The Golden Rule

There is this anecdote (be it true or false I don't know) that goes something like this....

Before the birth of the Christian Messiah, the head Rabbi, who spoke each week in the Synagogue to his Hebrew faithful and who was heckled by one single man, was walking down a dusty path when who should he see in front of him but the man who harangued him every Sabbath.

"Oy Vey," said the Rabbi, "what for you shout at me every Shabbat and always in front of my flock? Why you hate me so much?"

The heckler smiled at the Rabbi.

"I don't hate you. It's just a bit of fun."

"You think this fun to mock a holy man preaching the Gospels? What would it take to convert you to Judaism?"

The man cupped his chin in his hand and pondered the question.

"I tell you what," he said, "you stand on one leg and recite the Torah and I'll become a Jew."

The old Rabbi spluttered then wheezed. "You want me, an old man with a weak back and arthritic joints to stand on one leg and recite the Pentateuch? meshugenah. Fine, fine this I will do."

So, he inched his frail leg up to his other knee and began to speak.

"What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire law; all the rest is commentary."

You see, The Golden Rule is shared by all faiths. It, and it alone is the only 'bible' I need. We in the West tend to associate it with the Christian Messiah but it is not attributable to him. It is far older than the man we now call Jesus.

Hinduism - "This is the sum of duty; do naught to others what you would not have them do to you."

Judaism - SEE ABOVE

Zoroastrianism - "That nature is alone is good which refrains from doing to another whatsoever is not good for itself."

Buddhism - "Since others too care for their own selves, those who care for themselves should not hurt others."

Jainism - "A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated."

Taoism - "Regard your neighbours gain as your gain,  and your neighbours loss as your loss."

Confucianism - "Do not do to others what you would not like yourself."

Christianity - "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

Islam - "No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother  that which he desires for himself."

If I have missed out any faiths then please accept my apology. It is only a matter of my lack of knowledge not a lack of respect. All these faiths share the same view. Even I and there are a great number like me, who have no faith but who follow a moral and loving path, hold The Golden Rule as the epitome of what it is to love our fellow humankind. You see,  no matter your faith or philosophy we all tread a path that leads to the same summit. In such dark times as these we currently live in surely it would be better to have, as the Dalai Lama suggests, a Kinship of faiths?