The consciousness of the brotherhood and equality of all people is spreading ever more throughout humankind.
The one who said: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest,” became through these words the focal point of all humankind, for all humankind lives under the yoke of toil and oppression.
Consider those who do not bear this burden but impose it on others, those who exploit other people’s labor and oppress them—are there many of them? A million slaves for every master, a million beings for every lucky devil, bent down to the ground, which they irrigate with their sweat and tears. These poor creatures—they are the good shepherd’s sheep, the sheep of Christ, the ones for whom he gave his life. He calls them to him and, little by little, as the promised times grow nearer, they raise their heads and listen to his voice, they recognize him and are ready to follow him. These sheep will go to him from every sheepfold, from every nation, for they all belong to the good shepherd, and he will gather them. Scattered, divided, they crowd together in hazy anticipation of the one who would not lead them to pastures where they are handed over to mercenaries, those who would abandon their sheep and run away the second they see a wolf, or to people foreign to them, who only care of their profits, of satisfying their avarice, who will appropriate them, dress themselves in their wool and feed upon their flesh. And when they reach the good shepherd, all the sheep will gather round him, and there will be a single herd and a single shepherd.
The aim of Christ’s earthly mission is this: to assemble a brotherhood from all the people of the world, to unite all the people with each other by uniting them with God and to affirm their union under the sacred law of the infinite and boundless progress of love, which is the eternal life of the universe.
— Lamennais
Do we understand our spiritual brotherhood? Do we understand that we come from one Heavenly Father, whose image we bear within us, and whose perfection we may always approach? Have we acknowledged that what dwells within the soul of every person is the same Divine Life that dwells within us? And meanwhile, this is the only thing that can form a true, free bond between people.
To change the order of people’s lives, a new respect for one another is needed. Until people stop looking at one another almost as if they were cattle, as they do today, they will not stop treating people like cattle, they will continue to turn them, by force or by cunning, into instruments for the attainment of their goals. There will not be brotherhood among the people until they understand their affinity and relationship to God and the great purpose for which life was given them. Today, such thoughts are looked upon as fantasies, and a teacher who hopes to find in people a belief in their brotherhood and affinity to God is looked upon as a dreamer. And meanwhile, if this simple truth were accepted, the whole of society would be transformed, and such relationships would be established between people that we cannot even imagine today. None of us can imagine the change in treatment, the gentleness, respect, tenderness and the energy for the betterment of society that would arise if people pierced through to each other’s spiritual level and grasped the meaning of the soul of even the lowliest of human beings. Then those insults, offenses and humiliations that we do not notice at present would outrage us more than the greatest crimes of today. Then every human being would be holy in the eyes of another, and an insult, inflicted on a human being, would be a hostile act against God. In accepting this truth, a human being would be unable to abuse his neighbor because he would see the Divine in him. It is impossible to imagine a truth more practical than this teaching. Yes, we need a new revelation—not of heaven or hell—but of the Spirit within ourselves.
— Channing
You cannot love someone you fear, nor someone who fears you.
— Cicero
The people who preach morality and limit your duties to your family and your homeland are preaching egotism, in varying degrees, but which is in all cases harmful to you and to others. Family and homeland are two circles contained within an even greater circle: humankind. They are two stages, which we must go through, but which we must not stop at.
— Giuseppe Mazzini
The consciousness of one’s unity with all of humankind, resulting from an awareness of the single Divine Source within everyone, gives people the highest common good—both, an inner private one, and an external societal one. What obstructs this consciousness the most are superstitions of the state, of the people, of social classes and of religion. What establishes it is true religion.
