By Craig Cline, Salem, Oregon
January 2014
Jackie DeShannon had it right when she sang these lyrics almost 50 years ago, back in 1965:
“What the world needs now,
Is love, sweet love,
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.
What the world needs now,
Is love, sweet love,
No, not just for some but for everyone.”
In Theology, according to a dictionary, love can be defined as: a.
“God’s benevolence and mercy toward man; b. Man’s devotion to or
adoration of God; or c. the benevolence, kindness, or brotherhood that
man should rightfully feel toward others.”
Let’s focus on definition “c,” in conjunction with Jackie’s use of the word
“everyone.” Of course, when she sang the song, she meant people:
everyone -- everywhere.
The meaning of the word “everyone” can, however, be interchanged with the
word “everybody,” literally every body.
Back to definition “c” and the use of the word “others.” Among the
dictionary’s definitions is “a different or another person or thing.”
Now let’s interchange “person” or “thing” with the word “body.” This
key word is defined as “the entire material structure and substance of an
organism, especially of a human being or an animal.”
Two final revisions to the definition: the insertion of the word
“compassion” after the word “kindness,” and the insertion of the words “and
practice” after the word “feel.”
So what do we wind up with under our modified definition of theological
love? “The benevolence, kindness, compassion, or brotherhood that man
should rightfully feel, and practice, toward every body (everybody).”
You notice that the word “body” goes beyond us humans to also include
animals, as is properly the case.
Having created this framework of understanding, let’s now go to Christian
theology and the religious truth that Christians associate with the widely
accepted “Golden Rule,” from Matthew 7:12. The dictionary states this
to be “the maxim or teaching that one should behave toward others as one
would have others behave toward oneself.”
In the New International Version of the Bible, we find this reading for
Matthew 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them
do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
A similar reading is given in the English Standard Version of the Bible:
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this
is the Law and the Prophets.”
The New Living Translation of the Bible says this: “Do to others
whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all
that is taught in the law and the prophets.”
According to Wikipedia, the “Golden Rule” was presented by Jesus “as a valid
summary for the entirety of moral law.”
Since the “Golden Rule” is indeed a law, and one that is universally
applicable among Christians, it seems reasonable that they be duty-bound to
obey it.
However, Christianity does not solely “own” the “Golden Rule” as a
religiously worthy concept. This principle is common to the world’s
various religions in general, and each religion may have its own particular
way of describing or defining the principle.
In 2012, I wrote an article titled: “Rights, Wrongs, and the Golden
Rule.” It has now been published by several organizations, and been
read by a number of people. I’ve not had any negative feedback about
its content. An example of one of the positive comments made about the
article is this one: “What a beautiful, well-written article that gets
to the heart of the issue.”
I chose this comment because it contains the word “heart.” It is from
within our “human heart” that we human beings find our innate sense of
compassion and spirituality.
The majority of people believe that humans are innately spiritual and that
they embrace a belief in their spirituality.
The word “spirituality” is derived from the word “spirit,” which is defined
as “that which is traditionally believed to be the vital principle or
animating force within living beings.”
Because ALL living beings have an animating force, the point can be made
that all beings have spirit, including the non-human ones. Most of us
know these other, non-human beings as animals, in one form or another.
I recently read a quote (author unknown) that resonated with me: “We
are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual
beings having a human experience.”
We can all heighten our human experience by making it a humane experience.
In fact, the word “humane” is derived from the word “human.” To be
humane means “having the good qualities of human beings, as kindness, mercy,
or compassion.” The word “humanity” is also so derived, and one of its
definitions is “the quality of being humane; benevolence; kindness; mercy.”
Note how very closely the human qualities of being humane and having
humanity tie in with the theological definition of love.
Note also that these qualities are the very ones that underlie the principle
of the “Golden Rule.” What does this mean in terms of our common human
experience?
It means, as the spiritual beings we are, that we should all be HUMANE
HUMANS. All of us should live our lives in accordance with the
hallowed law that we will continue to acknowledge herein as the “Golden
Rule.”
In my “Rights, Wrongs, and the Golden Rule” article, I said: “Now
let’s take a big step forward, as ‘humane humans,’ and cause ourselves to
‘see’ that the word ‘others’ as used in the dictionary definition of the
‘Golden Rule’ can and should include ALL members of what we call the animal
kingdom, scientifically known as Animalia, and not just the human component
of that kingdom.”
The philosopher and physician Maimonides Moses is quoted as having said:
“Do not do to others what is hateful to you.” If you think about it,
this phrase adds even an extra dimension to the “Golden Rule.”
At this point, I want to introduce the word “ahimsa,” defined as “an Indian
doctrine of nonviolence expressing belief in the sacredness of all living
creatures and the possibility of reincarnation, strictly practiced by Jains
and affirmed by Buddhists and Hindus.”
These belief systems are grounded in “the doctrine that all life is one and
sacred, resulting in the principle of nonviolence towards all living
creatures.”
One last word for consideration is “anima,” defined as “the soul.”
This definition is akin to that of the word “spirit” -- “the animating force
within all living beings.”
I find it very interesting that the word animal is in fact related to the
word anima. In light of this definitional relationship, we could agree
that ALL animals, both human and non-human, have an innate spirit.
Such a spirit could be called a soul, present even in the non-human animals.
However, I am not trying to argue that non-human animals have souls like
those that humans commonly presume themselves to have. Whether they do
or not doesn’t really matter.
What does matter is that virtually all religious followers, and virtually
all organized religions, each with their own version of Christianity’s
“Golden Rule,” actually LIVE UP TO IT in their beliefs, actions, and
lifestyles.
In an ideal world, religious people of all kinds would be guided by the
precept that all life is sacred, and that all life deserves to live without
the threat, or act, of violence against it.
In an ideal world, religious people would therefore not “participate” --
either directly or indirectly -- in violence towards either humans or
non-humans.
In an ideal world, we humans would be vegans. Our lifestyles would be
centered on plant-based meals, instead of animal-based ones.
We humans know that non-human animals are sentient, like us; that they, like
us, have sensory perceptions and their own form of consciousness.
It stands to “Golden Rule Reason” that we humans ought not be party to the
needless and unjustified suffering and death of other sentient creatures,
just as we ought not cause such suffering and death to members of our own
species.
It is a given that we humans have to kill plants in order to live. It
seems to me to be a “Golden Rule Given” that we should eat plants, and foods
derived from plants, directly.
Christians, in particular, can look to Genesis 1:29 and 30 for guidance,
wherein God gave every body “every green plant for food.”
As things stand now, most humans eat animal flesh and other products taken
from animals that suffer greatly the horrendous abuses and cruelties so
prevalent on “factory farms.” The flesh and other products are
themselves produced by wastefully feeding billions of animals billions
of pounds of plants. These plants could instead be fed to people
in need the world over. This revision to the status quo would serve humanity
in a far better way than is currently the case.
It is abundantly clear that the lifestyle that causes the least suffering
and death, and that can do the most to benefit mankind, is one that is
plant-based. This lifestyle offers the added benefits of being better
for both the health of the environment and for the health of humans in
general.
I hereby call on religious people and their various religions, in the U.S.
and all over the world, to evolve to a higher-and-better spiritual path than
the one that most of them have followed so far.
This path would truly be in accord with the “law” of the “Golden Rule” and
with the divinely based morals and ethics that underlie it.
The higher-and-better path would simply call for people to subscribe to the
principle known as “ahimsa,” and to apply it to all creatures by extending
the applicability of the universally known “Golden Rule” precept.
Anyone and everyone everywhere could direct his/her own personal
walk-of-life along this path. Once this spiritually-guided movement
begins, it will develop a life of its own. That will be a very good
thing for both humans and non-humans, looking forward.
I am hopeful that “religious organizations” and “animal issues
organizations” will seek to join their substantially powerful forces in
helping to create and administer this life-changing, life-saving
spirituality.
What could possibly be better for us humans, and the non-humans that we
share our planet with, than to seek to make this ideal a reality?
Let us all, whether or not we are religious in the conventional sense, join
together in walking this new path. As a result, every body can have a
life that is “Golden Rule Guided.”
It is THIS path that the world needs now.
Craig is an animal issues advocate who is continuing to evolve toward becoming a “Humaneitarian.” Helping to right “animal wrongs” is part of that evolution. Also read Craig's Rights, Wrongs and the Golden Rule.
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