The Blessings of Interfaith Study

[wil]

Namaste all,

This thread was spurred not only from my own enjoyment of learning more and appreciating more about other religions, but 17ths recent interest, study, and exuberance in exploration of Islam, Sufi and the Quran.

Now I don't in any way discount those who love their religion and study it and immerse themselves in it to the nth degree. But there is something absolutely incredible about delving into various religions, speaking with their adherents, realizing their commitment to their beliefs and knowing so many are just as committed to so many beliefs.

Honoring other paths while we examine the similarities and differences has so much value. Just as we can honor each other despite our differences in diet, societies, faces, we can also know we are all human, and have our feet on the same planet, breath the same air.

[dauer]

Seconded.

[Muslimwoman]

Thirdedidid

I find one of the most interesting aspects is how each faith appears to go astray the same way. Through lust for power and greed.

I love interfaith dialogue and have been so blessed to have found CR.

Salaam

[wil]

Originally Posted by Muslimwoman

I find one of the most interesting aspects is how each faith appears to go astray the same way. Through lust for power and greed.

Namaste MW,

I wonder if power and greed are the start. For me I wander off the path until a conscious friend reminds me, or until I go far enough to realize I forgot my way. The problem is, it is familiar terrain, but something quickly manifests that makes me realize why I chose differently! I think sometimes folks didn't have the opportunity to make mistakes young, so when they wander down the wrong road the enticements of a new environment are hard to avoid.

[flowperson]

Hi...

Dauer and I were discussing this very process on another thread yesterday and we noted that many religions are likely initiated by mystical experience, ie. Muhammed in the cave reciting and remembering the Quran as directed by Allah.

And then when that experience is brought to the real world, power and political controls are brought to bear in order to apply it in societies. It is a process that turns the initially sacred experience into eventual profane realities over long periods of time. As I noted there the process is described in its foundational aspects by Mircea Eliade in his book, The Sacred and the Profane.

All of the deadly sins participate in the process of degradation, but then again, it's the way that nature operates when it comes to life itself... birth, life, decay, death, rebirth.

Celebrate the fact that change in this sense is eternal, and that most religions validate these realities in their foundational aspects. Huston Smith also noted in his great book, The World's Religions, that many formal belief systems likely originated in ancient times through concentrated observance of the natural world by early humans.

I'd really like to go into a forest and just spend time observing nature a lot more, but in today's urban mish-mash that's just not available very much these days.

flow....

[Muslimwoman]

Salaam my friends

I was really talking about the leaders of religions (not the Prophets pbut) but the priests and imams, perhaps even the rabbi's (although I don't know much about rabbi's), have interpreted scripture in a way that suits them, that obtains power and wealth.

I hadn't thought of it on a personal level. Gosh yes I would imagine before tv, ipods, mobile phones etc, people had time to contemplate. Can you imagine how close to G-d you could get if ou spent 40 days in the desert or a month of solitude in a cave? Wow.

Perhaps that is why I have found my relationship with Allah in Egypt, life is so much more simple and I have more time to contemplate working to get closer to Allah?