Together for Humanity

I just watched 7.30 Report on ABC, and feel really hopeful.

The story that warmed my heart was about a not-for-profit organisation called Together for Humanity. They are a group made up primarily of Christians, Muslims, Jews and Indigenous Australians, and their mission is to "teach children and adults to replace prejudice, largely religious and cultural, with mutual respect and cooperation".

They travel throughout the country running school workshops about religious and cultural tolerance, and together they openly answer questions about their beliefs, their faith and their lifestyles. Despite their obvious differences, the workshops focus on the similarities they each share as part of their common humanity, and they have had huge success in reducing things such as bullying and racial conflict. Their aim is to reduce fear, and to replace discrimination with understanding.

How wonderful! And how refreshing it would be to be able to bring up a generation of children whose internal moral compasses have been tuned to tolerance and acceptance!

This is the kind of program I would love to see implemented by all schools, as this, to me, is education of the utmost importance.

What do you think?

Falun Dafa

My husband is a Falun Dafa practitioner.

In a nutshell, Falun Dafa is a high-level cultivation practise that is guided by the universal characteristics of Truth, Compassion and Tolerance. It's a spiritual practise governed by teachings similar to Buddhism and comprises five exercises, not unlike Qi Gong. It's classes are free (always), and are practised in almost every nation. With one exception - China. In China, people are banned from practising Falun Dafa, and it has been made illegal. At this moment there are thousands of Falun Dafa practitioners imprisoned in hard labour camps, and many have died for their beliefs. Hardly something you'd expect in today's day and age, is it? It is lauded in nations such as Australia, Canada, the USA and the United Kingdom, yet outlawed in it's nation of conception. Why? The answer is simple. Fear. The Chinese Communist Party was unable to 'contain' the practice when it first became popular and for fear of it 'taking over', decided to declare it illegal. Practitioners are unable to express their beliefs, practise their exercises or read their books. To the CCP it is an evil cult, and they have done, and continue to do, anything in their power to stop it in its tracks, despite pleas from other nation's governments, Amnesty International and other protesters. Could you imagine if our government decided that yoga, or Christianity was illegal, and that those who practised them were to be arrested? The CCP's behaviour is abominable.

Falun Dafa is good. It is upright and highly moral, with practitioners only striving to improve their lives both physically and spiritually. I have seen it first hand for the last 11 years.

Last weekend we went to the Health Harmony Soul expo, where our local Falun Dafa group had a stand. My son was chosen to take part in the stage demonstration of the exercises. We were very, very proud, but not as proud as he was!




NB. To my family in Hong Kong, I hope that you will still be able to read my blog. It's likely that it will now be placed on the banned list!