Shmelke of Nikolsburg (?-1778)

I enjoyed this passage by Shmelke of Nikolsburg the most out of all the readings so far. I believe that all religions say that God is everywhere and nowhere, that He is in all of us. This passage did a great job of explaining how God could be in everyone, even wicked people. He said that “For all souls are one. Each is a spark from the original soul, and this soul is wholly inherent in all souls, just as your soul is in all members of your body…the original soul came out of the essence of God, and that every human soul is a part of God?” People may be wicked, they may do wrong; but they are still human, they are still Gods creation, and they still hold God somewhere within them. So how can we so them cruelty even if we strongly believe that they deserve it, how can we ourselves go down to their level. If we see ourselves as faithful to God how can we ourselves show cruelty or hatred to his creation. If we see someone being wicked is it not in our power to show them the way to the light, should we just sit back and watch them be wicked or should we help them? We may not be able to forget their wickedness, but we should at least forgive them, so them mercy just as God would show us mercy if we did wrong. This idea is very easy to preach but very hard to follow. It is easier to tell someone else to forgive the person that has wronged them, but it is extremely hard for one to forgive someone that has wronged them. “It is our right to hate and evil man for his actions, but because his deepest self is the image of God, it is our duty to honor him with love.”

Dov Baer Of Mezritch (?-1772)

I choose to write on Dov Baer of Mezritch because his writing had a lot of profound meaning. I have to admit that when I first read the passage I thought that he meant that we should have blind faith. Meaning that we should not interpret the Bible or any spiritual sayings, words, stories, etc. in our own words. The second time I read it I looked at it in a different way. I did not just pay closer attention to what Dov Baer said in one sentence, “The moment you begin to hear what you yourself are saying, you must stop” but what he was saying throughout the whole passage. This is when I understood that he was not saying do not interpret the words, he was saying to not take credit for Gods work. Dov Baer began this passage by saying “When you gaze at an object, you bring blessing to it.” I think this is a very wise and true thing to say. If we just ignored something or did not realize that it was there it would not matter to us, we would be able to continue living without knowing its existences. But if we give that object or whatever it is importance we are blessing it. I especially enjoyed the last paragraph that Dov Baer wrote. In this paragraph he talked about “The creation of heaven and earth is the unfolding of something out of nothing, the descent from above to below…They change the something back into the nothing.” To me this means that those who are truly meditating on God and the spiritual meaning know that material things are nothing. Yes God has giving us a wonderful home, Earth, but Earth was not always here and it will not always be here, nor will we always be on Earth. God is the only thing that will be forever and that is who we need to meditate on.

The Upanishads

“Whatever lives is full of the Lord.” I think this is a great way to summarize this passage and most religions. “Unmoving, it moves; is far away, yet near; within all, outside all.” God is everywhere and nowhere, he is everything and nothing, you can see him but you do not really see him. In this passage the one sentence that really sums up the Hindu religion and belief is “the man who can see all creatures in himself, himself in all creatures, knows no sorrow.” If God is in everything than he is also within us, when we come to believe, understand, and respect this we will be able to achieve a great spiritual being. We will also begin to understand life and the cycle of life. With this new understanding we will no longer be occupied with the unimportant issues that we may face in our lifetime like obtaining possessions, we will be able to realize that no matter how expensive or new something is, its value is nothing compared to the value of holding God close to your heart and mind. Understanding this and striving for this will bring us great peace of body, mind, and spirit. So I end with something that was at the end of this passage that really made sense “ When you see that God acts through you at every moment, in every movement of mind or body, you attain true freedom. When you realize the truth, and cling to nothing in the world, you enter eternal life.” God is holding and pulling the strings he is the one giving you your choices, so just get use to it and live your life as purely as you can. Your story has already been written your just living it, so make the right choices not the easy choices.

TU-SHUN

TU-SHUN was very confusing to me when I first read it, but when I opened my mind and read it the second time more slowly I began to make connections. It was really interesting and profound what this person had to say.
To me TU-SHUN was talking about how we are all interconnected in everyway possible, “because the jewels are clear, they reflect one another’s images.” Each one of us is a jewel in the imperial net of jewels. We all have an effect on each other whether we realize it or not. It could be something big like WWI or WWII, or something small like Pay it Forward. If you do something for someone and then they do something for someone else pretty soon it will have an affect on the whole community; there is a bigger picture out there and the universe does not revolve around us, we just play a small part in that bigger picture. It may have started somewhere but we may not have a clue as to where, “the ‘universal eye’ is the union of knowledge and reality” it has to do with believing even if we ourselves don’t see it. It could be history repeating itself like how Gandhi helped obtain India’s independence from Britain peaceful and without violence and how Martin Luther King Jr. obtained freedom for all without the use of violence. I think that the jewels are a symbol for our being or our spiritual belief and if we try leaving that jewel we will lose ourselves that is the reason for being able to see all the other jewels but if we try leaving we would be lost. I also think that the one main jewel described in the question: “If there is only one jewel, how can you speak of tying it into a net” is a symbol of the universe and God or a creator because without them there would be no us, we are a result of the universe and God.

Chief Seattle

I think this speech was a bit heartbreaking. Chief Seattle knew that the Native Americans were out numbered and that they had no choice but to listen to the Americans and do as they were told. Chief Seattle also knew that the time had come that the Native Americans could no longer live alongside the Americans, “No, we are two separate races, and we must stay separate.” He did not expect them to show the same hospitality that the Natives showed to the first pilgrims. He saw that they had lived their time, they no longer needed all of the land since there were only a few Native Americans left; large tribes along with small tribes got nearly wiped out because of illness and/or war. He saw the benefit in moving away from the Americans and to be giving land when the Americans could have easily just taken all the land and not given the Natives anything but bloodshed. In his speech Chief Seattle really showed the love for the land that he and his people had, the respect they showed to it, and how they truly relied on it for their way of living. His only hope was that the Americans would be fair in giving them good land that would let them continue their lives peacefully, his and his peoples only condition was that they would be allowed to visit the graves of their families and friends whenever they wanted. What they got was the raw end of the deal. I like the way he gave the warning to the Americans that even if they were dead they were not gone, that the Americans would never be alone, and how he ended his speech by saying, “So let him be just and deal kindly with my people. The dead have power too.”

SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA

This speech was very interesting. SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA made really good points while he was talking to the missionaries. Him and the others showed nothing but respect for the missionaries. They showed them that they were really listening to what the missionaries were saying and by discussing it they even showed that they considered the missionaries position. SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA tolled the missionary the reasons they believed in the Great Spirit, how the Great Spirit has looked out for them, cared, and provided for them. I also liked how he pointed out that the pilgrims came to America to practice their beliefs freely, which was basically saying you came here to practice your religion because back in your country you were not able to do so and now you are the ones preventing others from practicing their chosen religion. I think that SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA showed his wisdom when he pointed out how the world is made up of different religions and how within the one religion there may be disputes; “You say there is only one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is only one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it?” He also pointed out how so many religions are the same in that it is handed down through generations, how it teaches us to be grateful for what we have, to love one another, and to be united. SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA also made his point that their way of worshiping must have been acceptable to the Great Spirit because he would be pleased that they were listening to their forefathers and that they were following traditions. He proved this by saying if the Great Spirit really did think of them as unacceptable why did he provide them with everything they needed to continue living the way they did and live comfortably. I agree with what SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA said about God making us differently and those differences have resulted in different beliefs, customs, and traditions. I think that SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA and the others handled themselves and the situation in a very good manner and I was a bit disappointed that the missionary did not shake SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA’s hand, so they could at least depart on the best of terms.