Excerpts from AHIMSA newsletter

Excerpts from a newsletter of AHIMSA (Agency for Human Interconnectedness through Manifestation of Spiritual Awareness) ...

"It is the divinity within the individual and the underlying spirituality in every one of us that binds us into a universal whole [...] we will abstain from causing injury to fellow humans, plants, and animals on the planet earth only when we begin to live in the consciousness that we are interconnected. Almost all religions of the world teach that it is necessary to discover and to practice the presence of universal consciousness within, before we can find lasting happiness individually and peace and harmony in our society.

We can be proud of our scientific and material achievements. However, to solve our economic and social problems we continue to use violent means. With a growing world population and increasing material wants, conflicts abound and violence escalates around us. Scars of violence are readily evident, inflicted by humans not only against fellow humans, but also against the environment which sustains us all. The impulse to use violence as a means of resolution of personal and social conflict is not new. It is rooted in aspects of human personality that encourage uncontrollable want, greed and selfishness.

Since insatiable desires arise from our preoccupation with body and mind-centered personality, a renewed emphasis on another dimension of human personality, namely the spiritual, is needed in everyday living in order to enhance personal and universal good."