proof of a person’s love of
God is if that person genuinely
shows love to fellow human beings.”
The Dalai Lama
“Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.”
Paul the Apostle
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:1-7
The role of religion is simple; teach only love. Should a religious organization retain past doctrines that inhibit or prevent the teaching of love in all areas, then that doctrine should be replaced quickly with doctrines of Love. Getting closer to God is to get closer to His Unconditional Love.
© 2020, Lekatt. All rights reserved.
Denying yet loving yourself
This is a paradox.
The Hindu notion that the deeper soul is opposed to the self, and true spirituality lies in denying one’s finite temporary identity to seek the Atman. The Buddha said that the true disciple becomes disgusted with form, and everything else, up to consciousness, his dissipation sets him free. It is also important to have a natural and healthy love for yourself.
When I was fed up with myself I was willing to give up my identity and become love in its fullest. I wanted love to take over me so I wouldn’t have any more negative thoughts. I wanted it more than anything in the world.
At the same time I love myself and like the fact that I am an individual who can make her own choices. God has given us a certain amount of freedom.
Jesus said to take our cross and follow him. This means we must find a cause that promotes the way of love and do anything to keep it going, whatever that means. If you have to eat one less meal a day, if you have to donate money to a charity, or spend extra hours on the phone helping others — do that.
In Hinduism it is said we are all one with the eternal one Brahman. Being separate from Brahman is our ignorance. When we choose to live on this earth we may forget who we really are. Lekatt told me, “Remember who you are.”
© 2009 – 2021, Lekatt. All rights reserved.
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
Albert Einstein
———————————————
“However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you
If you do not act upon them?”
Buddha
———————————————
“Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there
is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.”
Paul the Apostle
———————————————
The subject tonight is Love
And for tomorrow night as well.
As a matter of fact,
I know of no better topic
For us to discuss
Until we all
Die!
Hafiz
———————————————
“The essence of all religions is love, compassion, and tolerance.
Kindness is my true religion. The clear proof of a person’s love of
God is if that person genuinely shows love to fellow human beings.”
Love, compassion, and tolerance are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them, humanity cannot survive.
If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good.
But you can survive without it if you have
love, compassion, and tolerance.
The Dalai Lama, For the Love of God
© 2009, Lekatt. All rights reserved.
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