Dear Muhammad Shoaib Ahmedani,

I think that "improve the level of tolerance in ourselves and the peoples around us", as well as among the states, can be achieved, above all, by investing more money into the development of science and by expanding the influence of science and scientists.

Regards,

Milivoj B. Gavrilov

Dear Prof. Milivoj B. Gavrilov,

Thanks a lot for your valuable feedback. I respect your great advice and agree to it provided we define Science as "Doing things logically and systematically". If science means simply Physical and natural sciences, then I fear investment and development of such science will not be helpful because in science we dig deep into chemical, physical and biological properties of the matter which don't help us in improving our social dimensions and interpersonal development. Science and scientists have given us nuclear energy but nonscientist and non-sense peoples have used this energy for the destruction of humanity and life instead of improving life on this earth. To me, there is a need to improve our ethical and moral values, improve knowledge, broad our vision and believe in logic to accept opposite opinion and to solve complexities with logic and evidence.

Best Regards,

Shoaib

Endorsing an excellent input from Milivoj, best course would be your wide exposure to your knowledge about people , religion, ethnicity, culture  , without any geographic boundary , all collectively develop a kind of tolerance in ourselves, its a mindset that is continuously developing , seeing the happenings around us.

Well said Dr. Anoop Kumar. I wish we follow your suggestions 

In the ancient story of our father Abraham, he is deeply in communion with the Infinite-All when he notices three travelers in the distance. For him, rising and running to greet these men was in no way an interruption of his basking in the Divine Presence. However, there appear two seeming paradoxes in the original Hebrew narrative: (1) they are described as "hovering over him," and (2) he rises up and "runs toward them." If they are hovering over him, what need was there to rise up and run toward them? And the answer is that Abraham is teaching us something very important. The Other can be right in front of you, but what it takes to truly encounter the Other is to rise up above our own Self-Authenticated reality to meet the Other in theirs, to put aside our beliefs, our cultural and religious protocols, to create an arena in which there is in that moment you, the Other, and the Infinite-All who created the both of you and who is breathing the Life Force within both of you at the same time. Abraham does not ask the three Others what they believe, what religion are they, or let me see your business card, or what is your politics. He sees not strangers but reflections of the divine, of the same God with whom he has been in the presence of up until that time and whose presence he continues to stream into his encounter with the wayfarers. The key to learning tolerance lies in our willingness to rise up out of our self-focused stupor and run toward one another with a zeal the likes of which was demonstrated by Abraham. Our problem has been that in rising to meet Other, we tend to leave God behind and only take our egos along. Abraham taught us to leave our egos behind and take God along. And he did not mean that we take along the god we have created in our own image -- which we call "religion" -- but the God who created us in His image. It is important to understand the underlying difficulty in relating to Other, dramatized at the very beginning of the story of Creation in the Torah. God creates flocks of geese, herds of camels, prides of lions, swarms of bees, schools of fish, but only a single human. Thus, the human is intrinsically a singular entity not built to tolerate or be part of other humans. "This is my world, mine alone. God made it for me and for me alone. What the hell are you doing in my world? Who invited you?" Sure enough, it does not take long before the first offspring of humanity kills his brother. The antidote, then, is that each of us should indeed feel that the entire universe was worth creating just for us and us alone. And that would mean that the fellow next to me -- well, he is so special too that the universe was worth creating just for him alone too!!  And if that is the case, wow -- I deeply respect him and how special he must be in the eyes of our Creator.

I have to confess to you that the moment I read your question, my first thought was the best example of tolerance I can think of, in the person of a Palestinian Sheikh I will not name for the sake of his safety, as his friendship with the Jewish community has placed him in danger. Back in 1999, I was leading an educational tour in Israel when I was introduced to him by a Bedouin friend. I invited the sheikh to join with us in our gathering in the Judean Desert. We shared food, chants, prayers, laughter, stories. Our politics dissipated into the night, our differences vanished in the darkness, and we became the brothers we had been for 4,000 years until Religion separated us in the 7th century. When I returned a year later, I brought two Native American medicine men with me for a special program and introduced them to the sheikh. He was cordial with them but uncomfortable because -- as he whispered into my ear "They are not children of the prophets like we are." I whispered back: "Oh but they are. They are children of Noah, as are all humanity. Was Noah not a prophet himself, and the grandfather of our prophets?" His demeanor changed in a moment and he warmed up to them instantly. When I sponsored his visit to the U.S. some time later, I asked if he would join me in traveling to the Native Americans who were about to perform their annual "Sun Dance." Without hesitation and with great excitement, he said Yes, and in the end, he spent the four days at the ceremony fasting with the dancers and praying with the elders as they drummed and chanted, they to Great Spirit, he to Allah, all of us to the One Same Unfathomable Mystery we have assigned so many names that we've all but forgotten whom it is who dwells behind those names. As the prophet Malachi said it 2,600 years ago: "Have we not all but one father? Did not one God create us all? Why are we at each other's throats all the time?"

Dear and Respectable Mr. Gershon,

First of all, I am really thankful for your deep and meaningful comments that can touch any heart, if there is still a little love and kindness. You have rightly said that "The key to learning tolerance lies in our willingness to rise up out of our self-focused stupor and run toward one another with a zeal the likes of which was demonstrated by Abraham. I also agree with your beautiful words that "Our problem has been that in rising to meet Other, we tend to leave God behind and only take our egos along".

If we follow the path of Abraham and his great sons who were appointed as prophets to teach us, then there will remain no problem, no hatred, no confusion, no selfishness, no misery, no poverty, no discrimination, no injustice. This world will immediately turn into heaven and peace will prevail all over the world except in the homes of illegal money makers/businessmen. If we raise ourselves above our false egos and start believing in logic, then all humanity will be in peace except the false gods. There will be no buyer of arms, there will be no concentration of wealth and there will be no feeling of insecurity among the peoples as well as among the nations. 

No doubt we were born from single parents, but how much among us are willing to accept this universal fact; and how many are ready to declare others as their brothers and sisters being offsprings of common parents?

That is a why our Lord has created heaven and hell just to put all those in the hell who have made this heavenly world as hell because of their selfishness, egos, and greed.

Best Regards,

Shoaib

Interesting questing Dr. Mohammed. To increase the level of tolerance we have to increase our knowledge about ourselves as human being, we should know that we are mistakable we are not perfect and we should find excuses for others. We should increase the level of love in our hearts, purify our soles and bear in mind that any action you do or word you say you will be accountable for it.

Dear Dr. Saad. 

Thank you very much for your great and excellent suggestions. I also believe in all these suggestions. But people tell me that I live in dream world.

Yes, knowledge fills the gaps and broaden our vision. But to improve knowledge,  first, we will have to accept that lack of knowledge is one of the big hurdles in the way of tolerance. To improve our knowledge, we will also have to admit that we have just stepped in the ocean of knowledge. We are merely ignorant when we see the depth and breadth of knowledge. How many of us are willing to accept this reality? If we purify our souls then what will we do with our egos? If we fill our hearts with love, then what will we do with the hatred which we have stored to prove ourselves superior?

"Regarding one whose ego is too big, God says: 'He and I cannot dwell in the same universe'" (Talmud).

"So great is peace that even if we were to worship idols, God would overlook our folly on account of our living in peace with one another" (Talmud).

Absolutely correct.