Retirement Income Advisory Group

I took some notes from a lecture I listened to this morning about how to find peace in today’s world.

There were 2 interesting points made.

#1) With all the religious variations of this world, the Golden Rule that many of us grew up with is considered basic to all world spiritual teachings.

Here are some examples:

From the Hindu scriptures the Mahabharata says:

"One should not behave toward others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself”

Confucius was asked if there was a word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life? He replied, the word “shu” which means reciprocity…

“Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire”

Then from the Jewish Talmud:

“What is hateful to you do not do to your fellow men - that is the entire law all the rest is commentary”

From the Buddhist text:

“Hurt not others in ways that you would find hurtful”

And finally, from the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad:

“Not one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother what he desires for himself”

If we all just practiced that wouldn’t this be a more peaceful world?

The other point was even more interesting to me:

#2) These are the words of a Bishop who had who had them inscribed on his tomb in Westminster Abbey

“When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older and wiser I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country, but it too seemed immovable. As I grew into my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me but alas, they would have none of it. And now that as I lie in my deathbed, I suddenly realize if I had only CHANGED MYSELF FIRST, then by example I would have changed my family. From their inspiration and encouragement, I would have been able to better my country and who knows I may have even changed the world!”

When you came into this world you cried and everyone else smiled...

You should so live your life so when you leave, everyone else will be crying, but you will be smiling - Yogananda

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