Embracing Security and Safety in the Wholeness of Humanity

The other day a nicely dressed young fellow came up to me in the park and inquired, “Have you been Saved?” A joyous smile rose from within me, I thanked him for his question, and walked on.

Years ago, L Ron Hubbard spoke about the primary urge of the human species – Survival. Joseph Campbell once said that for a religion to be popular, it needed to provide a sense of ‘Health, Wealth and Safety’ to its practitioners.

I am describing a fundamental need that all humans share – a need for safety and security. We build great communities, develop laws, elect officials; all in the hopes of maintaining safety and security.

In our physical and social world, we attempt to control nature, control people, control events; all with the intent of maintaining safety and security. In our spiritual world, we join groups that seem to follow similar rules as ourselves. We establish Scripture and focus on our group’s interpretation of that Scripture.

We become exclusive; we separate ourselves from the rest of humanity. We believe, “They are wrong and I am Right.” With this exclusiveness, we ignore events; we value only the words of those who agree with us – in this exclusivity and ignore-ance, we end up endangering our safety and security.

Pope John 23rd spoke about the Wholeness of Humanity. Gandhi spoke of the Power of Soul – the power of a people who are not divided. Among followers of Buddha, there is a practice entitled ‘Metta’, where Loving Kindness is cultivated and shared with all beings. Individuals of these various religion faiths have realized that Safety and Security is found in discovering what all human beings share – a desire for safety and security. Understanding this foundational, shared desire, we can begin to work together to embrace Security and Safety in the Wholeness of Humanity.