Texas Faith: Is it really possible to heal the world?

The human inclination to see justice in one’s own life time causes people to lean on the end-times, where no one goes free. They are fixed up here, pay for it in the next life (Abrahamic) or go thru reincarnation (Dharmic). Religions offer those beliefs to heal one’s soul. The mere thought of justice relieves one from the anguish. Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Navaratri and other festivities are restorative therapies to heal the soul.  Continued: http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2012/12/texas-faith-is-it-really-possible-to.html

Dallas Morning News, Texas Faith Column.
Is it really possible to heal the world? 

Rabbi Michael Lerner wrote last week about Chanukah, describing it as “the holiday celebrating the triumph of hope over fear, light over darkness, the powerless over the powerful.” 

He went on to say that Chanukah is about “understanding that when we connect with the transformative power of the universe, the Force of Healing and Transformation, YHVH, we become aware that the powerless can become powerful, that oppression of any sort is in contradiction to the fundamental nature of human beings as loving, kind, generous, free, creative, intelligent, attuned to beauty, caring for and needing each other beings created in the image of God. When that energy and awareness permeates our consciousness, no ruling elite and no system of exploitation can possibly last for very long.”


Of course, this also is the month when Christians will hear much about bringing joy to the world, peace on earth and goodwill to all. 


But is that so? Is it really possible to heal the world? 


Some whose theology predicts end-times see the world as marching from bad to worse, with God intervening at the end. Others hold to a theology that sees them as being used by God to bring his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Still others are neither so fatalistic nor optimistic.
Where do you stand? What does your faith tradition say about healing the world?

 MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, Dallas

The physical or the spiritual world sustains its equilibrium through the self-balancing mechanism built into it. When that balance is knocked off through our recklessness, like global warming or the destruction of nations and families through wars and egregious selfishness, the God-given system becomes energized and becomes capable of restoring to its pristine equilibrium, as it was created, provided an effort is made to heal. That way, we can live freely from anxiety again.


When the world came into being through evolution, creation or big bang, it produced two significant things: matter and life.


Every piece of matter in the universe is programmed to have its own balance whether it is the sun, moon or other galaxies. In chapter 55: 5-8, the Quran says, God has set a place for everything in the scheme of things and has designed them to maintain their own cohesion.

On the spiritual plane, God advises in Quran (55:9), “weigh, therefore, [your deeds] with equity, and cut not the measure short!” Indeed, the human life is not put on auto-pilot like matter. We were endowed with the free will to strive for that continual balance.


Rabbi Lerner sets the fundamental loving nature as the base of balance and peace. Human selfishness continuously knocks that balance off.


If the balance is not restored in our life-time, when tyrants get away, murderers cannot be found, then the end-time scenarios come into play.


The human inclination and desire to see justice in one’s own life time causes people to lean on the end times, where no one goes free. They are fixed up, pay for it in the next life (Abrahamic) or go thru reincarnation (Dharmic). Religions offer those beliefs to heal one’s soul. The mere thought of justice relieves one from the anguish.


We have the responsibility to heal the world to live a conflict-free life. Chief Seattle puts it precisely, that we are all interconnected in this massive web, which we did not create, but happen to a be a strand in it. If we mess with any strand, we mess with the whole web and ourselves.


Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Navaratri or other festivities are restorative therapies to heal the soul.


Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas!

 . . . . .

The Texas Faith blog is a discussion among formal and informal religious leaders whose faith traditions express a belief in a transcendent power – or the possibility of one. While all readers are invited to participate in this blog, by responding in the comments section, discussion leaders are those whose religion involves belief in a divine higher power or those who may not believe in a transcendent power but leave room for the possibility of one. Within this framework, moderators William McKenzie and Wayne Slater seek to bring a diversity of thinkers onto the Texas Faith panels.

To see responses from all the panelists, please visit Dallas Morning News at:
http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/texas-faith-is-it-really-possible-to-heal-the-world.html/

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place and standing up for others as an activist. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. Mike has a presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News, fortnightly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes everything you want to know about him.

Happy Hanukkah

HAPPY HANUKKAH | HAPPY CHANUKAH Foundation for Pluralism | Pluralism Center

Festival are a collective celebration of an achievement in a given community. The Festival of Hanukkah celebrates the recovery and re-dedication of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 165 B.C.E. Hanukkah, (also Chanukah) is celebrated for eight days and nights. It starts on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev and each year the date differs due to the Lunar calendar. This year the festivities began with the lighting of Menorah on Saturday, December 8th and the celebrations will continue thru the 15th. Continued at - http://pluralismcenter.blogspot.com/2012/12/happy-hanukkah.html

Hanukkah means dedication, and this holiday commemorated the re-dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem following the Jewish victory over the Greek-Syrian army in 165 BCE.

Learning about each other demystifies the myths about others and opens the doors of understanding. Indeed the best way to create a cohesive meaningful society is to be part of the joy, suffering and pain of the other. Our happiness hinges on the happiness of others around us and it is in our interests to be a part of the whole.

On my part I am committed to writing, talking and speaking about the essence of every possible festival that humans celebrate. I am pleased to share the following from different sources as I have not completed my own writing. I am blessed to have written about the essence of every major religious festival of the world continuously in the last twenty years.

What I write is the essence of the festival. This year, I found one of the best pieces written by Rabbi Michael Lerner, who and I met in Melbourne some, Australia and have kept up writing to each other since then.

Following is a compilation about Hanukkah.

Rabbi Michael Lerner wrote this week about Chanukah, describing it as "the holiday celebrating the triumph of hope over fear, light over darkness, the powerless over the powerful."  He went on to say that Chanukah is about "understanding that when we connect with the transformative power of the universe, the Force of Healing and Transformation, YHVH, we become aware that the powerless can become powerful, that oppression of any sort is in contradiction to the fundamental nature of human beings as loving, kind, generous, free, creative, intelligent, attuned to beauty, caring for and needing each other beings created in the image of God. When that energy and awareness permeates our consciousness, no ruling elite and no system of exploitation can possibly last for very long."

The Hanukkah Story

Here is the story I received in email. Author unknown.

In 168 B.C.E. the Jewish Temple was seized by Syrian-Greek soldiers and dedicated to the worship of the god Zeus. This upset the Jewish people, but many were afraid to fight back for fear of reprisals. Then in 167 B.C.E. the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus made the observance of Judaism an offense punishable by death. He also ordered all Jews to worship Greek gods.

Jewish resistance began in the village of Modiin, near Jerusalem. Greek soldiers forcibly gathered the Jewish villages and told them to bow down to an idol, then eat the flesh of a pig – both practices that are forbidden to Jews. A Greek officer ordered Mattathias, a High Priest, to acquiesce to their demands, but Mattathias refused. When another villager stepped forward and offered to cooperate on Mattathias' behalf, the High Priest became outraged. He drew his sword and killed the villager, then turned on the Greek officer and killed him too. His five sons and the other villagers then attacked the remaining soldiers, killing all of them.

Mattathias and his family went into hiding in the mountains, where other Jews wishing to fight against the Greeks joined them. Eventually they succeeded in retaking their land from the Greeks. These rebels became known as the Maccabees, or Hasmoneans.

Once the Maccabees had regained control they returned to the Temple in Jerusalem. By this time it had been spiritually defiled by being used for the worship of foreign gods and also by practices such as sacrificing swine. Jewish troops were determined to purify the Temple by burning ritual oil in the Temple’s menorah for eight days. But to their dismay, they discovered that there was only one day's worth of oil left in the Temple. They lit the menorah anyway and to their surprise the small amount of oil lasted the full eight days.

This is the miracle of the Hanukkah oil that is celebrated every year when Jews light a special menorah known as a hanukkiyah for eight days. One candle is lit on the first night of Hanukkah, two on the second, and so on, until eight candles are lit.

Significance of Hanukkah

According to Jewish law, Hanukkah is one of the less important Jewish holidays. However, Hanukkah has become much more popular in modern practice because of its proximity to Christmas.

Hanukkah falls on the twenty-fifth day of the Jewish month of Kislev. Since the Jewish calendar is lunar based, every year the first day of Hanukkah falls on a different day – usually sometime between late November and late December. Because many Jews live in predominately Christian societies, over time Hanukkah has become much more festive and Christmas-like. Jewish children receive gifts for Hanukkah – often one gift for each of the eight nights of the holiday. Many parents hope that by making Hanukkah extra special their children won't feel left out of all the Christmas festivities going on around them.

Hanukkah Traditions

Every community has its unique Hanukkah traditions, but there are some traditions that are almost universally practiced. They are: lighting the hanukkiyah, spinning the dreidel and eating fried foods.

• Lighting the hanukkiyah: Every year it is customary to commemorate the miracle of the Hanukkah oil by lighting candles on a hanukkiyah. The hanukkiyah is lit every night for eight nights. Learn more about the hanukkiyah in: What Is a Hanukkiyah? | How to Light the Hanukkah Menorah | Hanukkah Candle Lighting Blessings.
  
  
• Spinning the dreidel: A popular Hanukkah game is spinning the dreidel, which is a four-sided top with Hebrew letters written on each side. Read The Hanukkah Dreidel to learn more about the dreidel, the meaning of the letters and how to play the game. Gelt, which are chocolate coins covered with tin foil, are part of this game.
• Eating fried foods: Because Hanukkah celebrates the miracle of oil, it is traditional to eat fried foods such as latkes and sufganiyot during the holiday. Latkes are pancakes made out of potatoes and onions, which are fried in oil and then served with applesauce. Sufganiyot (singular: sufganiyah) are jelly-filled donuts that are fried and sometimes dusted with confectioners’ sugar before eating. Learn more about Hanukkah food

Happy Hannukah
Compiled by Mike Ghouse

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place and standing up for others as an activist. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. Mike has a presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News, fortnightly at Huffington post, and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes everything you want to know about him.