This week the UN Interfaith Harmony Week is observed for the 10th consecutive year. All over the world people with different religious backgrounds are invited to hold interfaith events and reach out to each other.
Since one of the objectives of the Gamma Tao is to build bridges and create more harmony among religions and life philosophies I fully support this initiative. Last year I proposed to exchange or offer sunflower seeds as a symbolic act during these interfaith encounters. In my enthusiasm I even submitted this idea to the platform of the World Interfaith Harmony Week.
It was just an idea and not a real event, so it did not qualify.
I still believe it is a nice and simple symbolic idea that could help to increase the awareness of the Interfaith Harmony Week.
This week we celebrate World Interfaith Harmony Week. This interfaith celebration was first proposed in 2010 by King Abdullah II and Prince Ghazi of Jordan during a plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly and is now a recurring event.
The promotion of interfaith harmony is also a key objective of the Gamma Tao. It is actually one of the main reasons why this website exists. If the Gamma Tao was only my personal way of life there would be no compelling reason to share it.
Even though my focus is on internal personal wisdom, I believe that the Gamma Tao offers an unique way of bringing religions and philosophies of life closer together.
The Gamma Tao is a only a modest lower path offering a common ground on which all the higher paths can shine. The Gamma Tao does not reduce, replace or incorporate these wisdom traditions in any way. According to the Gamma Tao all religions and philosophies offer valuable and unique insights that can increase our wisdom and humanity and lead to various forms of realisation, salvation and enlightenment.
I really hope that the World Interfaith Harmony Week will flourish more and more and become a meaningful tradition that will be celebrated in many religious communities around the world.
In his speech at the UN General Assembly, Prince Ghazi of Jordan projected that:
if preachers and teachers commit themselves on the record once a year to peace and harmony, this means that when the next interreligious crisis or provocation occurs, they cannot then relapse into parochial fear and mistrust, and will be more likely to resist the winds of popular demagoguery.
The Gamma Tao can offer sunflower seeds. Wouldn’t it be a nice and meaningful practice if different religious communities would visit each other on World Interfaith Harmony Week to exchange sunflower seeds?
If we plant these seeds and take good care of them interfaith harmony will grow high into the sky and really start flourishing!
The γ of the Gamma Tao is a silent consonant. The γ does not need to be pronounced, just like the silent H (or H muet). Its basic values gratitude, compassion and just proportion are not unique and can be found in most wisdom traditions. In this spirit I represented the Gamma Tao last week at the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
Only on a few occasions I gave my “non business card” to others. These were in fact the same old cards I had made especially for the Parliament of 2015. I did not personally attend the Parliament in Salt Lake City, but as a small sponsor unexpectedly I was offered some promotional opportunities there.
At that time I felt strongly about a mission to heal religions so that religions may help to heal the world. Nowadays I am much more humble and focus on my personal path.
When someone at the Parliament asked me about my affiliation, I replied that I represented a personal religion, but more than that I felt affiliated to all wisdom traditions that were present in Toronto. The Parliament itself feels very much like my spiritual home.
So many things came together in Toronto. I am very glad that this time I had the opportunity to join. I was touched by many speakers at the Parliament, regardless of their affiliation. It was great to hear some of my favourites again, like Karen Armstrong, Vandana Shiva and Tu Weiming.
I was deeply impressed by the wisdom of the indigenous traditions that were represented at the Parliament. Other speakers that made an impact on me were among others Arun Gandhi, Chidanand Saraswati, James Lawson Jr., Ebook Patel, Ingrid Mattson, David Rosen and last but not least Larry Greenfield, the executive director of the Parliament.
Several speakers were even more impressive in their deeds than in their words.
In between the speeches and especially during the Sacred Music Concert there were great music and dance performances. I am particularly glad that I learned about the “Prayer of the Mothers, sung by Yael Deckelbaum, which became an anthem for the March of Hope, lead by “Women Wage Peace”.
In preparation of Golden Rule Day 2019 there was a very cheerful session that made everyone sing and dance. The presentation of the Commitment to a Culture of Sustainability and Care for the Earth that has been added to the Global Ethic of the Parliament was an important official moment. This declaration can be signed by everyone here.
In a time that religions – often for good reasons – get a lot of bad press, the Parliament brings out the best from all these wisdom traditions. One of the speakers even called the Parliament of the World’s Religions the Parliament of the World’s Wisdom.
I could not agree more. There was no need for an aspirated γ. The spirit of the Gamma Tao seemed to be manifest in the Parliament itself.
