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Universality: Way of Peace
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One of the most important principles for all time is: universality. Universality is the understanding that there is only one human nature. Human nature is universal, is the same for all humans.
"And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;"--Acts 17:26
"For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?"--I Corinthians 4:7
"Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another."--Ephesians 4:25
"Consider others as yourself."--The Dhammapada, 10:1
"To look at myself, I can see myself as a whole only when I am actually the rest of mankind."--J. Krishnamurti, Can Humanity Change?, page 93
Without the principle of universality there is no real forgiveness.
"Whatever anyone has done--I have done."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"Just as I am so are they, just as they are so am I."--from the Sotta Nipata, the fifth book of the Khuddaka Nikaya, Pali Buddhist Scriptures
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."--Declaration of Independence, United States of America, July 4, 1776
"Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD."--Leviticus 19:18
Without the principle of universality there is no chance to end racism, ethnic hatred, and genocide.
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."--Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1, United Nations, December 10, 1948
"Read a novel or watch a movie without relating to every character as another expression of your self and you are devoid of understanding."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"There are those who would quickly love each other if once they were to speak to each other; for when they spoke they would discover that their souls were only separated by phantoms and delusions."--Ernest Hello, 19th Century French Philosopher
Universality and pride cannot coexist.
"The ability to grasp and fully assimilate the philosophy of parity into one's modus vivendi is not easy. For one thing, prestige merchants and status-seekers are ubiquitous, and it is easy to fall into their traps. For another, everyone in our Western civilization has been socialized in terms of a vertical scale of accomplishment tied into the inferiority-superiority dichotomy. Thus, I have encountered more resistance in promulgating the parity philosophy than in any other venture to date."--Arnold A. Lazarus, The Practice of Multimodal Therapy, page 12
"I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality."--I Timothy 5:21
"There but for the grace of God go I."--Alcoholics Anonymous
"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."--Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, from the Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863
"Do that to no man which thou hatest: drink not wine to make thee drunken: neither let drunkenness go with thee in thy journey."--Tobit 4:15
"Goodwill towards all is true religion."--Buddhacarita
"All beings wish for happiness, so extend your compassion to everyone."--Mahavamsa
"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."--Romans 5:18
"So one can say, not as a verbal statement but as a fact, that we human beings are alike. And so, deeply, you are me."--J. Krishnamurti, Can Humanity Change?, page 129
"You have a separate name and a bank account, but your consciousness is like that of everyone else."--J. Krishnamurti, Can Humanity Change?, page 131-132
"Each one of us is the representative of all mankind."--J. Krishnamurti, Can Humanity Change?, page 135
"Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish."--Albert Einstein
The greatest enemy of the principle of universality is the thinking style known as self-esteem.
"Tom and his younger brothers as they grew up, went on playing with the village boys without the idea of equality or inequality (except in wrestling, running, and climbing) ever entering their heads, as it doesn't till it's put there by Jack Nastys or fine ladies' maids."--Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays, chapter 3
"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy."--James 3:17
"Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil-rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful."--John Marshall Harlan, U.S. Supreme Court, 1955-1971
"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:"--Romans 3:22
"As men, we are all equal in the presence of death."--Publilius Syrus, Maxim 1, First Century B.C.
"We must remember that one man is much the same as another, and that he is best who is trained in the severest school."--Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War
"The wise man's eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all."--Ecclesiastes 2:14
The principle opposite to universality is ego. Ego is always about exclusivity. Ego is always about people as superior and inferior.
"Our laws secure equal justice for all."--Thucydides, Greek Historian, 460? to 400? B.C.
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."--I Corinthians 10:13
"There have only ever been two men: Adam and the resurrected Christ. So stop comparing and lying that you are different or better."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"To know a man well were to know himself."--William Shakespeare, Hamlet
"Democracy arises out of the notion that those who are equal in any respect are equal in all respects; because men are equally free, they claim to be absolutely equal."--Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
"By law a man is free and another a slave. But by nature there is no difference between them. That's why such a relationship is not just, but, rather, violent."--Aristotle, Politics
"All men believe that justice means equality."--Aristotle, Politics
"What the judge does is to restore equality."--Aristotle, Ethics
Without the principle of universality there is no rich empathy but only poor sympathy.
"To know others you do not have to go and knock on four billion separate doors. Once you have seen your real Self, you have seen the Self in all."--Eknath Easwaran, spiritual teacher
"Great Spirit, grant that I may not criticize my brother until I have walked a mile in his moccasins."--Iroquois, Native Americans
"And it is impossible to treat human beings as human beings if you label them, if you term them, if you give them a name as Hindus, Russians, or what you will. It is so much easier to label people, for then you can pass by and kick them, drop a bomb on India or Japan."--J. Krishnamurti, The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti, Volume V, page 66
"Is it not the nature of stupidity to be exclusive? The more one is stupid, the more one is exclusive, religiously or socially; and each exclusiveness creates its own problems."--J. Krishnamurti, The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti, Volume V, page 334
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."--Galatians 3:28
"The bodhisattva loves all beings as if each were his only child."--Vimalakirtinirdesha Sutra, 5
"I believe in one God and no more, and I hope for happiness beyond this life. I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy."--Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason
"Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all."--Colossians 3:11
"Every man is equally entitled to protection by law."--Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States
"You may be the result of certain tendencies, of environmental influences, but you are not different fundamentally from another."--J. Krishnamurti, The Collected Works of J. Krishnamurti, Vol. IV, page 1
"One does not hate so long as one continues to rate low, but only when one has come to rate equal or higher."--Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil
"What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;"--Romans 3:9
"I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him."--Booker Taliaferro Washington, 1856-1915
"If you cannot relate to what another human being thinks, feels, or does--it can only mean that you are inhuman."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"Only that which is religious can with the assistance of eternity press the equality of men through to its ultimate conclusions: the reverent, genuine, unworldly, true, the only possible equality between men. And therefore that which is religious may it be said to its glorification, is also the true humanity."--Søren Kierkegaard
"One who you think should be hit is none else but you. One who you think should be governed is none else but you. One who you think should be tortured is none else but you. One who you think should be enslaved is none else but you. One who you think should be killed is none else but you. A sage is ingenuous and leads his life after comprehending the parity of the killed and the killer. Therefore, neither does he cause violence to others nor does he make others do so."--Jainism, Acarangasutra 5:101-2
"And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."--Matthew 22:39
"Why did they do that? With their experience that's what I do."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."--Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities."--the 12th Tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous's 12 Traditions
"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."--Acts 10:34-35
The goal of universality is the nonhierarchical relating of persons.
"Great and small suffer the same mishaps."--Blaise Pascal
"If you fully--and we mean fully--accept your humanity and your fallibility, and if you give up trying to be holier-than-thou, you will have real difficulty making yourself seriously upset about anything."--Albert Ellis & Robert A. Harper, A Guide to Rational Living, Third Edition, p. 122. Order A Guide to Rational Living.
"No one is now, has been, or ever will be more or less of a human being than any other human being."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"For there is no respect of persons with God."--Romans 2:11
"One does not get to know that one exists until one rediscovers onself in others."--Goethe, 1749-1832
"Friendship is equality."--Aristotle, Ethics
"Death and sleep make us all alike, rich and poor, high and low."--Cervantes, 1547-1616, Don Quixote
"There is One mind, and ... all the powers and privileges which lie in any, lie in all."--Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882
"If you cannot relate to what another feels, thinks, or does--it can only mean that you are inhuman."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"Man is never merely a means to an end, but always an end unto himself."--Immanuel Kant, German philosopher, 1724-1804
"We are all children of one and the same God and, therefore, absolutely equal."--Mohandas K. Gandhi, 1869-1948
"Never ask from another that which you are not willing to give."--Apache law
"The true virtue of human beings is fitness to live together as equals."--John Stuart Mill, 1806-1973
"As emperor, Rome is my city and my country; but as a human being I belong to the world."--Marcus Aurelius
"A wise man's country is the world."--Aristippus
"The love of democracy is that of equality."--Charles de Montesquieu, 1689-1755
"What one is, why many not millions be?"--William Wordsworth, 1770-1850
"Self-esteem steals souls."--Kevin Everett FitzMaurice
"Whatever evil you see in others is the evil in yourself that you are afraid to face."--ancient spiritual teaching
"If I relegate impossible Salvation to the proproom, what remains? A whole man, compossed of all men and as good as all of them and no better than any."--Jean Paul Sartre, 1905-1980
"I mean a warm regard for him as a person of unconditional self-worth--of value no matter what his condition, behavior, or his feelings."--Carl Rogers, On Becoming A Person, 1961
"The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there your own form."--Shinto saying
"Just as a mother would protect her only child at the risk of her own life, even so, cultivate a boundless heart towards all beings. Let your thoughts of boundless love pervade the whole world."--Suti Nipata, 149-150
"The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable."--Paul Tillich, 1886-1965
PRACTICE: Take this exercise to heart and it will change your life for the good. Starting right now, whenever you hear anything said about any human being--understand that it is being said about you. You are that human being.
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