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So, I just wanted to comment a little bit about interfaith today and how important interfaith
dialog is, and to really learn about other religions, and to learn to communicate well with people
from other religions. Tomorrow I'm going to be speaking on a Christian radio station
so, it should be interesting. But you'll see that all the world's religions have,
you know, the common basis, is really held in common, you know, it's the same. And
so beginning with ethical conduct, because all the different faiths emphasize the importance
of ethical discipline and not harming others. And then they all emphasize love and compassion
for others. And so, different religions may have different recommendations about how to
enact those, and specific, you know, rules and regulations about those, but they're
all founded on those same basic principles of not harming and of helping others as much
as possible. And you can see that if somebody is religious, you know, those basic principles
help them to live a good life, and even if somebody is not religious those same basic
principles help them to live a good life. So I think that's the reason His Holiness
the Dali Lama is emphasizing secular ethics, so that ethical kindness, forgiveness, compassion,
things like these are not just restricted to religions but also apply to everybody universally.
And that's why he says "My religion is kindness" because kindness is the first
thing we encountered when we were born, and kindness is what sustains us throughout our
lives, and kindness is what we give to others, okay? So this goes beyond all religion, okay?
And so, religious theology is useful for giving some kind of philosophical underpinnings for
the usefulness of compassion and ethics, okay? But actually if somebody just opens their
mind to the situation of here we are all together in this universe, then the obvious way to
live together is ethically and with kindness and compassion.