These teachings are universal. The are quite similar to many others including what we call our tools in Gentle Teaching—our presence to bring a sense of feeling safe and loved, our words to uplift, our eyes to show warmth, and our hands to offer an embrace. These admonitions could be a person-centered plan for those whom we serve and support.

The world has given life to many belief systems. Many are based on faith-beliefs that reflect particular cultures; others are based on more simple patterns of life and serve as general guides for decision-making. Over the years we have encountered a myriad of approaches to life and there appears to be a number of common threads in these that weave together a whole cloth that unites us rather than divides us. The threads in this cloth are many. Some of the most critical ones are unconditional love, warmth, forgiveness, tolerance, and patience.

This teaching urges us to give freely of the gifts that we have including our labor, a compassionate heart, a warm glance, a smile, kind words, hospitality even to strangers, and shelter. These reminders are, in a way, a good and clear job description. We must be calm and open-hearted to respect our own and others’ basic beliefs. For example, in the following pages we can detect a common embrace of foundational ethical criteria such as:

  • Love of our neighbor, even our enemies and strangers,
  • Forgiveness
  • Unconditional love