Credo - Point the second, Upon the nature of humanity

As I mentioned in the previous post, this exposition will examine the concept and implications of the universality of the Infinite Divine as it relates to humanity.

The universality of the Divine, which is to say the concept that the Pancreator is everywhere at once, is a simple and yet deeply profound assertion. If we accept the first Point (as outlined yesterday), then it follows naturally that the incorrupt and eternal nature of the Divine resides within each and every creature, plant, rock and stream. Thus all of Creation is a part of the Pancreator. That would include our little fellow to the right, but that's beside the point, right?

That is the point, though. Each human, like everything else, is born in the image of the Divine (Genesis 1:26-7). At our core, we are made in the likeness of the Pancreator. Thus, and here's the real sticky part, we are created without blemish or error.

Think that through for a second. In the first, it means that the concept of Original Sin is misplaced. Those who do not have the ability or opportunity to make choices which would be sinful are therefore without blemish. If the little one above passes over before he can figure out right from wrong, there's no Limbo or Hell or any of that. Sorry, Abelard.

The other aspect is what I wish to touch on more fully. If the Divine rests within each of us, then it is right, fitting and proper to recognize that Divinity and pay respect to it. This is (at least partly) the premise behind the modern conception of the Sikh and Hindu greeting of namaste which, as one person put it, intimates

'The God in me greets the God in you
The Spirit in me meets the same Spirit in you'

As we have previously established, the Pancreator is full of love, then we should return that unreserved affection towards the Divine...which is in each and every one of us. Thus, every person is innately deserving of love and respect. It is important, nay vital, to say this again.

Every person is innately deserving of love and respect.

There is nothing which a person does or does not think/say/do which alters the fact that they are, by their very existence, worthy of love and respect. This applies to Mother Theresa as much as to Mao Tse-Tung, cherubic choirboys as much as paedophilic priests. It matters not that they do not see this connection, that they deny their own links to the Divine or that they work against a global realization of these ideas. What matters is that you know this to be true and that you recognize and treat with love and respect those who are worthy, which is each and everyone of us.

Let me cast my net a bit wider for a moment. A corollary to the above statement is that everything in this world is also innately worthy of love and respect. The mountain streams, the icky bugs, the forest trees, the oceans...all of them are no less worthy of respect and love than myself, yourself, or Christ.

So, then, how should we act towards one another? How then should we treat the environment?
"As you did for the least of my brothers and sisters, you did to me." (Matthew 25:40)

Credo.