Suthida and I are enjoying a deeply meaningful visit with our beloved Sister Ruth and Brother Joel. Brother Joel is the elected President of the Church of Jesus Christ, headquartered in Pennsylvania.
The central mission of their Church includes supporting the spiritual, cultural, and material upliftment of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. Their worldwide Church community has also joined wholeheartedly with us in the 99 Days of Peace through Unity, celebrating and advancing our shared call:
Choose Peace. Live Peace. End War.
Throughout our friendship, I have never felt that Brother Joel, Sister Ruth, or anyone from their Church was trying to convert me or persuade me to abandon my own spiritual path. Instead, we have met one another with love, respect, openness, and a sincere desire to learn. We are not attempting to make one another the same. We are discovering how much we already share while honoring the sacred distinctions among our spiritual traditions.
What is very inviting is how they, and other members of their Church, that I have met, are how they walk their talk
One of the most fascinating things I am learning concerns the story of Joseph and the vital place it holds within several of the world’s great faith traditions. The story of Joseph forms a remarkable spiritual bridge connecting the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Holy Qur’an, and the Bahá’í Faith. Although the story is understood and interpreted in different ways, its enduring themes—faithfulness, betrayal, suffering, patience, forgiveness, reconciliation, and the mysterious unfolding of divine purpose—speak across centuries, cultures, and religious boundaries.
This is especially meaningful to me because, since I was a young boy, I have been deeply interested in understanding how the world’s many faiths, spiritual traditions, Sacred Teachings, and Great Messengers are related. Beneath their different languages, histories, ceremonies, and forms of worship, I have continually encountered the same sacred qualities: love, compassion, truthfulness, humility, forgiveness, justice, courage, generosity, and service to the Human Family and all life.
The way I have come to understand it is that whatever genuinely uplifts the human spirit, strengthens moral character, heals broken relationships, protects the dignity of every person, and inspires loving service must ultimately flow from the same Sacred Source—the Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery, the Maker of All Good Things.
This is how I presently understand the beautiful Sacred Teaching:
“In My Father’s house are many mansions.”
To me, these “many mansions” represent the many pathways through which the Great Mystery has guided, educated, comforted, and uplifted the Human Family. No single people, culture, religion, or generation can contain the fullness of the Infinite. Each carries a part of the Sacred Truth, expressed in a way suited to its own time, place, language, history, and spiritual capacity. And it is time for the whole tapestry to be woven together so that, together, we will end war.
At the same time, I remain open to other understandings. If a Sacred Teaching is truly spiritual and eternal, it cannot be exhausted by only one interpretation. It may reveal different meanings to different people, and its meaning within our own hearts may deepen and expand as we grow, heal, learn, and pass through the changing seasons of life.
We do not need to surrender our spiritual identity to honor another’s sacred path. We can stand firmly within our own traditions while opening our hearts to the truth, beauty, and wisdom carried by our relatives. Indeed, learning to respect one another without seeking to dominate, diminish, or convert one another may itself be one of the essential spiritual foundations for lasting peace.
In this time of division, conflict, and war, our Human Family urgently needs bridges of understanding. We need spiritual communities willing to pray together, learn from one another, protect the dignity of every tradition, and unite in service to Mother Earth, our children, our future generations, and all life.
This beautiful visit with Sister Ruth and Brother Joel reminds me that unity does not require uniformity. We can be different without being divided. We can walk distinct spiritual paths while recognizing that we belong to one Human Family, live upon one beloved Mother Earth, and remain forever held within one vast and Sacred Mystery.
Choose Peace. Live Peace. End War.