continued from my examiner post: http://www.examiner.com/interfaith-spirituality-in-columbus/spirituality-and-who-is-durgaTheologian and philosopher of religion John Hick looked into the future. In his chapter entitled, ‘Spirituality in a Pluralistic Age’ he says, ‘When we have come to see the other great religious traditions as different but (so far as we can tell) equally valid human responses to the ultimate reality that is the ground and source of everything and the condition of our highest good, we have no reason to restrict ourselves to the spiritual resources of our own tradition. This is our home ground; but just as a citizen of the United States or Britain, or France, or Japan, or any other country can become a better informed and more open-minded citizen, through travel abroad, learning other languages, reading other literatures, contact with other cultures, so also in the realm of the spirit. As Christians we can usefully explore some of the methods of meditation developed within the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, where meditation is used far more widely, and often more expertly practiced than among ourselves. And when we feed our minds and hearts by reading the scriptures and the writings of great saints, we do not need to restrict ourselves to the Bible and to Christian writers.’ -139 A Christian Theology of Religions
In Hicks paradigm, it becomes apparent that each religious tradition has had a different contextual paradigm as it evolved. He points out how very different the Christian faith was 1000 years ago with a terror provoking concept of God versus the idea of God as love- now. A similar thing exists within other religious traditions as the faith evolved (or devolved- as also happens). He discusses the conflicting pull between those seeking to hang on to and preserve a ‘pure, fundamental, traditional’ understanding of the faith from past times versus a more liberal interpretation informed by modern times, findings and sciences – an influence felt in all traditions.
Hicks cites a beautiful paragraph from Songs of Kabir, I and XVIII, translated by Rabindranath Tagore, New York: Weiser 1977, pp45 and 91. ‘O servant, where dost thou seek Me? Lo! I am beside thee. I am neither in temple nor in mosque; I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash: Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and renunciation. If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see me: thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time. Kabir says, ‘O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath.' The author explains that 'Kabir lived in India in the fifteenth century and was revered by both Hindus and Muslims. Similar sentiments are expressed in the Bhagavad gita and the Japji morning prayer first recited by Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh tradition.’
As I return to the discussion of the Hindu Goddess, Durga, and Diwali, the festival of light, its timely to note that John Bowker says ‘80% of India’s one billion people consider themselves Hindus, and there are about 30 million more dispersed throughout the world. . . .’ (yet) ‘there are many ways of being Hindu: village religion, for example, is very different from philosophical religion.’ He explores the different periods of this faith from its beginnings in the Indus River valley, the cradle of civilization. And so it is with each of the world’s traditions which enter periods of building up and breaking down. We don’t often think of how different our tradition was taught, perceived and practiced at each point through-out it’s history because heritage is revered more as a point of bonding with others (bondage for some) than the detached observation that goes with scholarship.
In closing let’s look at a teaching of Khalil Gibran from The Prophet: ‘Then said a teacher, Speak to us of Teaching. And he said: No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness. If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind. . . For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man. And even as each one of you stands alone in God’s knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.’ P 64-65 Let your understanding take wing and free your soul.
In Hicks paradigm, it becomes apparent that each religious tradition has had a different contextual paradigm as it evolved. He points out how very different the Christian faith was 1000 years ago with a terror provoking concept of God versus the idea of God as love- now. A similar thing exists within other religious traditions as the faith evolved (or devolved- as also happens). He discusses the conflicting pull between those seeking to hang on to and preserve a ‘pure, fundamental, traditional’ understanding of the faith from past times versus a more liberal interpretation informed by modern times, findings and sciences – an influence felt in all traditions.
Hicks cites a beautiful paragraph from Songs of Kabir, I and XVIII, translated by Rabindranath Tagore, New York: Weiser 1977, pp45 and 91. ‘O servant, where dost thou seek Me? Lo! I am beside thee. I am neither in temple nor in mosque; I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash: Neither am I in rites and ceremonies, nor in Yoga and renunciation. If thou art a true seeker, thou shalt at once see me: thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time. Kabir says, ‘O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath.' The author explains that 'Kabir lived in India in the fifteenth century and was revered by both Hindus and Muslims. Similar sentiments are expressed in the Bhagavad gita and the Japji morning prayer first recited by Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh tradition.’
As I return to the discussion of the Hindu Goddess, Durga, and Diwali, the festival of light, its timely to note that John Bowker says ‘80% of India’s one billion people consider themselves Hindus, and there are about 30 million more dispersed throughout the world. . . .’ (yet) ‘there are many ways of being Hindu: village religion, for example, is very different from philosophical religion.’ He explores the different periods of this faith from its beginnings in the Indus River valley, the cradle of civilization. And so it is with each of the world’s traditions which enter periods of building up and breaking down. We don’t often think of how different our tradition was taught, perceived and practiced at each point through-out it’s history because heritage is revered more as a point of bonding with others (bondage for some) than the detached observation that goes with scholarship.
In closing let’s look at a teaching of Khalil Gibran from The Prophet: ‘Then said a teacher, Speak to us of Teaching. And he said: No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness. If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind. . . For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man. And even as each one of you stands alone in God’s knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.’ P 64-65 Let your understanding take wing and free your soul.
[Note: Photo uploaded from Wikimedia Commons. Taken by photographer Deb K. Roy 1995 Calcutta- for the Internet 1996 World Exposition; author Carl Malamud]
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