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Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (31613)	9/25/2000 9:58:03 PM
From: architect*	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

"One truth many voices." If we were to ask God for divine intervention <Can one be a Jew , Christian , Moslem or any other follower of a Prophet and religious set of beliefs...and also, without conflict be a Buddhist?> The most common response I have heard is no way Jose!! Many people today in their spiritual journeys struggle with this duality. Until our culture embraces the universality of man's spirituality there will remain uncertainty in individuals that attempt to split their religious beliefs. The attempt to compare religious beliefs is intellectual folly. The conflict is apparent here. Is Christian truth better than Buddhist truth? Is the one Christian God better than Zeus the supreme god of the Greek Pantheon? Is Eistein's scientific truth really true or is he just another dead white man? Is religion itself becoming another dead white man? Is Technology becoming the Theology for the next generation? Will guardian angels of the future guard your E-Trade account? In today's society can I proclaim myself as having more than one religion without having to become a Unitarian? How can I convience others, that my multipexity of religious beliefs is politically correct? Is Christianity more pleasing to the soul than Sufism or Judaism? Can a Christian practice Yoga without feeling guilt? Are sacred Buddhist teachings now sold on www.buddha.com for all to partake? To my knowledge most native American Indian religions were passed on from teacher to student. They are without theology (for the most part) not recorded in writing the secrets of their spirituality. The wisdom of the remaining collective theologies of mankind have never been so accessible to the world as they are today. Even today for the masses, purity of one's spiritual beliefs remains a sacred cow. So the debate continues. Most people struggle with the idea of proclaiming themselves to be Jewish/Buddhist or Christian/Moslem. Part of this problem is a problem with cultures and individuals all wanting their existence confirmed by others that think and act just like ME, I want to be part of a group that is like me, hence the creation of Religious dogma. Doesn't matter whether this dogma is the Book of Matthew, Sufi poems, the Tibetean Book of the Dead, Koran, the Vedas, the sacred African drum, a Native American sacred circle all provide a vehicle to discover the "Truth through many different voices" Maybe in this new wired web world we can begin to develop avenues for communication that embrace the commonality of our world's spiritual journey. Emphasizing the differences of individual perception will only result in debating till eternity. Was Albert Eistein a Buddhist by faith or was he merely identifing with one of the dogmas of Buddhism? The utlimate meaning of this life is fleeting and hard to capture in words of any language. Yet world religions are still hung up on dogma. Where are the spiritual leaders of today? Why hasn't Christ come back for an occasional visit over tea? Doesn't it seems harder than usual to chat with God on the 16th street bridge? My feeling is that Christ would have embraced Buddha as an old friend and not as an enemy. If one knows no other spiritual truth, it is important to recognize wisdom when it is looking you in straight in the eye! Unfortunately real wisdom is becoming a lost art, like so many other dead white men. Buddhism by nature may be without dogma, but when humans are involved there will soon be debates on dogma and theology whether Christian or Taoism dogma is more pleasing. Theology is a vehicle to truth. Show me the wise men, let me have tea with the angels! To receive the blessings of any religion, (I speculate) one would have to chose that religion in your heart and be accepted by the wisdom holders of that blessing you so desire. One can still believe "There are many voices of Truth." Live so you can recognize wisdom when it is looking you in the eye ;-) Peace John