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Many of us experience moments of awakening and make crucial life decisions when we realise that the way in which we are living is not right. One of my own pivotal decisions was in my thirties, when I left teaching in a university to work in a deprived inner city area with students with learning difficulties. Teaching in a university was good for my head, but not for my heart. I stayed at the community college in Southwark for almost a decade, mainly running and tutoring drop-in sessions for men and women of any age, sixteen upwards, who had missed out on their schooling and wanted to come back into education. These sessions brought them up-to-speed with their literacy and numeracy skills, built their confidence and self-esteem, and helped to clarify their next steps.

There is an idea that I love. It suggests that people emerge out of planet Earth in the same way that leaves emerge from trees.

I like to view the great spiritual teachers in this way. They were not transported in from some other star system or dimension, but also emerged from Earth. Christ and Buddha, Mary and Kuan Yin, emerged as examples of humanity's fulfilled potential for compassion and consciousness.

One of the most common and recurring religious themes is that humanity will be saved and brought to its next stage of evolution through the appearance of a yet another great prophet or world teacher. In Christianity, Christ will come again. In Buddhism, the Maitreya Buddha will incarnate. In Judaism, the Messiah. In Islam, the Imam Mahdi. And across the new age movement, there are all kinds of prophesies about new gurus, avatars and interventions.

All over the world, there exists a simple precept that, when followed, has the power to end conflict and banish strife.

It is the Golden Rule, a key concept in many philosophies and spiritualities that admonishes us to "do unto others as we would have them do unto us."

Its meaning is clear: treat others only in ways that you would want to be treated.

However, the golden rule is not always easy to follow. It can be a challenge to honor others as we wish to be honored. Yet, when we do so, we bestow a gift of loving kindness on our fellow human beings. And, in honoring others, we honor ourselves.

It is as uncomplicated a tenet as one could wish for. When we live by it, harming another person becomes nearly impossible.

The Golden Rule is rooted in pure empathy and does not compel us to perform any specific act. Rather, it gently guides us to never let our actions toward others be out of harmony with our own desires.

by Owen Waters

Love is the saving grace of all of humanity. We contact this primal energy in our finest moments. From the moment a baby is born, it is enshrouded in the unselfish love of its mother. From the moment a person springs into action to save others from peril, their own thoughts of survival are 'overlighted' by the love and caring that shines from their heart.

When a person dies and reviews their life, they see that one thing that mattered the most: Love. Pure, unadulterated, unconditional love. It is the source of compassion. It is the energy of caring for others. It is the binding force which holds together the entire universe, and it flows through you whenever you simply allow it.