World Scriptures Volume 2: Guidelines for a Unity-And-Diversity Global Civilization

By Leland P. Stewart

About Unity-and-Diversity World Council, Inc.

The Unity-and-Diversity World Council, Inc. (UDC) is a nonprofit, tax - exempt California Corporation. It was originally formed to develop the ideals and activities undertaken during International Cooperation Year 1965, which was voted into being by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The U.N.s goal in establishing that year was to encourage cooperation among non-governmental organizations.

Vision Statement: The vision of the UDC is to establish and sustain a local-to-global cooperating body of individuals, groups, and networks for the pursuit of peace, justice, and an environmentally sustainable civilization for all races, cultures, and religions based on universal ethical and spiritual principles.

Objectives:

1. To realize our connection to the Source of All Life and to all life forms.

2. To facilitate personal and social transformation and cooperative activities among individuals, groups, and networks.

3. To create an international vehicle for economic cooperation.

4. To study and take action of different issues, as well as making recommendations for needed action to institutions around the world.

5. To support the United Nations and its efforts in behalf of global community.

Activities:

(1) Peace Sunday An annual event featuring speakers, performers, in interfaith candlelighting, and table displays of participating organizations.

(2) Peace Convergence A full-day event drawing together the twelve sectors of the Peace Wheel to interact and discover ways of cooperation.

(3) Interfaith Celebrations A monthly event involving the worlds religions and spiritual groups at various houses of worship.

(4) Culture of Peace Series A monthly educational and action program featuring the different sectors of the Peace Wheel.

(5) Interfaith Services A weekly Sunday a.m. gathering to explore the moral and spiritual values of the emerging global civilization.

(6) Unity-and-Diversity Ministry Training Ministers-to-be study all faiths, the relation of science and religion, and the practical aspects of the ministry.

Unity-and-Diversity World Council, Inc.

Address: P.O. Box 661401 Los Angeles, CA 90066-9201 USA

Phone number: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 12, 2009
• ISBN: 9781456724467

Leland P. Stewart

REV. LELAND P. STEWART grew up in Detroit, Michigan, and attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he obtained two Bachelor of Science degrees – one in mathematics and the other in mechanical engineering.  While working as a test engineer for the General Electric Company and planning to study further at the Harvard Business School in preparation for administrative work in industry, he suddenly came to the realization that his life was to be headed in another direction.  Leland Stewart then applied and was accepted at the Harvard Divinity School, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Theology degree in 1953.  He was ordained by the Universalist Church of America at Little Falls, New York, in 1954.    During his time in industry he wrote a book now entitled From Technological Power to Lasting Peace, which outlined his thinking along general and philosophical lines.  During the time he spent at Harvard Divinity School, he worked on a 400-page compilation of  the scriptures of the world’s living religions and modern inspirational writings called World Scriptures.  This book was published in 2003.  Volume Two is an extension of this work as a separate volume focused on guiding principles for living in the emerging global civilization.   Since his entry into the life of world spiritual and community leadership, Rev. Stewart has served, and continues to serve, as Founder and Central Coordinator of the Unity-and-Diversity World Council (UDC), bringing high energy to the practice of universal cooperative co-existence.  The Council began during 1965, when the General Assembly of the United Nations declared International Cooperation Year.  The Council has its headquarters in Los Angeles.    Rev. Stewart is also the Founding Minister and Director of Ministry Training of the Unity-and-Diversity World Fellowship, a specialized affiliate of Unity-and-Diversity World Council, Inc.  The Fellowship is responsible for the ministry training and the holding of Unity-and-Diversity Celebrations.  More recently a committee has published Science and Spirituality, a book of sacred readings, articles, music, three major documents including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a civilization timeline.       Leland has been teaching with the Los Angeles Unified School District for fifty years.  He and his wife Elizabeth live on Los Angeles’ Westside, where they continue working together on various aspects of the UDC endeavor.  The Stewart’s have two daughters, Deanna and Lynn, both of whom are married and living in California.  They also have a son, Dana, who has spent his working life in the business world, having graduated in business from the University of Southern California.  Elizabeth is also a Unity-and-Diversity Minister and a co-founder of the Council.

Book preview

© 2009 Leland P. Stewart. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 9/9/2009

ISBN: 978-1-4389-8086-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-2446-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009905336

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Note: All materials without stated contributor are by Leland Stewart

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreward

Mary Anneeta Mann, Ph.D.

Cover Art

dedicated to the passing of Monique Baudaux Anderson

What Is Scripture In The 21st Century?

World Scriptures, Volume 1

World Scriptures, Volume 2

Creating Guidelines For The New Civilizaton

Section 1

Scriptural Articles And Longer Poetry

The Universe Story*

Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry

Universal Responsibility*

His Holiness The Dalai Lama

A Life of Dialogue Between Science and Spirit* - David Bohm

by William Keepin

Thoughts About Thinking

Wholeness and Holomovement

The Implicate Order

Dialogues With Krishnamurti

Science and Spirit

Savitri: An Epic

Sri Aurobindo

With Commentary by Dr. Mangesh Nadkarni

A God We Can Believe In:

Called by Any Name or No Name

Hum Bui, M.D.

One Voice

Dr. Barbara Condron

The Emptiness Sutra

Daniel R. Condron, D.M., D.D., M.S.

Science And Religion*

Albert Einstein

I Am There

James Dillet Freeman

God As The Namer Of Names*

Benjamin Herson

Commandments Of Love

Laura Joyce Hunter

Global Civilization Calls for Global Visionaries

Mary Anneeta Mann, Ph.D.

Science And Spirituality

Money

A New Vision For Humanity’s Future:

Unity in Diversity

Rochan Mavaddat

The Twenty Global Commandments

Dr. Robert Muller

The Ten Commandments to All Humans

The Ten Commandments to All Groups and Institutions

The Three Supreme Commandments

A New World Requires A New Vision

Earth’s Joy

AriellaShira

The Path Of Unity-And-Diversity

Dr. Charles Morris

Humanity And The Earth

Dane Rudhyar

Adaptaton by Patana Usuni

Cooperation Yes, Compulsion No!

Triaka

*Wisdom From The Urantia Book:

The Fifth Epochal Revelation of Truth to this Planet’s People

On Attaining World Peace

The Evolution Of Representative Government

The Ideals Of Statehood

Progressive Civilization

The Meaning Of Miracles

A Course in Miracles

Light Is The Solution

Shirley Leighton

Tomorrow’s God

Neale Donald Walsch

Section 2

Brief Scriptural Writings

Introduction

Felix Adler

The Golden City

Dante Alighieri

Affinity with the Stars

Henry Frederic Amiel

Meditation

Hamilton Fish Armstrong

Democratic Liberalism

Matthew Arnold

Quiet Work

Sri Aurobindo

The Immaculate Grandeur

Lew Ayres

The God of Evolution

Henri Bergson

The Vital Impulse

David Bohm

A New Renaissance

Robert Browning

Those Who Never Turned Their Backs

Luther Burbank

Child Nurture

Thomas Carlyle

The Chief Fact With Regard to Individuals and Nations

Hero Worship

William Ellery Channing

The Right of Free Discussion

Meng Shu Ch’ing

My Sanctuary

Arthur Hugh Clough

Hope Evermore and Believe!

Edwin Grant Conklin

Science’s Articles of Faith

Abraham Cowley

Liberty

F. Crompthout

A World Citizen’s Declaration of Faith

Submitted by Rene Wadlow

Leonardo Da Vinci

Art and Life

John Dewey

The Common Faith of Humanity

Charles F. Dole

The Image of the Ideal Human

Al Duffy

Testament for a Unity-and-Diversity World

Erwin Edman

Intelligent Worship

Albert Einstein

The Mystery of Life

George Eliot

The Tides of Faith

Havelock Ellis

A New Faith

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Moral Law

The Clerical Office

Shakti Gawain

A Guiding Force

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The Day’s Work

Wilfred T. Grenfell

The Ministering Physician

J. B. S. Haldane

The Tendency Toward Wholeness

William E. Henley

In Memoriam

In Memoriam (2)

Leonard T. Hobhouse

Political Freedom

John Haynes Holmes

The Meaning of Religion

Oliver Wendell Holmes

The Law

L. P. Jacks

Religion in the School

Toyohito Kagawa

Day’s End

John Keats

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever

Rose Hoffman Kramer

Creation

Shirley Leighton

Miracle

Mark Libowitz

Prayer for Paradise on Earth

Vachel Lindsay

The Leaden-Eyed

Samuel Longfellow

The Church Universal

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Ship of State

Prophets in Their Time

James Russell Lowell

The Present Crisis

Sidney Royse Lysaght

Home

His Holiness Acharya Mahapragya

Ahimsa and Peace

Edwin Markham

Together

Outwitted

Power

James Martineau

Into the Silence

Abraham Maslow

A Theory of Metamotivation

Giuseppe Mazzini

The Book of Life

Michel De Montaigne

What to Leave Behind

John Stuart Mill

Heresy

Arthur L. Morgan

The Purpose of Freedom

John Muir

What the Mind Sees and Hears

Lewis Mumford

Prophecy in Democratic Style

Hugh Robert Orr

Litany of Night

Theodore Parker

The Coming Church

Of All, By All, For All

Peace Pilgrim

A Summary of Her Teachings

Four Preparations

Four Purifications

Four Relinquishments

Edwin Arlington Robinson

The Music of Life

Rumi

Concerning Your Life Work

John Ruskin

The Merchant

George Russell (A. E.)

A Charge to Youth

Auguste Sabatier

Humanity and the Individual

William M. Salter

The New Faith

George Santayana

The Light of Faith

Seth

You Can Live Lovingly With Yourself and Your Planet

William Shakespeare

The Power of Love

Sant Kirpal Singh

Path of Sant Mat Meditation

Pitirim Sorokin

The Law of Polarization

Wendell Phillilps Stafford

The Lawyer

Rabindranath Tagore

The Beginning

An Answer to Suffering

Fundamental To International Peace

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

A Man of Science and Religion

Alfred Tennyson

Work May Yet Be Done

Henry David Thoreau

The Tonic of the Wild

William Jewett Tucker

The Contagious Element in Religion

Hoang Van Duc

Prayerful Awareness

Nicholai Velimirovic

Wisdom of the Serbians

George Washington

The Magnanimous Nation

Ali Wassil

The New Birth

Prayer

Alfred North Whitehead

The Religious Vision

Walt Whitman

Miracles

Have You Learned Lessons Only

of Those Who Admired You?

The Great City

Pioneers! O Pioneers!

The Perpetual Journey

William Wordsworth

Nature

These Helps Solicit

Wang Zang-Ming

Knowing and Doing

Section 3

Central Scriptures

For A Unity-And-Diversity Global Civilization

Central Scriptures

For A Unity-And-Diversity Global Civilization

Unity-And-Diversity

And Its Relation To All Paths

Unity-And-Diversity Perspective

The Fulfillment of Prophecy

A Universal Declaration of Moral and Spiritual Values

Expanding on These Guidelines

Twelve Universal Avoidances

The Unity-and-Diversity Person

Dr. Charles Morris

Unity-and-Diversity Consciousness

Samuel A. Eliot

Basic Teachings

The Universal Religion

Count Leo Tolstoy

A Universal Language

Baha’i Faith

More on the Common Language

Leland Stewart

The Great Experiment

Julian Huxley

As Bearers of the Light

Havelock Ellis

Three Doorways

J. Arthur Thomson

The Ultimate – a Modern Trinity

Forms of the Formless

Sri Ramakrishna

The Acceptance of Diversity

Swami Vivekananda

Global Civilization

The Vision of the World

Alfred Tennyson

Would You End War?

James Oppenheim

A New Faith

Havelock Ellis

Technology, Science, and Religion

Money and Value

The Remaking of Humanity

Alexis Carrel

Humanity and the Individual

Auguste Sabatier

The Individual’s Dual Role

Past and Present

The Voyage of Democracy

Walt Whitman

America – From Many Made One

A Modern Synthesis

Wholeness as the Goal: Integration of Reason and Faith

The Final Destiny of the Human Race (At-one-ment)

The Grandeur of the Soul

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Knowing Eternity

Upanishads

Ethics and Mysticism

Reverence for Life

Dr. Albert Schweitzer

Love*

Kahlil Gibran

Forgiveness

Jesus of Nazareth

Lasting Happiness (adapted)

Jesus of Nazareth

The Purpose of Freedom

Arthur L. Morgan

Death

Kahlil Gibran

Organizing For The Well-Being Of All

The Importance of Worship

Prayer

Kahlil Gibran

Symbolism: The Circle

Other Symbols

Consultation

A Daily Center

Missionary Spirit

Paths Toward Union With the Ultimate

Swami Vivekananda

Varieties of Gifts

Paul the Apostle

Other Teachings

The Equality of Men and Women

Baha’U’Llah

Marriage

Kahlil Gibran

Children

Kahlil Gibran

The Importance of the Family

Stages of Normal Living

Work

Kahlil Gibran

The Way of the Good Carpenter

Chuang Tze

The Deed and the Doer

Mahatma Gandhi

Non-cooperation with Evil

Mahatma Gandhi

The Relative Importance of the Human Race

L. P. Jacks

The Parting of the Ways

Communion with Nature

George Gordon, Lord Byron

The Value of Withdrawal

Celebrate the Life Force

Louise J. Yocum

Brief Quotations

A Unity-And-Diversity Gospel:

Focusing The Energies Of The New Person And Civilization

Brief Biographies

Sources

Section 1 –

Scriptural Articles And Longer Poetry

Section 2 -

Brief Scriptural Writings

Section 3 -

Central Scriptures*

About the Author/Compiler

About Unity-and-Diversity World Council, Inc.

Acknowledgements

My acknowledgements begin with Mary Mann, Ph.D., who spent considerable time proofing the manuscript, writing the Foreward, and adding appropriate material in support of the book’s purpose.

My wife, Elizabeth, helped with her patience and ideas during the full time of this book’s creation, starting at the beginning even before we got married in 1953. Most recently she has done proofing and found some important areas needing improvement. She also did the art work at the beginning of each section.

People I know or have met who have added important meaning to this endeavor, whether or not they have materials here, are Prof. Charles Morris, Dane Rudhyar, Stephen Longfellow Fiske, Al Duffy, Rose Kramer and her daughter Jacqueline, Peace Pilgrim, Shirley Leighton, Mark Libowitz, Madelon Logue, David Turner, Laura Hunter, Karl Heussenstamm, Ali Wassil LL.D., Hoang Van Duc M.D., Louise Yocum, Dr. Robert Muller, Prof. Pitirim Sorokin, Lew Ayres, Rabbi Benjamin Herson, and Monique Andersen.

Other individuals whose lives and work have greatly influenced this book’s creation are Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Kahlil Gibran, and Walt Whitman.

Foreward

Mary Anneeta Mann, Ph.D.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines Scriptures as the sacred writings of the Old or New Testament, or of both together.

Custom has included other sacred writings such as Taoist, Confucianist, Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Islamic, Baha’i, Scientology, Brahma Kumaris, CaoDai and Science of Mind.  All of these have been included in the first volume of World Scriptures and published by Quiet Waters Publications in 2003.

Now in this second volume, Leland Stewart is taking a gigantic leap of faith in throwing the net of sacred scripture much wider for the benefit of readers in the 21st century.

If readers can relate to and benefit spiritually from, certain writings, many of which have already been tested by time, then Stewart is saying,  these writings, though they do not come under the umbrella of any of the sacred writings listed above, may also be considered to be scriptures.  

It is a bold move towards opening the doors to a global civilization where the recognition of a universal humanity is of primary importance in shaping the destiny of peaceful co-existence in a creative universe.  

Cover Art

dedicated to the passing of Monique Baudaux Anderson

This cover art is being dedicated to the memory of MONIQUE BAUDAUX ANDERSEN, who passed away on March 1st, 2009. Monique did the beautiful universe setting of the cover, which is also the cover of World Scriptures and Science and Spirituality. Monique was one of the compilers of the Science and Spirituality readings.

Monique was born in Belgium in 1931. She was a natural artist. She became a master portraitist, landscapist, and expert still life painter. Monique had a profound love of people and was very interested in the religions of the world, as well as being a devoted Roman Catholic. She will be greatly missed by all of those who knew her.

The cover art is a science-religion symbol. It represents eleven different religions, some of which are the historic religions, while others come from more recent religions and spiritual movements. The white circle stands for those faiths which are not specifically shown. The science aspect is the symbol of the atom, which appears to be holding the various religions in orbit.

missing image file

INTRODUCTION

CREATING GUIDELINES

FOR THE GLOBAL CIVILIZATION

Introduction

What Is Scripture In The 2¹st Century?

To most people within one of the historic religious traditions the word scripture means their own central religious document or documents. Until the present time there has been so little interpenetration of religions that the majority of people still think their religion is the only one of great importance for today.

In order to get an adequate idea of the meaning of the term scripture, we must first look at religion more broadly. All major religions have their own scriptures, which to them are held as sacred. Followers of some religions are not as dogmatic as others about what scripture is and what it is not, but they do prize certain teachings of their religion above all others.

Today it should not be necessary to define in concrete terms which documents are to be considered as scripture. For a universal approach to come about, much of what once was scripture should lose this authority. At the same time, the very large volume of great religious literature that has been written since the beginning of recorded history should be opened to consideration once again. In fact, insofar as is possible, the way needs always to be left open for new scriptural writings or for the use of neglected ones.

What then is scripture? It is the writings of people of all ages and cultures which are found to be valuable in helping persons to live by the highest that they know – that is, to expand their circles of experience and to unite themselves with the whole of Life. In the long span of history, what is looked upon as scripture is the document or documents which people at all levels of society discover to have this type of meaning.

In the emerging global community, regardless of what faith individuals profess, and including those of no official faith, there is a need for being exposed to all faiths, so that mutual respect is made possible. In other words, the basis of scripture is now shifting from that of one religion alone to the coming together of all faiths. In addition, there are those teachings which are arising from the new circumstances of our time: the rise of science, technology, and democracy.

World Scriptures, Volume 1

World Scriptures, Volume 1 (now in its second edition; not labeled as Volume 1) was published in 2006 by Quiet Waters Publications, P.O. Box 34, Bolivar, MO 65613-0034. The original volume includes the essence of the scriptures of the world’s major religions, plus those of a number of more recent religions and spiritual movements.

The intent of this project from the beginning was to also include scriptures and other sacred writings of a prophetic nature which provide guidelines for the emerging global civilization. Two new elements that enter into the new civilization are democracy and modern science.

These scriptural materials were in part available when the original volume was published but were not used, since the purpose at that time was to provide an educational book that would help students in secondary schools, colleges, and universities to have direct access to the scriptures of the existing religions, ancient and modern.

Since that time, the number and scope of these prophetic materials have expanded and been organized into Volume 2. Eventually they may be incorporated into Volume 1, but for now they stand on their own and can be used for individual reading and meditation, as well as for services of worship that are looking toward the future.

World Scriptures, Volume 2

I believe that humanity on this miraculous, wondrous, life-teeming planet has a tremendous cosmic destiny to fulfill and that a major transformation is about to take place in our evolution…

Robert Muller, former Asst. Secretary General, United Nations

The next step in evolution in relation to planet earth is the establishing of a global civilization that will serve the well-being of all. The United Nations has a very important role to play in this evolution as it most of all seeks to bring the nations of the world together in dialog and cooperation. However, there is another aspect to this global transformation, which is the role that the peoples of the world play. This, too, must have its own guidelines and way of getting itself together.

Scripturally speaking, the evolution is toward bringing together the scriptures of the world’s religions and spiritual movements. Regardless of what religion a person follows, there is a need to know about the others and what they teach. And there are many people who are not members of any one religion, but rather who identify with the teachings of all religions, ancient and modern. As well, there are those who are skeptical of all the religions, because of the rather inadequate job they have done so far to unify and harmonize the world.

The historic religions represent previous ages, and their scriptures need to be brought into this global age by stressing their teachings which today help to make life more sacred and harmonious. On the other hand, this miraculous, wondrous, life-teeming planet, as Robert Muller so well puts it, is now producing a new civilization that will have its own teachings and ways of coming together. We can and must learn from the past, and yet life would be incomplete if we did not adequately provide for the present and the future. Modern science will have its role to play in shaping these scriptures as well as religions.

The interfaith movement, which is now growing by leaps and bounds, bears witness to the fact that there is another level of religious involvement beside that of the individual religions themselves. The existing religions and spiritual movements each have their communities, and it is essential that they serve these communities. But who serves the universal community? These two levels of faith are not mutually exclusive. Both are important, and one can easily be part of both. The point is that there are guidelines for the universal community as well as for the individual faiths. There are those people whose faith relates to the harmonizing of all faiths, rather than to the identification with any one faith. These are the people who are likely to have the most to contribute to the building of the universal community.

The purpose of World Scriptures, Volume 2 is to bring together the teachings that relate most of all to the emerging global community. They comprise the prophetic aspect of religion, and they are needed to help unify the planet as a whole, both human and non-human. It is time for all of us to tune in to our Higher Self and to listen for the answers.

Creating Guidelines For The New Civilizaton

There will be established on earth a new consciousness and power which will shape a race of wise spiritual beings and take up into itself all of earth-nature that is ready for this new transformation.

Sri Aurobindo, Science and Spirituality, p. 171

We are entering into the most potentially powerful time of transformation in human history. It is our opportunity to shift so completely in our understanding of life and its possibilities that we truly create a new world. Now is the time when all of the gates are open, and the flood waters of new understanding are rapidly sweeping away the confusions and limitations that have kept us from reaching our full potentials.

The interfaith movement is helping to bring together the faiths of the world, many of which have previously been discounting each other or are even at war. A good example is that of the warring factions in Iraq within Islam. For some time in the past, Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland have been fighting with each other, whereas now some solutions are appearing.

There is, however, a new dimension of life which is gradually entering into the picture of what is needed. The historic religions, and a number of the more recent spiritual movements as well, represent the values of earlier civilizations. These teachings are still very important, but a new element has to be added in order for full reconciliation to take place. This element has been brought forward through the birth of science and technology, as well as the advent of democracy.

Science depends more on the use of reason to examine evidence and draw conclusions. The scientific method has given new tools to the process of discovering truth. Truth becomes more the result of exploration into the visible world, as contrasted to relying solely on revelation. Even in science, however, revelation assists as it guides scientists in choosing what to explore and where to look for evidence.

Freedom and democracy have come along as we search for ways in which everyone has some truth to give, rather than relying on only one source. All religions now need to be studied and listened to for the truths which they bring to our universal heritage. No one religion any longer is in a