I have been thinking all Christmas about how to get started with the next phase of this blog. I decided to start with the first of the Abrahamic traditions, Judaism, and go from there. Judaism can be summed up neatly by two phrases, found at Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord is one. Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."
In Judaism you are encouraged to put these words "upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates."
And of course this is re-emphasised by Jesus when asked what is the greatest commandment in all of the law, as recounted
in Matthew 22:37 : “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” so these is no small deal.
It is my view that if we go back to basics, and truly embrace what this means we can completely sort ourselves out spiritually, but not only that but also we can save the world.
So, I want to use this blog to explain in detail how to honour this Jewish, Christian and (as we shall see Islamic, Buddhist and every other authentic tradition's Golden Rule) both spiritually in our hearts, with the amazing grace and new spiritual sight it can bring to all, but also politically to save the world.
In doing this I will refer to Islamic and Christian terminology in ways that are not necessarily going to be familiar to the reader. The latter because Christians themselves do not in the main understand their own religion, and the former because many of my readers will probably not be familiar with the Islamic terms I'm using. I'll also refer at times to Buddhist and other religious terminology but my main purpose is to speak of Abrahamic faiths, and to develop a practical and living unity between them, in my writing, my heart and hopefully yours too. I hope you enjoy the ride!
