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Change your Attitude, Heal your Soul, Balance your Life. Uplevel YOUR consciousness. Find your way HOME through MAAPS.


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Your way home is through…your inner light will guide you

“the conflict between the anti-american attitude of the far left of  the sixties and the beliefs of the first generation immigrants who choose America and the belief in the opportunity to chart my own course….”  Dinesh D’souza

The issues are complex.  The dialogue is so seductive.  It belies the complexity of the issues.

the power of propaganda

This is a photo lauded on facebook recently – I know they want to make a difference and change what they perceive as negative in government and the powers that be…

However, passing this photo off as truth is actually how propaganda works.

It pulls the reader who accepts it whole, into acting toward other people, a group of people who don’t precisely agree with them, in the exact ways they condemn…

This is a crisis in our global community right now…this linear, third dimensional thinking wrapped up in the rhetoric of consciousness, social activism, and the rhetoric of the sixties.  The seductive quality of the rhetoric uses all the tricks that belie logic, straw man arguments, non-sequiturs…

The comments written within the photo don’t hold up to critical thinking.  In order to address the problems facing the global community integrated mindful investigation of the problems facing us is necessary.  We need to uplevel our consciousness, include opposing views, paradigm shift, and integrate to solve these problems.

Arguing for the opposite of what is keeps us on the same linear third dimensional curve.

This is the problem with positive rights.  This is the reason for a constitution of negative rights.  Negative rights protect they press the reader to use critical thinking, to stand in the center of his/her integrated self and create from an internal locus of control the world that supports all beings.  Positive rights simply change the name and status of victim or persecutor.

  • How could you not believe in equal rights for gays, to love whom they love freely and without harassment?  It is good to allow freedom.  It is not good to force it by persecuting another group or person.
  • How could you not believe in a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body?  Yes women should be free to choose how to maintain their bodies and care for their physical vehicles…they should not be forced to have sexual relationships or to not have them.  The issue of pregnancy is complicated because the women and child share the same physical vehicle for that brief 10 month period. Pretending that the being growing inside a woman is something other than another human being belies the reality and diminishes intelligence.  Anyone who has been pregnant knows the child is real at the start, a growing human being.
  • The same people who fight for abortion also fight for protecting animal infants…so how is this?  Because of the trick of linguistics…the human growing inside the woman is renamed fetus — as if this being has no connection to the baby that might later be born.  The answer is to support protect and care for the women, human babies AND animals, and animal babies AND the environment…it isn’t an either/or. The seductive propaganda has more caring for animal and plant life than human…Intelligence dictates that all life be valued.  Just as animals should not be raised for consumption as if they have no sentience, humans babies growing inside a woman’s body should not be treated as if they have no sentience.
  • How could you not agree with the issues of protecting the earth, recycling, allowing people to set up a household in our country that are seeking asylum?  Yep, yep, yep, all important things, and all should be dealt with at the same level of honor.

So valuable…where have the words of Kennedy, and Martin Luther King gone…what has happened to them, twisting them around to support violence and harm against others to take from the government rather than to serve one’s country…twisted it into fighting for imprisonment but using their words —

aldous huxley quote

 

 

 

The thing that we have is our capacity to connect through mindfulness.   It is telling that the group who once used to ‘question authority’ have become the group controlling what and how someone thinks.  This shows the lack of balance and the degree of incongruence.

From my perspective, this shift in focus in the liberal agenda and propaganda, proves Freud’s theory, that if you don’t work through your issues you will become the person(s) you hate, and you won’t be able to see it in yourself…We have to elevate consciousness not stifle it.

From a consciousness perspective we are developing as two worlds.  One world is arguing points from a 3rd dimensional plane — pushing for rights, but forgetting about responsibilities..these individuals for the most part have their hearts soundly in the right place — they want to change what isn’t working or what seems to be avarice, consumerism, and divisiveness…yet they are not using their critical thinking to think outside the crowd mentality, outside the mob mentality of right/might over wrong.  This has some of the language of the evolving interconnected elevated consciousness but none of the energy.  The mobs killing to make others listen, no matter how important you think your message is – you destroy your credibility through your behavior.

The other consciousness that is evolving is that of one global world, completely interconnected– all human cultures with animals, plants, and the earth…this consciousness is not on the path of 3rd dimension good/bad, right/wrong, but rather on the path of discernment, wholeness, and collaboration.  It is in the tessellation space where we are in agreement and built on that. It is compassionate, loving, and embracing collaboration.

It is on another plane from the right /wrong, 3rd dimensional space.

The challenge to everyone of us is to respond to our environment with compassion.  Thinking you are right, and acting from this righteous place creates defensiveness in the other person.   Finding your inner knowing and making honest efforts to connect that inner knowing with another’s inner knowing that creates love, care, connection, and peace.

The elevation of consciousness begins within you, within me, within our children.  And we cannot create the space for that when we treat others without compassion; when we treat others as if we are superior in our ideology. Compassion open the door for understanding and negotiation and finally a place where agreement is.

….the way home is through..first within yourself — addressing the complicated incongruent beliefs and behaviors you have and finding a level of congruence in your thinking and actions.  Then next within your family systems.  Then within your friendships and work.  And finally in how you choose your government and what policies you encourage.  

It is a shift away from the power of alpha and popularity mentality toward REAL integrity, and value – from this space you can act in a way that is congruent with this elevation of consciousness.  

It’s tricky to stand in the center of your beliefs with your actions and be ready to be disapproved of, dropped off your social network groups because you are not in agreement with the group… and STILL remain loving, compassionate and strive for connection…that IS the elevation of consciousness, to move the group acceptance and drive for power into the workhorse role rather than the leadership role and have your Heart, true internal sensory guidance, and spiritual knowing be your leading guide.  

In this season of light let it be so…allow your light to shine and be a being of love and light.  The continuation of the planet depends on your capacity to heal yourself, heal your relationships, and live consciously from this space. Shalom, Namaste, Blessings, in love and light, bg

And as always, Remember you have a better chance of getting where you want to go if you have a map…in love and light, many blessings, bg

You can find out more at http://www.bethgineris.com.  Beth’s upcoming book, 6 steps to transcending conflict and elevating consciousness, due out in 2015 offers special techniques for releasing unresolved injuries…and the elevation of consciousness.

You may participate in seminars to learn these techniques through the bethgineris website. Beth’s groundbreaking book Turning Me to WE: The Art of Partnering with Mindfulness(2013), has some great tools about Temperament style and your personal style of partnering, as well as the insecurity Drivers MAAPS.front cover.me2we  Discover where you are in the Temperament and  the MAAPS section.  You can see how you see the world, and whether you have an attachment that is creating problems in your relationships.  MAAPS will help you to discern your insecurities and understand how and what underlies how you developed your insecurity driver (Money,  Achievement,  Attachment, Power,  Structure).

You can find ways to simply connect to yourself in a loving forgiving way through theTurning No to ON: The Art of Parenting with Mindfulness Book (2011). beth's book No to ONIf you want to change your life, see how you can bring mindfulness to your parenting and relationships.

One being at a time you can elevate the way in which you treat one another and elevate the consciousness on the planet so that equality, balance, and freedom BEcome the norm for all.  in love and light, bg


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Social policy to elevate consciousness: The Ray Rice lesson

In my blog, https://instinctivehealthmedicine.com/2014/03/13/social-policy-unintended-consequences-and-how-wolves-create-rivers/ I discuss several important social policy issues that have resulted in unintended consequences and that bias is one of the biggest deterrents to getting it right when creating social policy.

Bias is difficult to see because it creates a blind spot for the gazer.

Social policy planners have bias, the question is always: is their bias right or is it missing an important detail?

A more useful application of the sociological information about power and community is to create a space wherein the participant can sort through the answer though mindfulness and critical thinking.  

Educating students on how to think, how to use their brains to think through a problem,

deduction rather than just come up with the answer the professor determines true, in a Sherlock Holmsian style of clarity and mindfulness would allow for continued consciousness elevation for the entire community of human beings, and ultimately the planet.

  • When you are looking at a social issue use a multi-layer lens.  This is to say, look at it from the perspective of what has created the problem…there will be underlying sociological archetypes that are driving the situation.  Usually it will require you make serious efforts to understand your own bias, the driver of your bias, and the competing paradigms underlying the social issue.

These competing paradigms are usually a conflict between group and individual rights and a change in the societal mores and norms that are shifting.

The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 and the Child Abuse Act of 1974,2010 seem to have fared better than the above examples.

The Indian Child Welfare Act (1978) was originally set in place in response to several things, the high incidence of children leaving the reservations and being raised in non-Indian homes which led to a high incidence of depression and suicide as the children reached adolescence (far greater than those children adopted who were from non-indian families).

This appeared to be a cultural issue as well as a psychosocial developmental issue.  In addition, there was concern from the Native American community that the Native American culture was being decimated by the loss of their children to carry it onward.

There were problems in dealing with how a child was identified as Indian, in that various tribes had differentpercentages of Native blood or connection to a tribal roll as ways to identify a being as Native American. As time went on it also became an issue if the child had never been a part of the Native Community (1982) especially if the parents had not actually lived in the Native Community in their own upbringing.

However, the intended consequences were met positively, due to this act the incidence of suicide by Native American children in early adolescence decreased dramatically, and far more Native American children were endowed with their cultural heritage.

Let’s look at a specific social issue in the news now. 

Ray Rice and the video exposing, his domestic violent interaction with his wife.  

  • Both parties say this is a one time event.
  • Overall, the cultural stance is to say that domestic violence is not okay…
  • Yet the reaction from the community has been to lightly or barely condemn Mr. Rice.
  • Why is this: what are the underlying social issues in play?
  • Mrs. Rice did not want the video to be in the public eye and does not want to address the violence.
  • There are individuals who blame Mrs. Rice for remaining with him.
  • There are individuals who say it is a private issue not a social policy issue.
  • Additionally, he reports that it was a result of his drinking.
  • And there are individuals who diminish this as domestic violence because she attacked him first.

First off, what I see is that from a familial and cultural perspective, his fame and the money he can make for his team (and family) outweighs the reaction of disgust for his behavior.  This is a cost/benefit ratio response from the family and team.  They are not looking at the social ramifications of dismissing it as important or how that kind of inattention leads to increased violence and solidifies the acceptance of violence.

The cultural bias that is behind these statements shows how the culture is struggling to have a strong response to domestic violence:

  • He was drinking:  so it’s not his fault. The alcohol changed his behavior and made him act the way he did.  She attacked him first:  so it’s not his fault.  Or another take on it is if she is going to hit him she elevates her position and therefore has to take being hit back.  Or it was an automatic reaction on his part that he could not stop, due to his training as an aggressive football player.
  • These two positions are supported by the community within which he lives. Drinking frees one to act in an uninhibited way without having to take any consequences.  This belief is further supported by the fact that alcoholism is actually a medical problem — but it is a social problem too.  Any substance that changes your brain can have a positive or negative effect.
  • Physical fighting has been on the rise between adolescent girls and young women…it is seen in movies, made into a spectator event – think professional fighter Ayla Ali, which shifts the onus of responsibility away from the man to not be provoked when hit by a woman.

There is inconsistency of thought regarding whether to protect and care for women and children in the culture at this time.  That is why this has become such a hot issue with such divergent responses, reactions.

This is a power issue.

Men have lost some of their power in the community through the increase in power given to women, to compete for the same positions men hold, to get higher education and to choose to not depend on men.  With the disintegration of gender roles it can feel to men as if women are getting everything and men nothing.  Even women are not consistent in their behavior and thinking in this regard.

This is a tipping point for our culture, whether to actually protect women (and children).  How to create a consistency of thought regarding healthy relationships, whether to actually discipline inappropriate behavior, and how to educate people about conscious relationships that are not based in a power-over mentality.

I am most disturbed by what I observed in the video after the punch to the face….The piece that is disturbing to me is trifold.  He showed no remorse for the fact that his fiance was lying unconscious on the floor, additionally he showed no care toward how he removed her from the elevator, leaving her legs partially over the door threshold so that she might be hit by the door as it closed…

…and then this is the part that I saw which bothered me the most and most clearly belied any of the kind attributions toward Mr Rice…just after he dragged his fiance out of the elevator, while she was unconscious, lying helpless on the floor he kicked his foot at her leg, kicking her leg… this act of kicking an unconscious person is the act of a coward, a bully; he was no longer protecting himself –his kicking an unconscious person as if she were garbage showed his true hateful nature. This indicates the worst form of domestic violence, the kind that derives from a deep lack of caring for another human being.

Not one media commentator has identified this.

I did see it and from my perspective this is a view into his true psyche and inner perspective of the world. It gives a view into his inner nature or inner consciousness.  This action is not from the alcohol.  This is not a function of self-defense. This is not a result of losing control of his temper and reacting automatically. This is cold, uncaring, with a lack of empathy or compassionate connection to the person he just kicked.  This is a violent action within a domestic relationship.

Educating individuals about the importance of managing power in relationship is a first step.

Destigmatizing the way that power gets expressed while simultaneously challenging beliefs that support power-over structures would be the first step toward changing the cultural reinforcement of domestic violence.

Ray Rice is heralded in a positive light for his aggression on the football field.  The cold, uncaring, aggressive, warrior focus that created his success is exactly what is driving the violent action in his relationship.

Applying mindfulness to how you address his action will help to define a way that will align the concerns of the community and his identified desire to change his behavior.

A social policy that does not take into account the multi-layer aspects of social behavior, the intersection of a person’s sociological Fabric of group connections, personal experiences, and location in time will create unintended consequences.

On the face of it, his behavior is violent and needs to be called out, the crisis for the community is HOW to respond to uplevel the conversation to elevate our compassionate, conscious interaction with each other in society.

This is especially true since society is telegraphing acceptable behaviors to youth.

The etiology of domestic violence is in childhood.  What the person observes in the relationships of his or her caregivers as well as what happens to him/her.  Does s/he experience compassion, or heartlessness?  Is the definition of discipline punishment or critical, conscious education of natural and logical consequences, so that s/he can develop a sense of inner strength, resilience, and overall understanding of personal and cultural reponsibility?

In this way domestic violence is driven by earlier experiences of child abuse and neglect.

Social policy must start in a consolidated, comprehensive way in both the adult relationship and parenting discipline communities because without changing both, BOTH will continue.  They may take on different terms, harassment, abuse, bullying etc. These are all forms of the misuse and misunderstanding of power in relationships.

Let us start here and now with these young men in the news who area struggling with the negative effects of their heritage and what they have perceived as valuable in their childhood experiences.

Using mindfulness in how we respond to them will set the society on the path to mindful relationship where the abuse of power is diminished. In love and light, bg

You can find out more at http://www.bethgineris.com. Beth’s upcoming book, 6 steps to transcending conflict and elevating consciousness, due out in 2014 offers special techniques for releasing unresolved injuries…and the elevation of consciousness.

front cover.me2weYou may participate in seminars to learn these techniques through the bethgineris website. Beth’s groundbreaking book Turning Me to WE: The Art of Partnering with Mindfulness(2013), has some great tools about Temperament style and your personal style of partnering, as well as the insecurity Drivers MAAPS.front cover.me2we Discover where you are in the Temperament and the MAAPS section. You can see how you see the world, and whether you have an attachment that is creating problems in your relationships. MAAPS will help you to discern your insecurities and understand how and what underlies how you developed your insecurity driver (Money, Achievement, Attachment, Power, Structure).

You can find ways to simply connect to yourself in a loving forgiving way through theTurning No to ON: The Art of Parenting with Mindfulness Book (2011). beth’s book No to ON.beth's book No to ON

If you want to change your life, see how you can bring mindfulness to your parenting and relationships.
One being at a time you can elevate the way in which you treat one another and elevate the consciousness on the planet so that equality, balance, and freedom BEcome the norm for all. in love and light, bg


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the surprising narcissism and arrogance in alternative healers

I came to the field of alternative medicine and healing through a long process of personal discovery and acceptance. Along the way I managed to accumulate a few graduate degrees and many certifications in various energetic medicine treatments. I started out with the desire to be an orthopedic surgeon. I became an energetic healer, integrative medicine practitioner, and a devourer of all kinds of philosophy and spiritual traditions.

My practice and understanding has evolved through a tripod of uncovering my self knowing (information that is true through my experience), education in other belief systems and knowings, and discerning mindfulness. As a result what I think and feel is true or truth is based in the integration and transcendence of all three.

So when I make efforts to assist others in their thinking and to help them with healing, I come at this from a deeply humble place.

What I notice, however, is that many of my peers and a number of well placed individuals in the alternative world do not practice that humility.  Indeed, I notice they display a surprising degree of arrogance and narcissism.

There is an overall intolerance, irritable impatience, and lack of empathetic compassion, in their rhetoric.  Not only do they use the same demeaning, put down tactics that have been applied to them, toward those they identify as less evolved, in addition they have a palpable disdain for them.

This attitude is also applied to those whom they are trying to assist in their consciousness elevation.

Perhaps it comes from a deep inner knowing that they are right in their beliefs.  But after my own experience with this sort of struggle and enlightenment path, through which I became more deeply aware that right/wrong destroys the chance for integrated knowing, it feels more like a power trip then a guide for consciousness evolution.

I see the narcissism and arrogance in negative comments about people in social media. The judgment of others and their beliefs.  Recently, I read a blog from a well-known alternative medicine guide, who was using a dialogue with her equally talented friend to discuss the level of banality of those seeking help.  Perhaps she was trying to lightly chide her queriers to look deeper, but her style of dialogue with her identified enlightened friend sounded more like two gals in a clique making fun of people.   Her premise of clarifying the root of the problem was completely enlightening, but her style of interacting about the issue was distanced, un-empathic, and slightly arrogant.  Perhaps what was off-putting was the two talking about people, joking, laughing, when describing the ways people get off course. In fairness, she may have thought her presentation was joining the ranks and laughing with the people, but it came across as laughing at them, with her underlying tone dismissive and superior.

I was stunned, as she had often been a being that I felt wrote of embracing healing and health with compassion and care. In consideration on her part, it may be that she was feeling frustrated about not being able to get people to understand the importance of her message and so was simply reacting.

I have a lot of training, a lot of education.  I have been in the trenches of helping people change for over twenty years.  At times I can really see through a lot of what  people are doing  when they ask for help…but I never think it is my place to think they are wrong…choices, habits, ways of being… these are deeply ingrained.  They are developed over time to make sense of nonsensical worlds and experiences.

Healing through these takes deep love and compassion toward yourself and when you have a guide who is disrespectful or superior it actually causes you to hold tighter to those habits, because in a deep place within yourself you recognize the person isn’t safe.

Looking within, facing the choices you made to survive, unearthing the beliefs you swallowed whole from your cultural and family systems requires courage, compassion and trust.  It takes time to see within yourself, to understand what it is that you are doing that hurts yourself and what it is that you would rather do for yourself.  The fastest way to impede real healthy change is to make fun of someone’s inability to see what is necessary.  Actually threatening or making fun  of someone only makes that person feel worse, and so cling to the exact thing that they need to release.

My experience is that being a healer isn’t being the know it all, superior, king of the world…it’s much more like being a caring talk show hostess, gently encouraging your audience to look inside, gently release that which doesn’t serve, and encouraging love and acceptance, embracing your true self.

This role of healer/guide is difficult. It is mostly thankless.  You are mostly invisible and unimportant in the process.  The recognition of your care and skill comes often in retrospect or mostly once you are gone.  So for individuals who want to be recognized for their power, intelligence, or sheer genius…those who want to be called healers… it is problematic.

I believe this is what drives the narcissism and arrogance in alternative healers.  They are of two minds, unintegrated.  On one hand they see the empowerment of being soulful, spirit-filled, but on the other hand they have not dealt with their inner needs for power or their reactive level of superiority.  They come by it honestly.  Constantly having to go against the grain of the society, to prove to a society that requires proof from a right/wrong perspective that living in the light, in spirit, is valuable sets up this inner split.  So that on one hand a person is able to live in the light but on the other hand to express it pulls the person back into the shadow.

I understand this.  Yet, it is something that I want to kindly address because it is harmful.  It is harmful to the identified healer and those they are intending to help.

These individuals who are presenting themselves as more highly evolved are actually acting without mindfulness, without compassion, not from a no ego state of harmony, but rather from an egotistical state of superiority and arrogance, “I know better”.

This type of superiority and intolerance seems outside of the very thing they are teaching.

It can be  human nature to defend against attack by treating another as you feel he has treated you.  But it isn’t evolved spiritual consciousness.

The evolution of consciousness requires that the response of the evolved person be compassionate, show lovingkindness, treat the other AS she would like to be treated (not as she was treated in the shadow, unintegated degree of consciousness).

This is what the Buddha references about releasing ego – no ego.  This is what is attributed to Christ to love, to see the beauty in another and forgive even when he or she harms you. This is what is part of the ten commandments and the golden or silver rule – to do unto others what you would have done unto you (or not do unto others what you would not have done unto you).

  • As you endeavor to heal yourself and evolve your consciousness, listen to the understory as well as the over story in the guidance you receive.  Listen to yourself, too.  Pay attention to your inner sensory guidance, the quiet inner voice that helps you to discern whether you are moving toward integration and wholeness.
  • You may disregard guidance that is coming from a sense of superiority or disrespect, or you may choose to listen to the kernel of the guidance and disregard the put down.

And if you are an alternative healer, listen to your own understory.  Pay attention to that which drives your desire to help.  Clarify your shadow and allow yourself to be fully integrated.  The more neutral you feel, the more love you feel, the more you allow others to be in their own space free, the more likely you are integrating your shadow and your spirit.

Spiritual consciousness evolution happens through transcending and connecting to the place where spirit and human are best, not one better than the other.

make everything sacredThe easiest way to find that is through meditation, breath, forgiveness, lovingkindness, mindfulness, and acceptance. in love and light, bg


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Mindfulness and the evolution of consciousness

Hello and Welcome!  Mindfulness helps to discern how things are similar, relate, and where things agree.  Currently there is a high degree of conflict in the world environment.  Much of the discussion in politics and in the media is focused on how many ways to disconnect from each other – pitting groups against each other.  Mindfulness is the best response to conflict because it shifts your perspective

Focus on disconnection reinforces separation and  dissonance, and this leads to hostility.  It is the wedge that allows for groups to dehumanize other groups due to their differences resulting in opportunities for increased strife and conflict.  This behavior is the basis of bullying and victimization under the guise of power issues in children and adolescence; it is modeled in the way in which our political “leaders” and our various leadership communities relate to one another.

This is not the way for humans to increase their understanding of how we are all one; if your goal is harmony and collaboration, inclusion and acceptance, the way through to that is by seeking understanding, seeking common connections, and seeing the other as yourself.  Our best political examples of change through non-violence and non-in-group out-group behavior are M. Gandhi and M. L. King.

In listening to politicians you can get a sense of righteousness and superiority.  These lead to increased separation and a lack of unification.  In order for us to treat each other as one we each must work within ourselves to eradicate this tendency for in-group out-group behavior.

This is the way through to an evolution of consciousness.  It isn’t going to happen through force or superiority or though legislation of fairness.  Unification happens when we see we are one and act from that inner knowing.  Thus the concept of being the change we wish to see in the world.  Creating differences begets differences  and competition, looking for similarities begets collaboration.

What I have found is that many spiritual traditions stand on interestingly similar pillars.  Using the connections or similarities as passageways or doorways can assist you to increase your understanding of groups that at first appear very different from you.

There is a thread of similarity present that is visible to those who are ready to see it.

You can see a figure-ground image once someone shows you the boundaries and perspectives of each picture like the two profile faces that face each other which create the interior picture of a vase.

I did a search in google for the three pillars of several world religions and this is what I got.

In viewing these general foundational concepts you can see the similarities among some of the world’s religions.

The three pillars of Judaism:

The Ethics of the Fathers, chapter one in the second Mishna, Simeon the righteous says that the world rests on three things: On Torah, on avodah (“service”, worship), and g’meelut chasadim–acts of loving kindness.  Torah is the Jewish bible, Avodah is the concept of service and or worship, and g’meelut chasadim – represents acts of lovingkindness.

The Torah sets up what is moral – of note are the ten commandments handed down from God to Moses – so this is the basis of acting in a moral way; Avodah has to do with studying the Torah and then also practicing, acting within these moral ways – studying here includes the concept of thinking about, meditation on, and prayer for insightful understanding of the Torah; and acts of lovingkindness has to do with compassion, mindfulness and the silver rule – do not do unto others what you would not have done onto you . 

Now view the concept of the Three Jewels of Buddhism:

The core of Buddhism is made up of the three pillars of the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings) and the Sangha (monks and nuns). Simply explained, one could say that without the historical Buddha Shakyamuni there would have been no Buddhist Dharma, nor Sangha. Without his teachings, the Buddha would not have made much of a difference, and also the spiritual community would not have existed. Without the Sangha, the tradition would never have been transmitted through the ages. The Buddha would have been ‘just’ a historical figure and his teachings would have been ‘just’ books.  general_symbols_buddhism.html#3j

or another concept of the three pillars of Buddhism morality, mental concentration, and intuitive wisdom, http://satipatthana.ca/articles/02three.pdf.

The Buddha’s teachings are composed of three segments, Sila (morality),
Samadhi (mental concentration) and Panna (intuitive wisdom). Sila is the
foundation for Samadhi and Panna to build upon. Without the foundation of
morality the world would be in chaos and misery. The second pillar is Samadhi,
a mental state with no diffusion or dispersion. Panna is the third and final pillar of
the Buddha’s teachings. Understanding physical and mental phenomenon
correctly in its true nature is wisdom. The Buddhist’s goal is to attain intuitive
wisdom, also called awakened mind or enlightenment. ( Sattipatthana article,  page 2)

The five precepts for the lay Buddhist are: refraining from killing,
stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and taking intoxicants. The Buddha does not
lay down these precepts as strict commandments, but as a framework to follow
for the welfare of oneself and others. Immorality will bring a chaotic, miserable
and disharmonious life. The choice is yours. Sila protects from all gross speech
and deeds that can takes one to the four woeful states (states of intense and
continuous misery). ( Sattipatthana article, page 2)

a decent person would not normally even think of hurting or harming another person, but under anger,
rage and wicked greed they can act out of character. People who observe Sila
need to be aware of whenever anger and wicked greed take control over you. At
that moment put yourself in the other person’s shoes. If you were that person
would you want to be hurt or harmed? The obvious answer is “no”. In the same
manner the other person would not like to be hurt or harmed. Such simple
reflection will stop you from doing hurtful and harmful deeds. You are embracing
others as if they are yourself, thereby becoming one with others.(Sattipatthana article, page2)

Samadhi (mental concentration, practice mindful meditation) Why do we meditate? We meditate to contribute happiness and peace to the world, but not to be admired, respected or to appear holy. When one first meditates collectiveness and concentration of mind is achieved, then clarity arises and purity and happiness follow. Purity of mind is the cause and happiness is the effect. With increased degree in purity of mind peace (calm, serene and quiet experience) arises. (Sattipatthana article, page 5)

Panna (intuitive wisdom)  Intuitive wisdom can only be achieved through the practice of Insight (Vippassana) meditation. It is about knowing experientially that all physical and mental phenomenons are nothing but transient, dissatisfactory and insubstantial. (Sattipatthana article,  page 6)

These two religions are talking about very similar concepts of morality or correct action for healthful interactions, practicing living in this way delineated by the specific text identified, and putting yourself in the position of the other to increase your understanding of him.

The three pillars of Christianity:  miracles, prophecy, and moral precepts – golden rule, love and kind treatment of enemies.  These precepts share in common with Judaism and Buddhism similar concepts of morality, service, and acts of lovingkindness – the golden rule being do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  The moral precepts are based in the ten commandments as well as love the other as thy self.

The five pillars of Islam:  profession of faith, ritual prayer, alms giving, fasting during Ramadan, pilgrimage to mecca – in researching these there is a connection to the moral precepts of the ten commandments as well as the importance of living a life that is undefiled as you see in the five precepts of Buddhism.

The pillars of Hinduism include the  4 pillars of righteous living, a code of ethics, ten virtues and the Vedas and scriptures.

These 4 pillars form the foundation of values that can be considered as “commandments”, if you will, for the Hindu way of righteous living: austerity, purity, compassion, truthfulness. ( sanatana Dharma aka Hinduism article  page 4)

Ten virtues should be practiced by all men. The first five can be considered as
principles of self-restraint (yama): non-violence (ahimsā), truthfulness
(satya), celibacy in thought, word and deed (brahmacharya), non-stealing
(asteya), and non-covetousness (aparigṛaha).  The other five virtues are religious observances (niyama): internal and external purity (shaucha), contentment (santosha), austerity (tapas), study of scriptures (svādhyāya)and surrender to the Lord (Īshvara-praṇidhāna). ( sanatana Dharma aka Hinduism article page 4)

1. Hindus believe in the existence of a supreme all-pervasive Being, who is
both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and Unmanifest Reality.
2. Hindus accept the Vedas as the absolute scriptural authority.
3. Hindus believe in a code of ethics based on 4 pillars of righteous living as
defined in Shrīmad Bhāgavatam: austerity (tapaḥ), purity (shaucham),
compassion (dayā), and truthfulness (satyam).
4. Hindus believe in a prescribed method of living, with regard to its
objectives, stages and milestones of life.
5. Hindus believe in specific tenets such as the law of cause and effect
(karma), the theory of reincarnation (punarjanma), and the incarnation of the
supreme Lord into the world (avatāra).
6. Hindus have prescribed methods of offering worship to the Lord. ( sanatana Dharma aka Hinduism article page 2)

These concepts are similar to those seen in the other religions described here.

Concepts of caring, living through a path of harmony with spirit and nature as well as information about morality and moral behavior to not treat others as you would not want to be treated and see in the other your divine self – these are all represented in each of these religions some of the hows to do it are different, but not by too much.

Allowing yourself to see in the other how similar he is to you creates an opportunity to uplevel your consciousness; to act in a way that is compassionate and balanced. This will create opportunities for our world to uplevel as a whole to a higher degree of vibration.

Love is the way.

Mindfulness, intuitive meditation, detached observation and virtuous action allow for love to be your guide in all your endeavors.

Namaste.

Beth

Important NOTE:  This article was first published online by beth gineris on March 22, 2012, at OM magazine, community.omtimes.com  under the title, Using Mindfulness offers Threads of Agreement to Build a Tapestry of Spiritual Harmony and Collaboration.