Part I: The Finger and the Moon: A Sacred Parable for a New Age

There is an ancient Zen parable that tells of a wise master pointing a finger toward the moon.
We offer it now from a non-dualistic viewpoint.

The master raises their hand, a single finger pointing toward the night sky.
The moon, a luminous pearl, rests in the darkness.
The master softly implores, ‘Behold the moon’.
The earnest student gazes at the moon, appreciating its beauty,
and then considers the finger that reveals it.
After a few moments the student recognizes that the very act of pointing
is inseparable from the destination.
Without the guide, the moon remains unseen;
without the moon, the finger’s purpose is lost.
The finger and the moon, the path and the destination,
are not two separate things to be chosen between,
but a single, sacred gesture – a movement toward reality itself.
Through this harmonious union, we come to understand that the tool is a part of the truth it points to, and the journey is a part of the destination it reveals.

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This parable along with our non-dualistic motto of “Never instead of, always in addition to” can serve as a guiding light for All Faiths Seminary International (AFSI) as we navigate the new landscape of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI). The technology itself is an incredibly powerful tool. It can organize, summarize, and present information with remarkable speed and clarity. But just as the finger is not the moon, this technology is not the source of spiritual truth. It is a tool that points toward information, but it cannot, and must never, replace the personal, ineffable experience of connecting with God, the Universe, or All That Is, which is the true moon of understanding and enlightenment.

Our core mission at AFSI is to help you, our students, contemplate and grow closer to the Divine. There are many academic institutions that provide rigorous religious education focused on the study and recitation of ancient wisdom. While there is nothing wrong with that and can create incredibly capable theologians, our focus is different and is in addition to. It is to help you walk with God, on the path of the Mystic, and to find your own unique way. By clearly finding and contemplating your path, you will inevitably help others.

These guidelines are not a rigid set of rules, but a living compass – a guide for the conscientious student. They show us how to use this new technology not as a distraction, but as a tool that supports and deepens our engagement with both ancient and modern wisdom.

Our Guiding Principles:

1. GenAI is to be used in addition to, never instead of, your personal spiritual work.
2. The keystone of your writing at AFSI is authentic self-reflection, not intellectual summarization.
3. GenAI is a finger pointing at the moon and can be used as part of your path. It is a tool for exploration but cannot substitute mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual experience and insight.
4. All work you submit must be your own, with transparent and explicit attribution for any tools used.

The Finger and the Moon: A Guiding Philosophy

The path of the mystic is one of direct experience, self-introspection, and personal connection to the Divine. It is a journey of finding and exploring your own path, uniquely based on your background, knowledge, and calling.

Generative AI, like all books and teachers, can be a valuable aid on this journey. It can act as a tireless research assistant, helping you find facts, organize ideas, and clarify complex topics. But it is fundamentally a tool that synthesizes what has already been said. It cannot, by its very nature, perform the work of personal, spiritual discovery that is the hallmark of your education at AFSI.

Further, based on the training material that the GenAI you are using has available to it, it may NOT have the book fully “digested” in its core database. It may only have the meta information that has been written and posted on the web ABOUT the book, and not the entire book itself. This is when the GenAI’s conclusions can miss key points or be inadvertently biased due to the author’s position or point of view. That is why reading and contemplating the source material first is so important.

The wisdom of the masters, the teachings of the sages, and the insights found in sacred texts are all “fingers” pointing toward a deeper reality. But the reality itself—the moon—can only be seen with your own eyes and experienced in your own heart. Your endless study, contemplation, and spiritual practice are not just academic requirements; they are what will clear your vision, allowing you to see the moon for yourself.

Part II: Our Principles in Practice

To ensure the ethical and spiritual integrity of your work, we ask you to align your use of GenAI with the following principles.

Principle 1: The Doctrine of “Never Instead of, Always in Addition to”

Our seminary’s motto is a foundational statement of our values. The use of GenAI is an extension of this principle. The technology can be a powerful addition to your creative and intellectual process, assisting you with tasks that would otherwise consume a great deal of time. For example, it can be used for brainstorming, creating example outlines, or exploring different ways of looking at a problem. However, it must never be used instead of the essential work of reading, writing, and, most importantly, personal contemplation and reflection. The insights that arise from deep spiritual practice cannot be outsourced to a machine.

Principle 2: Prioritizing Self-Reflection Over Intellectual Summary

The primary purpose of your writing at AFSI is self-reflection. Our faculty are not looking for a summary of a text, which is something an AI can easily create. Instead, we want your personal reaction and response to the material. We want to know how a text, an event, or a spiritual practice uniquely impacted you. Your writing is a mirror of your own inner state. It is an exploration of something that is uniquely experienced by you and is about you. This is the sacred work we are here to support, and it is a task that only you can do.

Principle 3: GenAI as a Finger, Not the Moon: Tools for Exploration, Not Experience

The central spiritual work of this seminary is to walk the path of the Mystic – a path that seeks a direct, personal experience of the Divine. This experience is the “moon” in our parable. GenAI can be a finger that points to information about the moon – it can summarize sacred texts, provide historical context, and compile information about people, places, and events. However, it is incapable of having a personal revelation or mystical experience. Your papers, sermons, and dissertations should be a record of your journey toward the moon, not a collection of descriptions about the finger. This is why we hold fast to the understanding that genuine spiritual insights are born only from deep study, contemplation, discourse, and Spiritual Practice.

Principle 4: The Imperative of Human Authorship and Explicit Attribution

Honesty and good faith are the bedrock of our community’s ethical code. Please see the AFSI Student Manual for more information on this. The work you submit must be authored or created by you as an original work. This principle extends to the use of any AI tool. Just as you must properly reference sources from books or articles, you must also give credit to the generative AI you use.

The Seminary reserves the right to use AI detection tools to determine if a submitted document was human authored. The proper way to cite GenAI is to include a footnote or an explicit declaration stating, for example: “I generated this work through [Name of GenAI tool] and edited the content for accuracy”. This practice of transparent attribution honors the source of the information and reaffirms your role as the sole author of your personal spiritual work.

Part III: The Research and Reflection Paper:
A New Model for Your Writing

To apply these principles, a new dual-component model has been developed for monthly assignments and papers. This model is designed to support your use of GenAI for efficient research while safeguarding the spiritual integrity of your personal reflection. Unless stated in the assignment, this is an optional addition to your Reflection paper.

The Research Component (The Journey)

Purpose: This section serves as a factual foundation for your paper. Its goal is to provide a concise, accurate summary of a topic to prepare you for deeper reflection. You are encouraged to use GenAI tools to assist with this research.

Length: This component should be kept short – no more than one page.

Attribution: All information, including any text, images, or ideas generated by AI, must be properly cited and attributed in accordance with Principle 4. Use the approach of “Trust but Verify” as you review or reference anything generated by the GenAI.

Purpose: This is the core of your assignment and the most important part of your spiritual work. It must be written entirely in your own voice and reflect your unique inner experience. This section is a record of your journey of self-observation, your reactions, and your personal spiritual insights.

Reference: Please use the AFSI Writing Guidelines to create this portion of the paper.

Length: Based on the assignment and is typically between 500-1000 words.

Attribution: No AI-generated content is permitted in this section. The entirety of this component must be the fruit of your personal contemplation and writing. The only exception is If you wish to explicitly quote something that GenAI crafted. However, we urge you to get your primary quotes and references from the source document.

Understanding GenAI’s Access to Books

Understanding how any GenAI tool accesses information is crucial to your research. While these tools can feel all-knowing, their knowledge is not a direct, personal experience of reading a book. Instead, their information is a vast compilation of what has been written about books.

This means a GenAI’s knowledge of a specific text is entirely dependent on its public presence. Think of it as a spectrum: for a widely discussed classic, a tremendous amount of external information (reviews, summaries, scholarly critiques, analysis) has been “digested” into the AI’s training data. For a recent or niche book, there is far less of this external content, and the AI’s knowledge will be limited to basic descriptions and reviews.

The reason for this is that all Large Language Models (LLMs) are built on the same fundamental principles. They are trained on vast, publicly available datasets that include a combination of websites, books in the public domain, academic papers, and social media. No matter which company builds the AI, they all face the same legal and technical constraints regarding copyrighted material. This is why they usually CANNOT summarize a specific chapter in a book. If it does, it is likely making it up and hallucinating. Always Trust but Verify.

This is the very essence of the “finger” and “moon” analogy. The AI can only point to the moon with the finger of publicly available information. The quality and clarity of that pointing depend entirely on how much has been written about the book.

Below is a guide to help you understand the depth of information you can expect from a GenAI tool for some of the core books used at AFSI. Use this as a compass to navigate the depth of your inquiries. The higher the density of information available to the GenAI, the better results.

Tier 1: High Information Density	Tier 2: Solid Information Density	Tier 3: Lower Information Density
Armstrong, A History of God	Dass, How Can I Help?	Brockway, Your Interfaith Wedding
Dawkins, The God Delusion	Hooper, The Essential Mystics	Macomb, Joining Hands and Hearts
Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying	Lama, An Introduction to Buddhism	Pollinger, Yes! I Will! I Do!
Sacred Texts (Quran, Bible, Talmud, Bhagavad Gita)	Levine, Who Dies?	Mundy, A Course in Mysticism and Miracles
Hitchens, The Portable Atheist Collection	Schucman, A Course in Miracles	Jacobs, The Gnostic Gospels
		Haymaker, The Light of the Heart
		Eaton, Understanding Judaism

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Conclusion: Your Unique Path to the Divine

These guidelines are not a set of rigid rules but a framework for conscious living and learning. The rise of GenAI offers us a chance to re-examine what is truly essential in our Spiritual understanding. Our unique curriculum is not about the endless study of the person or the book or how they are pointing – but about the direct, personal experience of the moon. This path requires a choice, one you are invited to make every time you sit down to write: to honor your own inner experience, to be a vigilant observer of your own heart, and to use the powerful tools of our age in service of your sacred journey toward the Divine.

If you have any questions regarding the use of GenAI, please discuss them with your Mentor or other AFSI Staff members.

**Please note, some aspects of this document were brainstormed with the use of Gemini Pro. Images were created by Copilot.