242 lines
9.9 KiB
Plaintext
242 lines
9.9 KiB
Plaintext
Divine Father and Mother
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World Scripture
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DIVINE FATHER AND MOTHER
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Divine love and compassion is often expressed by the relationship of parent and
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child. The Jewish and Christian scriptures call God our Heavenly Father; in
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the Lotus Sutra the Buddha is called Father of the World; and similar
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statements are found in the Vedas and the Confucian classics. In many
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religious traditions Ultimate Reality is also recognized to be our divine
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Mother. Often God's Fatherhood and Motherhood are identified with Heaven and
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Earth, which cooperate in the creation and nurturing of human kind and the
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universe.
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We may recognize from these scriptures that Ultimate Reality has the attributes
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of both Father and Mother. Even religions that restrict the vision of God to a
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patriarchal image only, or religions like Islam that avoid using the language
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of parenthood altogether, describe God's love in terms that can be said to
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encompass both fatherly love--Creator, Teacher, Guide, and Savior--and motherly
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love--Nurturer, Fount of compassion, and Sustainer.1
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Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
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1. Christianity. Bible, Matthew 6.9
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God! Give us wisdom as a father gives to his sons.
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Guide us, O Much-invoked, in this path.
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May we live in light.
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2. Hinduism. Rig Veda 7.32.26
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I tell you, Shariputra,
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I, too, am like this,
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Being the Most Venerable among many saints,
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The Father of the World....
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I tell you, Shariputra,
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You men
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Are all my children,
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And I am your Father.
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For age upon age, you
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Have been scorched by multitudinous woes,
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And I have saved you all.
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3. Buddhism. Lotus Sutra 3
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- - - - - - - - - -
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1Islam's reticence about describing God as Father may be understood in light of
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its strong rejection of polytheistic religions in which gods beget other gods.
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Any language which could be suggestive of divine procreation--and the notion of
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a heavenly father could be misinterpreted to give such a mistaken idea--is
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avoided in the Qur'an.
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- - - - - - - - - - -
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Do you thus requite the Lord,
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you foolish and senseless people?
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Is not he your father, who created you,
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who made you and established you?
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He found [Israel] in a desert land,
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in the howling waste of the wilderness
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; He encircled him, he cared for him,
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he kept him as the apple of his eye.
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Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
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that flutters over its young,
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Spreading out its wings, catching them,
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bearing them on its pinions,
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The Lord alone did lead him,
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and there was no foreign god with him.
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4. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Deuteronomy 32.6, 10-12
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You are the children of the Lord your God.
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5. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Deuteronomy 14.1
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For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not
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receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the
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spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is the Spirit himself
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bearing witness that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs,
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heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided that we suffer with him in
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order that we may also be glorified with him.
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6. Christianity. Bible, Romans 8.14-17
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- - - - - - -- - - -
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Lotus Sutra 3: This stanza follows the Parable of the Burning House, in which
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the Buddha, as a compassionate father, rescues his children from the burning
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house of mundane existence by various means. The image of existence as burning
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goes back to the Buddha himself; cf. the Fire Sermon, p. 382. The Buddha is
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our parent by virtue of his limitless compassion--see Mahaparinirvana Sutra
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259, p. 138. Deuteronomy 14.1: Some Christians stereotype Judaism as a
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religion in which man relates to God as a servant to his master, whereas the
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revelation of Christ opened for the first time the more intimate relationship
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of a child to his Heavenly Father. This is the negative side of Paul's joyous
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experience of sonship in Romans 8.14-17. Yet Judaism in its true expression
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also seeks the intimacy of a parent-child relationship. God already revealed
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his abiding fatherly love for his people in the Torah of the Jews, in such
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passages as Isaiah 1.2, 63.16, 64.8 and Jeremiah 3.19; cf. the Kaddish, p. 54.
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- - - - - - - - - - -
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Anas and 'Abdullah reported God's Messenger as saying, "All [human] creatures
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are God's children, and those dearest to God are those who treat His children
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kindly."
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7. Islam. Hadith of Baihaqi
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God Himself told me that the most basic and central truth of the universe is
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that God is the Father and we are His children. We are all created as children
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of God. And He said there is nothing closer, nothing deeper, nothing more
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ultimate than when father and son are one: One in love, one in life, and one in
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ideal.
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8. Unification Church Sun Myung Moon, 10-20-73
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Why did God create the universe? The reason is that God wants to realize the
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relationship of Father and children centering on love. So we can come to the
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conclusion that the foundation of the universe is the relationship of Father
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and children.
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9. Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon, 6-20-82
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We are the children of our Maker
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And do not fear that he will kill us.
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We are the children of God
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And do not fear that he will kill.
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10. African Traditional Religions. Dinka Prayer (Sudan)
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What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give
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him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you
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then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
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will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!
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11. Christianity. Bible, Luke 11.11-13
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That breast of Thine which is inexhaustible, health-giving,
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by which Thou nursest all that is noble,
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containing treasure, bearing wealth, bestowed freely;
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lay that bare, Sarasvati [divine Mother], for our nurture.
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12. Hinduism. Rig Veda 1.164.49
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Sun Myung Moon, 10-20-73: Our relationship with God includes the dimension of
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empathy with the divine heart. It should mirror--in its intimacy and through
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comparable ethical norms--the natural relation of a child to his or her parent.
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Sun Myung Moon, 6-20-82: Cf. Sun Myung Moon, 2-12-61, p. 117n. Dinka Prayer:
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Cf. Tiv Proverb, p. 559. Rig Veda 1.164.49: Cf. Candi-Mahatmya 10, p. 565;
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Sarang, M.1, p. 763. On earth as the divine Mother, see Atharva Veda 12.1, pp.
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296f.
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- - - - - - - - - - - -
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As one whom his mother comforts,
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so will I comfort you;
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You shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
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13. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Isaiah 66.13
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The Valley Spirit never dies.
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It is named the Mysterious Female.
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And the Doorway of the Mysterious Female
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Is the base from which sprang Heaven and Earth.
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It is there within us all the while;
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Draw upon it as you will, it never runs dry.
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14. Taoism. Tao Te Ching 6
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O Mother of Imupa, advocate for the whole [feminine] world!
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What a remarkable Mother I have!
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O Mother, a pillar, a refuge!
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O Mother, to whom all prostrate in greeting
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Before one enters her habitation!
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I am justly proud of my Mother.
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O Mother who arrives,
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Who arrives majestic and offers water to all!
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15. African Traditional Religions. Yoruba Prayer (Nigeria)
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I am Father and Mother of the world.
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16. Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 9.17
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Thou art Father, Mother, Friend, Brother.
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With Thee as succorer in all places, what fear have I?
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17. Sikhism. Adi Granth, Majh M.5, p. 103
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Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including
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man.
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18. Christian Science. Science and Health, p. 256
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- - - - - -- - - - - - -
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Isaiah 66.13: This is one of the many images of the feminine and motherly
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aspect of God found in the Bible; cf. Hosea 11.1-9, pp. 460f. Tao Te Ching 6:
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Cf. Tao Te Ching 20, p. 608. Yoruba Prayer: On God worshipped as Father in
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African traditional religions, we have texts from a Nuer Prayer, p. 54; a Susu
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Prayer, p. 209, and a Kikuya Prayer, p. 779.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - -
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For God, people of the whole world are all My children. All of you equally
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must understand that I am your Parent.
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19. Tenrikyo. Ofudesaki IV.79
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Heaven and Earth are the father and mother of the ten thousand things. Men are
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the sensibility of the ten thousand things.
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20. Confucianism. Book of History 5.1.1: The Great Declaration
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All ye under the heaven! Regard heaven as your father, earth as your mother,
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and all things as your brothers and sisters.
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21. Shinto. Oracle of the Kami of Atsuta
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Mother Earth have pity on us and give us food to eat!
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Father, the Sun, bless all our children and may our paths be straight!
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22. Native American Religions. Blackfoot Prayer
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The Great Principle, the Divine, is my womb;
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I cast the seed into it;
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There is the origin
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of all creatures.
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Whatever forms originate
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in any wombs
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The real womb is the Divine, the Great Principle.
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I am the Father that gives the seed.
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23. Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita 14.4
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Book of History 5.1.1: The complete passage (see p. 1067) states that the ruler
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is likewise father and mother to the people. Oracle of the Kami of Atsuta:
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This notion that people are tied together with the kami and things of nature in
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one universal family builds a sense of community and respect for nature.
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Atsuta is a shrine near Nagoya. Blackfoot Prayer: Cf. Cheyenne Song, p. 294;
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Cree Round Dance Song, p. 55, and Okanagan Creation, p. 298. For a comparable
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Hindu passage, see Rig Veda 1.185.1-5, p. 177
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