Meditation exercises featuring the Golden Rule Poster
- Introduction to meditations
- Connecting word and image
- The Golden Rule – A universal principle
- The Golden Rule and you
- Unity amidst diversity
- One family, one world
- Exploring the circle
- Becoming a global citizen
- Interfaith dialogue – A golden conversation
Taoist Golden Rule in Chinese language. English translation: “Regard your neighbour’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbour’s loss as your own loss.”
3.1 Introduction to meditations
This section features a number of meditation exercises; each of these focuses on the Scarboro Missions Golden Rule Poster which is rich in visual and symbolic meaning. The purpose of these meditations is to reflect on the meaning of the Golden Rule against the backdrop of the physical, symbolic and visual properties of the poster.
The Golden Rule Poster does not, of course, contain all the world’s spiritual, cultural and religious traditions (which is a mathematical impossibility given the countless number of such traditions in our world). Accordingly, the poster is indicative but it is not meant to be exhaustive. It does have an inclusive quality but in a symbolic way. The poster is a symbol in that it points the viewer to something bigger than itself, something beyond itself and to a more inclusive vision of the world.
Similarly, the poster does not contain all of the innumerable versions of the Golden Rule, including secular versions. But it does remind the viewer of the universality of the Golden Rule. In this way, the poster has a capacity to create a consciousness in the viewer that is broader, more pluralistic and more open.
The various meditation exercises featured below are designed for individual use but can be adapted for a group experience. For instructions on how to adapt these meditations for a group experience, see Appendix 3: Application to a group experience.
As an aid to those who want to facilitate this meditation in a group setting, see Appendix 1: Comments about the Golden Rule Poster; this appendix contains comments about the design of the poster by individuals who viewed the poster for the first time. Some of these comments refer to the poster as a symbol for global human community.
NOTE TO TEACHERS AND YOUTH EDUCATORS:
Some of the content of the following meditation exercises can easily be adapted to a classroom or youth education program.
Materials required for meditations in this section:
- Scarboro Missions Golden Rule Poster. To view or order poster, click here.
- A listing of the 13 expressions of the Golden Rule. To access this listing, click here. To avoid printing all five available languages, select only the language you need.
- For meditation exercise #3.6: “One family, one world”, pen/pencil and paper are required.