A question of faith
I am not a religious person. That is to say, I don’t attend a church, or count myself among the followers of any particular religion. I wouldn’t say that I don’t have a faith, because I do believe in something that is greater than the sum of the parts – call it higher conciousness, cosmic ether, magic – whatever. And I have to admit that I have taken to heart lessons learned from many religions, West and East.
I was inspired to write this idea down this because of a segment on “CBS Sunday Morning” about forgiveness, drawn from the message of Jesus on the cross and the fact that it was Easter Sunday. The segment asked a panel of experts from various religions how the theme was played out in their worlds. It made me stop to think (again) about all those religions and what they were saying.
So here’s the thing – is it really heresy to say that all religions are essentially different permutations of the same idea? I’m sure the answer from many would be, ‘Uh, yea!”. The last time I floated that idea, the person I said it to was so engulfed in rage, I left a dinner party early.
But I look at what religions teach (no scholar here, but I read..), and the seminal figures from some of the bigger groups – Buddha, Mohammed and Jesus come to mind: in their own way and language, they all teach about love, forgiveness, tolerance, and self-worth. They may travel different routes to get there, but the destination is (to me, that is) always the same. I am amazed by the Christian Bible alone – regardless of who you consider to be its author, it is an amazingly powerful document, so adaptable to the moment, so dynamic in its meaning (and so easily dismissed as dogma).
I have to wonder, then…what if humans put aside their bigotry and brought their faiths together? What would happen if the Buddhists were informed by the Christians, the Muslims by the Jewish faith, the Hindus by the Buddhists, and so on? It’s not to say that each put aside their beliefs…I just wonder how each would grow if they looked at each other with faith and humility and accept what could be a grand cross-pollination. What would happen to religious zealotry if each group looked at the other and said, ‘oh yea – we all want the same thing’. I doubt it could ever happen, since it seems like religions tend to slide into matters of personal opinion once they’ve been handled enough by humans. But what if…?
Maybe that’s my faith – how ever it is packaged, whatever you want to call it, there is more to life than the sum of its parts. I can’t see it, or measure it, but I know its there around me.
And in my weakest moments, it is my strength.
Mahalo.
