Wednesday, April 04, 2007
talktime
people talk to each other, computers talk to each other, isn't it time religions talked to each other? brought up in a hindu environment in a hindu majority country, married to a jew, friends with many muslims/christians/budhists/jews/hindus (both theist and atheist)/sikhs/jains/freethinkers, employed by shinto (well it's a japanese firm, i imagine there is some shinto thinking there), having lived in three countries and through all the wars and terrors of our times, this is my final residual feeling about religion and our lives.
it's time to talk.
in each religion there are beautiful ideas, liberating thoughts, concepts that take you forward on the path of our existence, and it's a shame if we can't learn and grow by them. i was at my 18th or 19th passover seder the other night. over the years, at so many different tables, with so many different people, i had gone through this long meal where the story of the jewish people's exodus from egypt and freedom from slavery with heartfelt thanksgiving to god is told in a highly interactive format involving questions, answers, eating, drinking, and much wonderful singing. enjoyable and festive as it is, even the most observent jew will sometimes crib a bit about the length of this meal. i am not jewish, nor do i really like rituals especially as a means of gaining spiritual growth, so yes there have been times i've not felt particularly enriched by this experience. but two nights back, toward the end of the passover seder, a moroccan/french jewish gentleman who i rarely meet except for at such occasions, and who loves to read from the hagaddah (the book with passover prayers) in hebrew, suddenly said to someone across the table (not directly me), "you know what the other meaning of mizrayim (egypt in hebrew) is, don't you? it's boundaries. and passover is about freedom yes, but really from the boundaries of ourselves. that's why you must drink wine, to open ourselves up... and let go of the boundaries, be really free." goosebumps. my god, this is why i have been coming to the seder for so many years, i thought. to get this message. freedom from boundaries of the self. yes yes i understand why i had to be here, no accident this. (actually if you open up to and trust life i find, there are very few accidents, everything works to bring you where you will go and grow more from. that's what i think, you are free not to think it, i'll still like you.)
that's just one example, it's happened many times. i'm sure it's happened with you too.
instead of benefiting together from the deep, vast, collective knowledge and experience of different spiritual searches, we just separate, hate, kill, feel we're better than others through our religions. what a waste. what a shame.
we collaborate in matters of technology, science, economy, commerce, art. we globalise. we know it is time to cross those boundaries. so why don't we collaborate on religion?
real collaboration, real sharing, real talk. who knows how much richer and truly religious we may end up when we are free of our own little worlds, our fears, our limits. i know this is not going to happen ever.
no actually, i know some day it will happen. people of different faiths, preachers of different faiths will step out, out of the politics of religion and into the soul of it. they will talk to each other. they will give, they will take, they will learn the true meaning of love. life will bring us to that.
in the meantime, i will continue to have my reservations re organised religion as it is, and use whatever clean, non confrontational, yet hopefully thought provoking means i have to say what i feel i must say. and if you want to tell me anything about all this do call, you know how much i love to talk.
it's time to talk.
in each religion there are beautiful ideas, liberating thoughts, concepts that take you forward on the path of our existence, and it's a shame if we can't learn and grow by them. i was at my 18th or 19th passover seder the other night. over the years, at so many different tables, with so many different people, i had gone through this long meal where the story of the jewish people's exodus from egypt and freedom from slavery with heartfelt thanksgiving to god is told in a highly interactive format involving questions, answers, eating, drinking, and much wonderful singing. enjoyable and festive as it is, even the most observent jew will sometimes crib a bit about the length of this meal. i am not jewish, nor do i really like rituals especially as a means of gaining spiritual growth, so yes there have been times i've not felt particularly enriched by this experience. but two nights back, toward the end of the passover seder, a moroccan/french jewish gentleman who i rarely meet except for at such occasions, and who loves to read from the hagaddah (the book with passover prayers) in hebrew, suddenly said to someone across the table (not directly me), "you know what the other meaning of mizrayim (egypt in hebrew) is, don't you? it's boundaries. and passover is about freedom yes, but really from the boundaries of ourselves. that's why you must drink wine, to open ourselves up... and let go of the boundaries, be really free." goosebumps. my god, this is why i have been coming to the seder for so many years, i thought. to get this message. freedom from boundaries of the self. yes yes i understand why i had to be here, no accident this. (actually if you open up to and trust life i find, there are very few accidents, everything works to bring you where you will go and grow more from. that's what i think, you are free not to think it, i'll still like you.)
that's just one example, it's happened many times. i'm sure it's happened with you too.
instead of benefiting together from the deep, vast, collective knowledge and experience of different spiritual searches, we just separate, hate, kill, feel we're better than others through our religions. what a waste. what a shame.
we collaborate in matters of technology, science, economy, commerce, art. we globalise. we know it is time to cross those boundaries. so why don't we collaborate on religion?
real collaboration, real sharing, real talk. who knows how much richer and truly religious we may end up when we are free of our own little worlds, our fears, our limits. i know this is not going to happen ever.
no actually, i know some day it will happen. people of different faiths, preachers of different faiths will step out, out of the politics of religion and into the soul of it. they will talk to each other. they will give, they will take, they will learn the true meaning of love. life will bring us to that.
in the meantime, i will continue to have my reservations re organised religion as it is, and use whatever clean, non confrontational, yet hopefully thought provoking means i have to say what i feel i must say. and if you want to tell me anything about all this do call, you know how much i love to talk.
