The Message is Love from all Religions: So why are we not listening?

I am a very non-confrontational, passive person. I do not like fighting and violence. This was always how it was for me. I avoided fights between my parents and I hid outside or in my room. I have not learned to speak up for myself verbally and must say what I need to say in writing. It is my truest form of communication with others. With that being said I am here to express myself.
 
Hate is not acceptable and is a key condition of fear. We often fear what we do not know. For example, a fear of the dark might come from not being able to see what is out there and yet the same things are out there in the dark that were out there during daylight. So why be afraid?
 
People are different, different colors, different religions, different likes and dislikes, different ways of dressing, and different choices. What we fail to realize when we look at others is that we are all in need of the same things to sustain us. We all need air to breathe, food to eat, water to drink, shelter for safety and LOVE. We all need to know we are loved. It is as important to us as air, food and water!
 
Yet we look at each other and think:
He's different because his skin is different from mine.
She is too fat.
He is from the wrong side of town.
She believes in a different way from me.
She is poor, or too rich.
 
The list could go on and on and on. So let me address the real issue for me which is hate and violence. Both hate and violence are the result of fear.  Why are we afraid? Why are we so afraid of others? Why is it that there are people that fight and kill for religion, for God? Is it because there is only one right way? Is it because each religion believes their way is the only way?
 
There is only one Divine Source. Call the source what you will...God, Allah, the Divine One, the Great Spirit, or Jehovah. In fact there are 104 names for the Divine Source here: http://universespirit.org/god-names-master-list-of-names-for-god-from-worlds-religions
 
What does that mean? Nothing at all! They all refer to the same thing: The Divine Source is LOVE!!!  So let me pick this apart for you by looking at the fundamentals of each religion as it relates to the word love.
 

Christianity

The Christian understanding is that love comes from God. Christians believe that to Love God with all your heart, mind, and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself are the two most important things in life. The Apostle Paul glorified love as the most important virtue of all. Describing love in the famous poem in 1 Corinthians, he wrote, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres." (1 Cor. 13:4–7, NIV)  

Judaism

In Hebrew, Ahava is the most commonly used term for both interpersonal love and love between God and God's creations. Chesed, often translated as loving-kindness, is used to describe many forms of love between human beings.
The commandment to love other people is given in the Torah, which states, "Love your neighbor like yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). The biblical book Song of Solomon is considered a romantically phrased metaphor of love between God and his people, but in its plain reading, reads like a love song. The 20th-century Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler is frequently quoted as defining love from the Jewish point of view as "giving without expecting to take" (from his Michtav me-Eliyahu, Vol. 1).

 

 

Islam

Love encompasses the Islamic view of life as universal brotherhood that applies to all who hold faith. Amongst the 99 names of God (Allah), there is the name Al-Wadud, or "the Loving One," which is found in Surah ^{[Quran 11:90]} as well as Surah ^{[Quran 85:14]}. God is also referenced at the beginning of every chapter in the Qur'an as Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim, or the "Most Compassionate" and the "Most Merciful", indicating that nobody is more loving, compassionate and benevolent than God. The Qur'an refers to God as being "full of loving kindness."

 

Hinduism

Prema – or prem – refers to elevated love. Karuna is compassion and mercy, which impels one to help reduce the suffering of others. Bhakti is a Sanskrit term, meaning "loving devotion to the supreme God." A person who practices bhakti is called a bhakta. Hindu writers, theologians, and philosophers have distinguished nine forms of bhakti, which can be found in the Bhagavata Purana and works by Tulsidas. The philosophical work Narada Bhakti Sutras, written by an unknown author (presumed to be Narada), distinguishes eleven forms of love. In certain Vaishnava sects within Hinduism, attaining unaldulterated, unconditional and incessant love for Godhead is considered the foremost goal of life.

 

Buddhism

Karuṇā is compassion and mercy, which reduces the suffering of others. It is complementary to wisdom and is necessary for enlightenment. Adveṣa and mettā are benevolent love. This love is unconditional and requires considerable self-acceptance. This is quite different from ordinary love, which is usually about attachment and sex and which rarely occurs without self-interest. Instead, in Buddhism it refers to detachment and unselfish interest in others' welfare. The Bodhisattva ideal in Mahayana Buddhism involves the complete renunciation of oneself in order to take on the burden of a suffering world. The strongest motivation one has in order to take the path of the Bodhisattva is the idea of salvation within unselfish, altruistic love for all sentient beings.


So with all these religions professing that LOVE is the way to feel closest to the divine source, I am not sure what everyone is fighting about. Not one of us lives our life without making mistakes. But each of us was created by the Divine Source so we are perfect in our own way. We are meant to be shining examples of the Divine Love of the Source.  WHO CARES if we worship our GOD in the way in which we do? Who cares that we call GOD by different names? WHY is it that we cannot see the real message here is to LOVE?
 

Love our God, Love ourselves, Love our fellow humans, Love our Earth

and Love all that nourishes and sustains our life.

 

Sa'di wrote:

The children of Adam are limbs of one body
Having been created of one essence.
When the calamity of time afflicts one limb
The other limbs cannot remain at rest.
If you have no sympathy for the troubles of others
You are not worthy to be called by the name of "man".

and

Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.

Chief Seattle

and finally,

Oneness,  every individual is connected to all that is. We are all One and all things are an intricate part of out being. We are part of the Divine Source and the Divine lives within us.  

May you feel the peace, know the love and be filled with the Light of the Divine!

Links will take you to the site.
Information for love in religion from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_views_on_love