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Right Human Relations
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INTRODUCTION:
Right
human Relations? Yawn... Not a very intriguing subject, right? But,
the fact is, if we really "got it" and began to actively
live the values that make up "right human relation" we
would end war and poverty, pull our environment out of its downward
spiral, turn hospitals and nursing homes into truly loving, healing
places, solve the drug and crime problems of the world, end racism,
sexism, and all the other "isms", - well, you get the
idea! We venture to say it would be hard to find a single problem on
the earth that doesn't originate with our "wrong" relationship
with other humans or our planet. How can something so basic be so
illusive? All the great religions have given us the simple answers
to this dilemma and over time we have made slow progress. Perhaps
like the hundredth monkey phenomena we will hit a place in our
evolution where a critical mass will be reached, where enough of us
will have reached a new level of understanding -- that a great shift
will occur for us all. Until then we will continue to explore the
issue together, hoping to add a small bit to the mass...
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From the cover of
"The
Sevenfold Circle: Self Awareness in Dance"
by Lynn Frances and Richard Bryant-Jefferies
http://www.bryant-jefferies.freeserve.co.uk/sevencir.htm
RIGHT - HUMAN - RELATIONS
How many times do
we read them? How many times do we say them? But how many times have we really
sought to grasp what these words mean? Together they sum up everything insofar
as we are concerned as human beings.
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We need to cultivate right human relations with each other
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We need to cultivate right human relations with other kingdoms of nature
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We need to cultivate right human relations with the Divine
And what do these words mean when taken separately?
Right. What is right? What is right must be real and true. What is right must be
in line with Divine Intention... What is right is living to the highest within us. What is right is
seeking sensitivity to that great energy called the "will-to-good', a
divine impulse that we may glimpse occasionally as love, and work with in our
daily lives as goodwill.
Human. What is it to be human? What does our humanity encompass? Surely not
just the separate forms that we move around in in this dense world? When we
speak of someone's humanity, what do we mean? Can we dare to be human, truly
human, in our daily lives? Can we dare to care for our well-being and the
well-being of others? Can we dare to allow the Soul nature, the essence I would
suggest of our humanity, to find expression?
Relations. What is a relation or a relationship? What energy does it involve?
Magnetic and dynamic interaction. There are many forms of relationship, between
individuals, within families and between friends and work-colleagues. These are
only the ones we are conscious of, however. If connectedness is the reality. If
energy does follow thought and feeling, we are in constant relationship with the
whole of humanity. We are bound by relationship, we cannot free ourselves from
it. What do we do with it? How do we act out of the knowledge that we are all
interacting with each other subtly all the time and that, in essence, our
creation is rooted in relationship. I'd go so far as to say that relationship is
the primary reality for us. All form is constituted of a dynamic of
relationships. Groups are formed through relationships. Everything that exists
is subject to the power of relationship. So, as I say, right human relations
seems to me to be the simple and awesome challenge of our time. And I would
argue that all else that we find in the Alice Bailey teachings is knowledge and
encouragement to enable right human relations to be established: intra-human,
with the Divine, with the other kingdoms in nature.
This is not a vague and mystical idea. This is not the stuff of a utopian
dream. This is not the stuff of psychic powers. This is the basis of human
existence and potential. It is what we must work towards in our own lives, and
encourage in others. And we can focus it through the many fields of human
activity: healing, education, politics, religion, psychology, science, art,
ecology, agriculture. Whatever field of action we choose to focus through, what
we are actually focusing is a will to establish right human relations - if we
are working in line with the Divine Plan.
Those who work for separation and to blind the human mind from truth work
against the fulfillment of the Divine Plan. The lines of demarcation become
clearer by the day, and we need our minds to choose a path of right human
relations. There can be, and there will be, no 'Peace on Earth' until enough
people freely and consciously make this choice and reject the sense of
separateness that for too long has governed human thought, feeling and action.
Richard Bryant-Jefferies is a therapist working in Surrey, England.
http://www.bryant-jefferies.freeserve.co.uk/rhr-nha4.htm
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Party
On
by Mary Guterson
"It's time to sing and work and build a
new community dedicated to hope and real change. And good beer," says (Jim)
Hightower.
Who knew Jim Hightower was such a party animal?
The former Commissioner of Agriculture for the state of Texas and current
columnist has dreamed up a traveling bash known as the Rolling Thunder Down Home
Democracy Tour. Part progressive politics, part rock-and-roll revival, and part
county fair, the Tour is a modern day take on the Chautauqua movement meant to
bring communities together to celebrate their own power.
"It's time to sing and work and build a new
community dedicated to hope and real change. And good beer," says
Hightower.
To that end, he hopes towns across the nation
will host his "democracy organizing festivals," bringing together
their own diverse groups to "foster collaborative efforts that benefit us
all, especially at the local level." He tells local groups that the first
step is to form a genuine coalition," not the same six or so groups you're
used to working with. Stretch out a bit," Hightower says. He envisions
everyone from Teamsters to farmers to bowling league members to churches, the
young the old, and the poor forming "a movement of populist
awakening." And each coalition should target a longer-term political
objective, such as a living wage ordinance, instant run-off voting, or a
corporate-free classroom policy in public schools.
At the tour's opener in Austin, thousands heard
Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. and rocker Michele Shocked, following an
earlier kick-off rally featuring a giant wood chipper labeled "Enron
Democracy Shredder." Events are in the works in Chicago, Tucson, Seattle,
and Minneapolis.
From the Summer 2002 Yes! Magazine
www.yesmagazine.org
Visit www.rollingthundertour.org
to learn more.
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When
we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in
ourselves.
--William Arthur Ward
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The necessity for co-operation can only strengthen mankind,
because it helps us recognise that the most secure foundation for the new world
order is not simply broader political and economic alliances, but rather each
individual's genuine practice of love and compassion. For a better, happier,
more stable and civilised future, each of us must develop a sincere,
warm-hearted feeling of brother- and sister-hood...
H.H. The
Dalai Lama
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Excerpt from
The Search for a New Beginning:
Developing a New Civilisation
by Mikhail
Gorbachev
When I speak of a new
synthesis, of the need for increasing unity and interdependence, I am not
calling for a kind of universal levelling, sameness or uniformity. I do not
accept a civilisation that would be like a huge historic steamroller, flattening
out everything. Who would need such a new civilisation, and why even call it
new? By no means do I want all countries and nations to become alike. I think
that the civilisation to which we all belong is one of great multiplicity.
And that is a source of its strength, the basis for the exchange of cultural
values, for comparing methods of organisation and ways of living.
The philosophy of the
twenty-first century must be grounded in a philosophy of diversity. If life
as such is the highest value, then even more precious is the singular identity
of every nation and every race as a unique creation of nature and human history.
At the same time, we must
begin to define certain moral maxims or ethical commandments that constitute
values common to all humankind. It is my view that the individual's attitude
toward nature must become one of the principal criteria for ensuring the
maintenance of morality. Today it is not enough to say "Thou shalt not
kill". Ecological education implies, above all, respect and love for every
living being. It is here that ecological culture interfaces with religion.
The beauty and
uniqueness of life lies in the unity of diversity. Self-identification –
of every individual and of the many different nations, ethnic groups and
nationalities – is the crucial condition for preserving life on Earth.
Struggles and conflicts burn out the diversity of life, leaving a social
wasteland in their wake. Honouring diversity and honouring the Earth create the
basis for genuine unity.
Mikhail
Gorbachev
The Search for a New Beginning:
Developing a New Civilisation. San Francisco, Harper, 1995
From the World
Goodwill Newsletter
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No evil is
necessary. Evil is present only as long as we support it. The moment we make the
connection between what we know and how we behave, evil collapses.
Maneka
Gandhi
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www.eagleharborweb.net/deed.htm
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http://www.yesmagazine.org/22art/kucinich.htm
From Yes! Magazine
interview
with Rep. Dennis Kucinich
by
Sarah Ruth van Gelder
When he
was the “boy mayor” of Cleveland, Dennis Kucinich stood up to the banks and
refused to sell the city’s electric utility. He paid for that decision with
his political career, but after years in political exile, he’s back—and now
some are urging him to run for president
Since winning
election to Congress in 1996, US Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has
proposed such radical ideas as a Department of Peace, universal health care, and
action on climate change. His speech, “Prayer for America,” got one standing
ovation after another at an Americans for Democratic Action event in Los Angeles
in February. Now it is circulating on the Internet, drawing thousands of
responses. YES! editor Sarah Ruth van Gelder asked him about his fall from
political grace, and his startling comeback.
Sarah Ruth van
Gelder:
Your “Prayer for America” speech got quite an amazing response. What is it
about your message that is resonating with so many people?
Dennis
Kucinich:
The
events of September 11th exacted a searing, emotional toll on Americans. We have
been wounded as a nation. But our heart remains open. It’s a heart that is
still full of love and is troubled by calls for revenge and retribution. And
it’s a heart that still believes that America has a lot to offer to the world
and questions whether our offerings should be in the form of bombs. And it’s a
heart that is loyal to democratic principles, and questions whether the Patriot
Act is real patriotism. The response came because, for a brief moment, I was
able to provide a voice for those feelings, and the email responses have not
stopped. We received about 18,000 just in one month.
Sarah: What potential
is there now to redefine the political mainstream?
Dennis: It’s
happening, it’s happening right now. What I found out from the people I’m
hearing from all over the country is that there’s an America out there that
has not yet been defined, but it’s emerging. It’s an America of people who
are neither left nor right, who care about the quality of life, who are
optimistic about the possibilities of our country and the world, who want to
make a difference. This is an America made up of people who are creative and
nurturing and builders and conservers, who want for their families and
themselves a more peaceful and prosperous world. These are people who have a
sense of the importance of integrating spiritual principles with the material
world.
To
read the remainder of this article Click
Here
See
www.thespiritoffreedom.com
for Dennis Kucinich’s “Prayer for America” and a link to Studs Terkle’s
call for Kucinich to run for president.
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From
the World
Goodwill Newsletter
"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."
The key to safe passage
through this turbulent phase in human affairs lies in the ethics that motivate
choice and govern action. For the trend to universality not only greatly
enhances the work of the forces for good, but it also increases the dangers we
face. The environment movement demonstrates the former, with right motives
inspiring planet-wide efforts for the benefit of all life on earth. Drug
trafficking, corruption and terrorism are examples of the latter, with wrong
motives at the root of the fluid international networks that make these problems
so difficult to counter.
Ethics have been defined
as "a discipline dealing with good and evil and with moral duty" (Noel
J. Brown & Pierre Quiblier (eds.), Ethics & Agenda 21: Moral
Implications of a Global Consensus. New York, UNEP, 1994. p.5). As
individuals, our ethics and our moral code shape the private process whereby we
seek to live by our ideals and fulfill our duty. For humanity as a whole, in the
changing and interdependent world of today, there is urgent need for consensus
on a global ethic of common rights and shared responsibilities to safeguard the
future and to invest our duties to each other and to the planet with a new
degree of moral authority.
"The most important
change that people can make is to change their way of looking at the world"
wrote the visionary economist, Barbara Ward. She recognized that when we change
"our fundamental angle of vision" everything else changes as a result:
"our priorities, our values, our judgments, our pursuits". From this metanoia,
this "turning of the heart", human beings are able to "see with
new eyes and understand with new minds and turn their energies to new ways of
living".
The Ageless Wisdom in its
many forms traces the source of the turmoil in the world to such a metanoia.
People of goodwill are seeing with "new eyes" and trying to live by
that new reality. They are realising that disciplined ethical living by human
beings, individually and globally, is the only way to bridge between the
uncertainty of today and a future in which humanity is at peace with itself.
From
the World
Goodwill Newsletter
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Kindness
makes a fellow feel good whether it's being done to him or by him.
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here to go to a Printable version of this page
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