Facets of One

FACETS of

ONE

Devotions on the Oneness of God and His Purpose for Us

ROYAL FALCON FOUNDATION

Facets of One: Devotions on the Oneness of God and His Purpose for Us Copyright 2026 Royal Falcon Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, by photography or xerography or by any other means, by broadcast or transmission, by translation into any kind of language, or by recording electronically or otherwise, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in critical articles or reviews.

Printed in the United States of America First Printing: 2026 ISBN: 978-1-954102-39-2 (hardcover) ISBN: 978-1-954102-40-8 (paperback) ISBN: 978-1-954102-38-5 (ebook) Library of Congress Control Number: 2026939178 Edited and compiled by Wade Fransson Cover design by Veronica Coello Interior design by Amit Dey Published by: Royal Falcon Press, an imprint of SOMETHING OR OTHER PUBLISHING LLC Brooklyn, Wisconsin 53521 For general inquiries: Info@SOOPLLC.com For bulk orders: Orders@SOOPLLC.com

Contents

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 1. The Shema of the World’s Faiths: The Oneness of God Across Religions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 2. Let There Be Light! And Let Us Submit to It . . . . 00 3. Facets of Divine Purpose: The Messengers and Their Mission. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 4. The Path of Suffering and Sacrifice: The Trials of the Manifestations of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 5. Communities of the Light: The Religions and Movements that Formed Around Them. . . . . . . 00 6. Obedience and Holding Fast: The Call to Stay True to Truth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 7. From First Light to Clear Sight: Creation, Revelation, and Discerning Good and Evil . . . . . . 00 8. Reflecting the Light: Becoming Lamps for the World. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00

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9. How to Let the Light Shine: Wisdom, Discernment, and Sharing Truth with Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 From Jainism to Jesus –– and Beyond: A Brief Guide to the Messengers and Traditions in This Book . . . . . 00 Coda: From Reading to Walking . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00 Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 00

Introduction

This little book began as a series of devotional programs— nine gatherings of hearts around a simple question: If God is one, what does that mean for the way we pray, read, and live together? The Shema, at the heart of Jewish faith, gives the classic formulation: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

(Deuteronomy 6:4, KJV) In these pages, that cry—the Lord is one—becomes a thread that runs through the scriptures and sacred writings of many of the world’s faiths. We listen for the same truth echoed in voices as diverse as Krishna and Isaiah, Lao Tzu and the Buddha, Guru Nanak and Muhammad, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. The forms differ; the underlying reality does not.

This book is built for small circles of prayer, reflection, and conversation. It is not a textbook or an interfaith encyclopedia. It is more like a psalter for our time: a carefully chosen set of passages to be read aloud, received in silence, and allowed to work on the heart. xv

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What This Book Is (and Is Not) This is ●

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a devotional reader—to help people draw nearer to God, together, a scripture-based meditation on themes that appear across traditions: oneness, guidance, sacrifice, community, obedience, light, and discernment, and a conversation starter, grounded in reverence rather than debate.

This is not ●

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an attempt to erase the real differences between religions, a scholarly survey of world scripture (though the citations are real and traceable), or a claim that “all religions say exactly the same thing.”

Rather, it is a working assumption that the one God has spoken, again and again, through many Messengers, and that if we listen carefully, we will hear shared patterns in what They say and how They guide us to live.

How the Devotions Are Structured Each of the nine devotions follows a similar pattern.

1. A short opening reflection ● Often framed by the early chapters of Genesis and the closing chapters of Revelation.

2 Let There Be Light! And Let Us Submit to It

G

od reveals Himself in the opening verses of the Bible as the One who brings order out of chaos through His Word. He speaks, and reality itself responds. Light appears, seas divide, life emerges. All of creation submits to His will as expressed through the Word of God. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”

(Genesis 1:3, NKJV) “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

(Genesis 2:16-17, NKJV)

From the first command, creation’s harmony depends on heeding the Word. The Messengers in every age call us to submit to the divine will, that we may truly live.

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“Is there any Remover of difficulties save God? save God? Say: Praised be God! He is God! All are His servants and all abide by His bidding! (The Báb)

1. Krishna (Hinduism) “Surrendering in thought all actions to Me, regarding Me as the Supreme, and resorting to the yoga of discrimination, fix your mind ever on Me. Fix your mind on Me only, your intellect in Me; then you shall no doubt live in Me alone hereafter.” (Bhagavad Gita 3:30, 12:8) 2. Zoroaster (Zoroastrianism) “Him do ye worship with good mind; Him do ye worship with truth and righteousness; Choose then, for your selves, that Righteousness, which is according to the will of Mazda.” (Yasna 31.22-23) 3. Moses (Torah) “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. (Deuteronomy 30:15-16, NKJV) 4. Lao Tzu (Taoism) “If one is in harmony with the Tao, the Tao will gladly welcome him.

Those who follow the way of the Tao will draw near to the Tao. Make the slightest distinction, however,

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and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.” (Tao Te Ching 23-1, composite emphasis, trans. Stephen Mitchell / D.C. Lau) 5. Mahavira (Jainism) “He who is awakened should carefully practice the law, He who is wise should be diligent in the law; By right conduct and discipline, he crosses beyond birth and death.” (Ācāranga Sūtra I.2-3) 6. Buddha (Buddhism) “‘All conditions are impermanent’—when one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering. This is the path of purification. Bhikkhus, I will teach you the Dhamma: walk upon it for the complete ending of suffering.” (Dhammapada 277; Saṃyutta Nikāya passages) 7. Confucius (Confucianism) “The Master said, ‘To subdue oneself and return to ritual is perfect virtue. If a man can for one day subdue himself and return to ritual, all under heaven will ascribe perfect virtue to him.’” (Analects 12.1) 8. Māori / Io Tradition “And this is the injunction: that they carefully perform the sacred rites and ordinances as they had been taught, and in no wise depart from them; that the world may remain in right order, as it came forth from Io.” (The Lore of the Whare-wānanga, Part 1, priestly instruction)

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9. Guru Nanak (Sikhism) “He Himself gives the command, and He Himself causes them to obey it. Those who merge into the Lord, by obeying His Order, are not subject to the cycle of reincarnation. O Nanak, in the True Court, they are judged true.” (Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 7-8, Hukam) 10. Shinto / Ame-no-Minakanushi (Kami Tradition) “Reverently perform the Heavenly and Earthly rites, As they were established in the Age of the Gods; Transgress not the Deities’ commands, That the land may be at peace and all things ­prosper.” (Nihon Shoki, ancient ritual injunctions, classical rendering) 11. Prophets of Israel (Mosaic–Prophetic Tradition) “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, NIV) 12. Jesus (Christianity) “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” (­Matthew 19:17, KJV) 13. Paul (Christianity) “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteous? (Romans 6:16, KJV)

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14. Muhammad (Islam) “And whoever submits his face [himself] to Allah while he is a doer of good—then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold. And to Allah will be the outcome of [all] matters.” (Qur’án 31:22, Saheeh International) 15. Orunmila / Ifá (Yoruba Tradition) “Let us do according to the instructions of Ifá, So that we may live long, So that we may have peace.

He who follows the teachings of Ifá, It is he who walks with Olódùmarè.” (Ifá verse as cited in Baba Ifa Karade, Ifá: A Forest of Mystery) 16. The Báb “Verily I am Thy servant, O my God, and Thy poor one and Thy suppliant and Thy wretched creature. I have arrived at Thy gate, seeking Thy shelter. I have found no contentment save in Thy love, no exultation except in Thy remembrance, no eagerness but in obedience to Thee…” (Selections from the Writings of the Báb, “Prayers and Meditations,” section 7:4, p. 226) 17. Bahá’u’lláh – “Remover of Difficulties” Prayer “Is there any Remover of difficulties save God? Say: Praised be God! He is God! All are His servants, and all abide by His bidding.”

(Selections from the Writings of the Báb, “Prayers and Meditations,” section 7:48, no. 1, p. 282, often quoted by Bahá’u’lláh)

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18. Bahá’u’lláh – True Servitude “O SON OF MAN! If thou lovest Me, turn away from thyself; and if thou seekest My pleasure, regard not thine own; that thou mayest die in Me and I may eternally live in thee.” (Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words, Arabic No. 7) 19. Revelation (Christianity – Closing Vision) “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”

(Revelation 22:14, KJV) From the first “Let there be light” to the last blessing on those who “do His commandments,” the thread is unbroken: creation itself obeys; life and order arise when we do the same.

Even Jesus, when called “good,” turned the praise away from Himself and back to God: “there is none good but one, that is, God.” His words and His example point us not to Himself as the end, but to the Father’s will—to that same eternal Word before which all are servants, and all abide by His bidding.

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