I read through the comments, and saw what I expected to see, people agreeing, people disagreeing and people plugging their own religion. A few in the conversation had put more than two lines of thought into their message, and thankfully nobody trolled the hell out of the thread, but seeing the division of faiths disturbs me. So I replied to them and though I should post this here.We are all, by nature, clearly oriented toward the basic human values of love and compassion. We all prefer the love of others to their hatred. We all prefer others’ generosity to meanness. And who is there among us who does not prefer tolerance, respect and forgiveness of our failings to bigotry, disrespect, and resentment?
I have to say, I cannot claim great wisdom in my 27 years on this earth, but I can say this. One of the hardest lessons I have ever had to accept is that people are inherently good. While I have seen in us a grand capacity for hatred and destruction our natural reflex on the whole seems to be a more beneficial one.
I would also like to share a revelation for everyone here who has pressed their own path in this conversation. I deeply respect your religion. The ones that have been commented on the most I feel are all-together brothers in spirit, as we all worship the God of Issac, Abraham and Jacob. Another revelation I have had is though we feel we are following the truth, (and I do feel I am following the one TRUE truth in my journey) this does not exclude from others being right, or from having understood aspects of the truth that we have yet to understand. It does not seem miraculous to me that many of those we would call "holy", Gandhi, Mother Theresa or even the Dalai Lama, sound so similar in their teachings. Judeo-Christian teachings tell us that the path to righteousness is through love. Though a theme in Jesus' teaching was in letting go of the preoccupation with future concerns in favor of gratitude for the here and now, instead relying that God would take care of tomorrow. This is a theme also seen heavily throughout Buddhism. I feel both are true, though they come from different sources. The truth is not ever limited to our personal savior, and I feel I am better for being able to recognize this.
As always, I welcome comments.
