I cannot imagine the pain of losing someone you loved with all of your heart because he preached love and compassion for all people. Coretta Scott King’s husband, Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed for espousing love and acceptance, yet she was able to teach her children about the beauty of our fellow man, the wonder of human diversity and the gifts that all cultures give to our world. She taught them to reach across the boundaries that separate us from one another, while being able to revel in their own uniqueness.

Her daughter, Yolanda King, took the message to heart and joined with Elodia Tate on a mission to bring stories of individuals from all over the world together in books that will reiterate our unity on our path to illumination. Open My Eyes, Open My Soul: Celebrating Our Common Humanity is their first collaboration.

The anthology has readings from notables such as Maya Angelou, Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Dr. Bernie Siegel, among others, but also includes everyday people who submitted their stories from all over the world. A panel read the stories “blind” and voted to determine which would be included. Some of the winning submissions were from children. All of them will bring you a smile of recognition in their beautiful grasp of our oneness, based in tales of friendship, peace, religion, and loving kindness.

The book begins with a quote from Yolanda’s father:

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, clothed in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.

Dr. Siegel has worked with combining love with traditional medicine. He is the author of many books. On page 41 he states:

When we raise a generation of children with compassion, when parents make sure that their children know that they are loved, when teachers truly educate and not just inform, and when the clergy of every faith remind us that we are all children of God, we will have a planet inhabited by the human family, where our differences are used for recognition and not persecution, where we recognize that we are all the same color inside.

That recognition of true humanity is solely lacking in many of our religious teachings, especially since 9/11. Fear of differences, fear of the unknown, and fear of anything not exactly like “us” became the seal of approval for hatred and justification for unspeakable acts. The “them against us” mentality again took hold in America. It allowed us to treat prisoners in despicable ways, because we saw them as subhuman. How quickly righteousness turns to oppression.

There is a wonderful parable in the book that was submitted by Sharon Redhawk Love. She tells of a grandfather’s sage advice when questioned by his grandson about all of the various religions that visited the reservation, pushing their brand as the only “true way” to know God. Grandfather sent him to a tepee for the answer. In it, the poles represent the support—akin to the various religions—which are all needed. All point to the Creator. It matters not which pole is followed; only that one is chosen. He instructs the young boy that he may change poles in his search, but that is all right. The tepee is there to give sacred protection but the individual must come to it and listen with his spirit, and send prayers to the Creator.

If only our world could understand that wisdom! What is a connected path for me would not necessarily hold the heart of an Asian in the rice beds of Thailand. But we are both children of God searching for his light upon our path. As Muhammad Ali states, regarding Christianity and Islam, on page 91, “’Rivers, lakes, ponds, and streams all have different names, but they all contain water.’ Just like all religions have different names—but they all contain truth.”

But how do we know truth? Do we listen to various interpretations and what others state as truth and blindly follow? All too often, that is the case. We need to train our children to listen with their hearts as well as their ears. When any lesson is offered, any truth put forth as universal, we need to hold it in our hearts and ask, “Does this follow the Golden Rule?” In doing unto others as I wish to have done to myself, I am acknowledging our interconnectedness. If I honor that in all ways, I am also following the Ten Commandments. In Talmudic text, eating pork or any scavengers was outlawed—probably as a way to teach the tribal people how to survive in those times. As a Catholic youth, I couldn’t eat fish on Fridays. The Church eased that limitation when I reached adulthood and I realized there were probably many “teachings” that were no longer pertinent to society. But the most important rule was the one that said I am one with you: We are all part of this wonderful creation of love. When we hold to that knowledge, we are at peace and our hearts fill with joy.

In a poem on page 217, Laura Stamps asks: “ What if you were to believe deep in your heart that you are a spirit, divinely dressed in a cloak of humanity, here on earth for seventy or eighty years to bless everyone you meet with heavenly love? What if this were your only intention, simple and true?”

Angela Moore, a psychic who lives in Marion and has an Asheville radio show, gives “classes” at our local bookstore. In speaking on dreams last night she told her audience, “Sometimes spirits comes to you in your dreams and tell you everything—explain it all to you. You don’t remember, because that wouldn’t serve the purpose. We’re here to learn it and put it into action.” That is my hardest lesson, I think. I learn it. I know it. I don’t always put it into action. I can be grumpy and irritable and impatient and, on rare occasions, ugly. Whenever that happens, I am disgusted with myself.

Stevie Wonder offers me his wisdom on page 213:

So I believe the most important thing we can do is to have compassion for each other. Our common goal has got to be caring. What if we took the pain we might feel if we lost the most important person in our life, and then felt that pain for other people? People who are not related to us—but who are related in that they are a part of our community, part of our universe. If we can feel for those other people the way we’d feel for ourselves, then we’ve achieved our highest purpose. That’s our biggest challenge, and we don’t always succeed. We may only be works in progress. But let’s at least be works in progress!

The book is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon, a beautiful gift to give, a meditation in reading form. The story offered by Andrew Dan-Jumbo, The Gift of a Lifetime, is one I will photocopy and send to my daughter, Lyric. It is an African story of love and grace, and reminiscent of the tales she has told us from her experiences last fall in Ghana.

I will continue to hold all of you in my heart in light and love and recognize our divine connection. Thank you for the blessings you give us all as a part of our universe. 

~ Gabrielle M. Thompson, 2005
© 2005 Gabrielle M. Thompson