An Address To The Parliament 122.2.15;70;1.12

An Address To The Parliament

Reclaiming The Heart Of Our Humanity

There is a drumbeat that pervades humanity.  It is the same drumbeat that pervades the entire Universe.  This drumbeat can be evidenced within our global InterFaith Movement, because this drumbeat exists within each of us. 

Since the ancient days of our ancestors, this drumbeat stirs up war amongst our tribes and nations.  Yet, this drumbeat also invigorates us within our harvesting fields, our gathering hearths, our tender nurseries, our orchestral halls, and our spiritual sanctuaries.  When we delve deep within the fabric of this drumbeat, we find our very own hearts;  our souls.  We find Agape, Ahimsa, Samadhi, and Moksha.  We find our Kavanah and our Deen, as we listen to the Divine Presence that exists within each of us;  our Divine Purpose.  And this drumbeat continues to drive our blood and nourish our bodies.

During the centennial commemoration of our Parliament in Chicago, stalwarts of our global InterFaith Movement, including Dr Hans Küng, share the Declaration Towards A Welt Ethos.  This Declaration makes a transformational proclamation:  our many respective communities share a common ethic.  And this demonstrates that we are able to be reconciled with each other and build together in a fundamental manner.  6 years later, during our Cape Town Parliament, Küng and colleagues share a “Call To Our Guiding Institutions”:  an appeal for the prominent organisations of humanity (governments, corporations, bodies of worship) to heed this Welt Ethos and improve the manner in which we engage with each other. 

Here in Salt Lake City, our Parliament Of The World’s Religions returns to the land of the eagle feather and the buffalo.  We return to the nation of the Declaration Of Independence and the Constitution;  and we revisit ideas and innovations that revolutionise humanity;  evolve humanity.  These ideas and innovations usher in unprecedented experiences of productivity and liberty.  Yet these same ideas and innovations usher in unprecedented experiences of hedonism and selfishness.  Our contemporary experiences of comfort tend lulling us into a complacency that ignores how much of the Earth continues to be managed through colonial imperialism and inheritance.  Yet, we are vigilant to concentrate our focus amidst this intoxication, and we are awakening to a Transcendent consciousness where these transgressions are extinguished.  We strive for Teshuvah, Kippur, Nirvana;  through Tzedakah, Metta, and Chesed.

Within the century leading up to our 1^st Parliament, 122 years ago, humanity learns to make a photographic image of ourself.  And within the subsequent century after our 1^st Parliament, we are discouraged into classifying a portion of that image as, “underdeveloped;”  whilst we neglect the suffering of the portion of that image that may be considered as, “overdeveloped.” 

Within the grand scheme of our Galaxy, we all reside within the 3^rd World:  Earth.  And the Truth is we are all still suffering.  This suffering can often appear to exist within a polarity.  On 1 hand, we experience hunger, poverty, oppression, warfare, rape, torture, mutilation, destitution, and disease.  And on 1 hand, we experience obesity, affluence, debt, suicide, promiscuity, addiction, imbecility, selfishness, and loneliness.  We hurt each other through neglect, hateful speech, debt, violence, and oppression.  Yet, we are also awakening to the Truth:  to alleviate the Dukkha of any 1 portion of our image requires us to alleviate the Dukkha of all portions of our image.  And this involves each of us alleviating the Dukkha within our respective selves.

I am a Mixed Ethnicity man and a Mystic.  My family comes from many different tribes and I love everyone.  I am 1 of billions of individuals whose family heritage includes multiple tribes and multiple traditions.  Our ancestors come from different geographies, different climates, different botanies, and different biologies;  different cultures, different traditions, and different lessons for how we are to be reconciled with each other and the Universe.  Today, we share the message of the traditional family and the pluralistic community;  and our collective humanity inaugurates a new era of civilisation:  The Age Of Compassion. 

From the Ages of Fire, Iron, and Industry, we are entering a period where we are inspired to forgive each other, to be reconciled with each other;  to be alTruistic in sharing the material and esoteric gifts that are passed into our stewardship (and that steward us), and to continue to thrive.  We are progressing through the growing pangs of this new era and we are sharing our differences of wisdom to solve the respective and collective challenges we encounter. 

Each traditional wisdom is equally valid and shares a necessary component to these solutions.  It is common wisdom.  It is different wisdom.  It is plural wisdom.  As we forge through this new Age of Compassion, we maintain deference to the wisdoms of our ancestors.  We recognise there is 1 Highest Authority, and that we invoke this Highest Authority by different names and approximating explanations:  God, Hashem, Brahman, Allah, Buddha-Nature, Wakan Tanka, Tao, Deus, Jah, Jehovah, Ahura Mazda, Vaya Guru, Logic, Natural Law, Great Mystery, Universal Love, Atheism, and additionally.  We draw upon this wisdom of our ancestors to alleviate Dukkha and perform Tikkun Olam.

Amidst our 1^st Parliament, Swami Vivekananda shares a message that the Universe is without the need for us to change it;  yet we must continue to act.  As we act, we learn better;  and as we learn better, we are increasingly responsible to do better.  Through our actions, we share a new vision for humanity, the Earth, and the Universe.  In many ways, it is an ancient vision;  a vision of what was, what can be, and what already is.  We envision a humanity where swords are transformed into ploughshares, the lion lays down with the lamb, and tremendous Peace pervades humanity.  Ingenuity and alTruism abound and all individuals are appropriately fed, clothed, and housed.  Medicine and education are readily provided.  And each child knows the joy of having a supportive far and a nurturing mor. 

But this Peace, prosperity, and progression bring new challenges.  Pervasive Peace brings a large increase in our human population.  It is a population increasingly located within post-industrial metropolises.  And as such, we release our dreams of settling within the spaciousness of houses, and instead, we settle within comfortable, efficient high-rise apartment complexes that include walking-distance convenience of schools, Houses of Worship, marketplaces, entertainment, civic centres, utilities, and additional facilities;  all within park-like campi.  We also release our allure for automobiles, and instead, utilise comfortable, efficient metro rail travel, in additional to walking and bicycling.

Local villages are self-governing and cooperate with local associations of villages as well as global federations of villages.  Abounding regions of land are returned to the stewardship of the Native people and Native customs.  Agriculture is organic and vastly stewarded by family growers and modest cooperatives.  The 3 most prevalent industries for employment are education, agriculture, and infrastructure.  1 parent can comfortably support a family of 4.  There is dignity within every occupation, and there is tremendous socioeconomic mobility from 1 generation to the next.  And we continue to venture further throughout our Galaxy and the Universe.

This is how we do it: 

1.)  We commit ourselves to a global agenda of objectives to be reached by the centennial of the United Nations:  the ACE Plan.  This includes initiatives to provide water for all individuals, to utilise renewable energy exclusively, to fully recycle all consumed products, to include substantial agriculture production within all metropolitan areas, and to alleviate all debt. 

2.)  We fully divest from fossil fuel, weapons manufacturing and distribution, oppressed labour, harmful agriculture, and private prisons and prison labour. 

3.)  We heavily invest within renewable energy, civil servants, fair trade and direct trade, organic agriculture and local family/cooperative agriculture, and pluralism education. 

4.)  We educate ourselves and our children as Universal citizens, providing instruction that includes a pluralism of cultures, languages, histories, and traditions. 

5.)  We build community locally, and connect with each other globally;  enhancing our communication and coordination, particularly in responding to the urgent needs of our respective communities.  I am part of an emerging global federation of villages that connects the metropolitan areas of Berkeley, Guadalajara, São Paulo, Accra, Addis Ababa, Yerushalayim, Roma, København, Jeddah, Mumbai, Bangkok, Shanghai, and Cuyahoga.

To manifest this vision, we reclaim the drumbeat that propels the new and ancient blood through our veins:  we reclaim the heart of our humanity.  We reclaim our tendencies towards transgression and destitution, and we rededicate this drumbeat to nourish acts of Pangea and Ananda.  We utilise this drumbeat of our heart to bolster this experience of our Parliament.  May our Parliament continue to serve to strengthen our global dialogue, as we talk with each other face-to-face, and as we return to our respective villages and share the lessons we gather.  May our Parliament continue to serve to provide us with new ideas and new energy for our collective actions of politics and economics, as we enhance our relationships with ourselves, each other, and the natural Universe.  May our Parliament continue to serve in many additional locations, in many additional ways, for many additional years, as we continue to Realise our Divine Presence and Divine Purpose. 

Om Shanti.  Shanti.  Shanti.  Amen.

Clickety-Clack (A Reflection Towards The Parliament) 122.2.15;70;1.12

Clickety-Clack.

There is an absence of any 1 perfect position.  I learn that arduous lesson on the long train ride to the Parliament.

Recline backwards with feet on the floor and legs become fidgety.  Rest the feet upon the foot rest, and the knees begin to hurt.  Twist the body and legs across the adjacent vacant seat, and the back begins to ache.  Lay across the 2 seats with the head on the armrest and the neck begins to crink.  It becomes a traveller’s waltz of rotating through each of these positions just to alleviate the most urgent discomfort and to try to get some shut-eye.

And to be sure, the train manufacturer makes a concerted effort to provide the passenger with comfort.  The seats are comparatively wide, with comfortable cushion material.  The seats recline past 45 degrees, providing increased horizontalation.  There is also a leg rest that folds up flat against the seat to allow for the outstretching of the legs.  That, combined with the sparse number of travellers (due to lack of public subsidising, infrastructure, and strategic development), should make for the most comfortable of journeys.

I observe my fellow travellers in our cabin.  And each 1 seems to be able to find rest within just 1 position:  predominantly reclined back with, or without, the leg rest.  I seem to vaguely recall being able, at some historic point, to muster that discipline;  but today, it seems a faded memory.  Perhaps my unrest is a condition of my obesity, frequently having to impose my frame in comparatively modest circumstances.  Perhaps it is a part of my mixed ethnicity.  Perhaps it is the result of a mental disposition, finding difficulty acclimating to any 1 spot.

In the meanwhile, my travelling companion across the aisle gives me shame.  She abstains from saying anything to me;  she simply lies quietly in her reclined slumber.  But I can hear my guilty conscience, as my feet are disrespectfully stretched out in her direction.  She is an elder and deserves better.  And me with my shoes removed and kippah-turban:  what kind of ambiguously, counter-culture religious man am I to lie within such an un-masculine position.  I am doing my best, Aunty.

I return the seat to an upright position, break out me pen and pad, and turn on the light.  And I think about the undefinable nature of my Mystic spirituality.  I find home in the compassion, familiarity, and expanse of Christianity, until the Trinity, the judgmentalism, and the fatalism preclude me from resting.  I find home in the ancestry, the wisdom, and the traditions of Judaism, until the elitism and militarism preclude me from resting.  I find home in the acceptance, the Theology, and the teachings of Hinduism, until the mention of deities, the practice of idols, and the caste system preclude me from resting.  I find home in the serenity, the honesty, and the diplomacy of Buddhism, until the denial of God, the renunciation, and the hierarchy preclude me from resting.  I find home in the sincerity, the discipline, and the camaraderie of Islam, until the rigidity, the exclusionism, and the subordination preclude me from resting.  And I find home within the Baha’i, Taoism, Native traditions, and additionally, until the “us vs them” doctrine emerges and attempts unduly subjugating me according to the biases of conventional authority figures (which I guess includes myself).

So I find my home in the traveller’s waltz.  And I also find that I am other than that tired anyway.  I have energy.  As I settle to lay within this gathering, I notice that many travellers are also engaged within this waltz.  And, indeed ever traveller must adjust 1’s position, from moment to moment, to gain some form of rest.  It seems the lesson to learn is to have patience and empathy with each other as we travel together.  And perhaps we can even strike up a friendly conversation with each other whilst we are awake.