We are living in a time of disconnection, misunderstanding, and polarization in the US right now. Immigrants - whether they are here legally or illegally - as well as actual US citizens, are being harassed, deported, and even killed by ICE. Tens of millions of Americans struggle with drug addiction, healthcare is becoming unaffordable for many, policies make it too easy for people to gain access to firearms which lead to mass shootings of children and other innocent victims, and the government is prioritizing companies that pollute the environment over ecological sustainability and human health. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs due to federal government downsizing. Meanwhile, we often don’t even know our own neighbors.
Almost 60 years ago, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are all tied together. And you can’t get rid of one without getting rid of the other.” Indeed, everything is interconnected. Yet, our society largely functions from a worldview that is rooted in the idea of individualism rather than interdependence. Prophets and wisdom keepers throughout history have taught us time and time again that a worldview that does not entail treating other members of humanity with compassion and does not see ourselves as interconnected, ultimately is not a worldview that will lead to human flourishing. Dr. King said, “We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools….all mankind is tied together; all life is interrelated, and we are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist teacher and peace activist who was described by Time Magazine as “the monk who taught the world mindfulness,” stated:
“Interbeing is the understanding that nothing exists separately from anything else. We are all interconnected. By taking care of another person, you take care of yourself. By taking care of yourself, you take care of the other person. Happiness and safety are not individual matters. If you suffer, I suffer. If you are not safe, I am not safe. There is no way for me to be truly happy if you are suffering. If you can smile, I can smile too. The understanding of interbeing is very important. It helps us to remove the illusion of loneliness, and transform the anger that comes from the feeling of separation.”
As it happens, Dr. King and Thich Nhat Hanh were friends, as described in the book Brothers in the Beloved Community: The Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King, Jr. by Episcopal Bishop Marc Andrus. King shared his understanding of the term Beloved Community with Nhat Hanh in May 1967 at a Pacem in Terris conference hosted by the World Council of Churches that was inspired by the Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth) encyclical by Pope John XXIII. Thich Nhat Hanh was profoundly inspired by the concept of the Beloved Community, and dedicated his life to furthering this vision after Dr. King’s death. King and Nhat Hanh both became key lineage holders of the “Beloved Community,” which started as a philosophical concept to describe the Christian vision of the “Kingdom of Heaven” as “a spiritual unity for the whole human race,” and grew over time to include the Hindu concepts of ahimsa (nonviolence) and satyagraha (a transforming power for nonviolent social change), and then through Thich Nhat Hanh, to incorporate the idea that the Beloved Community contains all of life[i].
As a concept that describes the aftermath of nonviolence – the creation of a community defined by the idea of a divine “overflowing love” that glues humanity and all of life together – Beloved Community is a term that can truly encapsulate an interfaith vision for peace on Earth. The concepts imbued within this worldview can be found within every major faith tradition. Islam echoes some of the Buddhist concepts of mindfulness taught by Thich Nhat Hanh, that external peace follows from mindfulness and internal peace. This can be seen in many of the teachings of Rumi. Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Jewish Rabbi and leader of the Civil Rights movement along with Dr. King, leaned on the Jewish concept of tikkun olam (repair the world) as a motivating factor for his activism.
Many of these spiritual leaders recognize that one single belief system does not have a monopoly on the truths of the universe. As Abraham Joshua Heschel said, “Faith is not the clinging to a shrine but an endless pilgrimage of the heart.”
Marc Andrus writes at the end of his book Brothers in the Beloved Community:
“It is possible, perhaps even healthy, to maintain the commitments, the vows, one has already sworn to, and at the same time to open oneself to a greater reality. King, in his embrace of a friendship with Nhat Hanh, was modeling this concept of holding on / embracing upward. Nhat Hanh, as we have seen, has explored Christian theology while holding fast to his grasp and teaching of a lively Buddhist dharma. What lies beyond even Nhat Hanh’s understanding of the Beloved Community? How can we today unveil further truths about the Beloved Community and so meet the challenges that imperil the world?”
Holding onto our own truths while remaining open to the truths of others is one way of embracing the idea of non-duality discussed by Franciscan friar Fr. Richard Rohr: the idea that two truths can exist together simultaneously. It is a both/and thinking rather than an either/or thinking. Through this way of thinking, we can learn to open ourselves up to others who may come from different backgrounds as ourselves. And in so doing, we can build up the community of inclusion that divine powers have shown us throughout history is the fabric of the universe. One time-tested way of doing this is by coming together around a meal, to break down the silos of misunderstanding, and build communities of compassion.
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