Religious Intolerance — Why it Happens to us.
Posted: Thursday, November 22, 2007
by e
Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation
We all run so swiftly, dashing here and there, and only when we tarry do our fears begin, as we cower in our shadowy places. We know, deep down, that life is but a slender thread, easily broken, and we protect this precious life of ours whichever way we can, even in our projections of when it is gone.
Does a realty exist beyond what the human mind can conceive, beyond what we can experience, beyond our limited physical senses? Surely it does. Are we that reality; are we the center of the universe? Or are we but indistinct organisms lasting but a blink of time on a distant planet of a medium sized star? And that star; our sun, located on the outer fringes of our Milky Way galaxy, rubs elbows with billions of other stars within our galaxy. And other galaxies? There are billions of them, that we can see, probably many more, and all with billions upon billions, perhaps trillions of stars each. The scope of our universe is breath-taking, and one can only speculate whether he or she is really special in this immensity. Are we, individually, only dust in the wind - or are we each very special, unique, and eternal?
Is it possible to argue over religion, which is not logical, and win? The art of debate depends upon logic, and if the first premise of a debate is rationally faulty by being not provable, for example beliefs; then anything that comes after that premise is flawed. If we believe in God, and we cannot prove that God exists, then anything we say about God must have a footnote. If one believes in the Bible, and if the Bible is said to be the authentic word of God, then God must be authenticated first; if not, then any phrase from the Bible must be logically questioned.
So, can we smugly say that since we cannot prove that God is real, God must not exist? Not really. We can't know that for certain, and how can we argue about these things if the basis of the argument boils down to whether or not human beings, with limited intelligence and sense organs grounded in physical existence, are capable of understanding metaphysical phenomena?
However. . . we can believe. We can believe that God watches over us individually and eternally. Or, we may not believe that God exists at all. Or, we can believe that perhaps God exists, or perhaps God doesn't. There is little chance for the non-believer to sway the believer, or the believer to sway the non-believer. And why should we even try? We try because we recognize the conflict that arises from diverse religious beliefs, and we desperately want to end that conflict, trying to force all to believe the same. But that will never happen. Even if it happens for a little while, eventually Protestants, for example, will split from Catholics, and diverse groups will form again. No organization can escape from this diversity because everything in existence changes and is in constant flux, be it political, religious, or cultural movements. All the great civilizations have crumbled.
Therefore, it is a losing battle to attempt to convert others who strongly believe in their own ideals, and one can't help speculate if the battle has nothing to do with religious differences at all, but something much deeper, such as fear, because all anger toward people of opposing beliefs is based on fear. The question is, why should we be afraid when someone believes differently than we do? It's because since no religious belief can be proven beyond a doubt, all religions are a little paranoid regardless of how confident it is in its beliefs, and the extent of the paranoia will be reflected in the extent of the anger expressed toward conflicting opinions. Interestingly enough, the more ingrained and seemingly certain that a belief is consciously, the more that paranoia hides subconsciously, manifestinjg as almost uncontollable anger when that belief is threatened.
If the religion is extremely fearful, it will attempt to eliminate the rival religion by perhaps killing all of its followers. This has happened endlessly throughout history. If the religion is only moderately paranoid, it will simply make fun of its rivals, ridicule and defame them, and laugh at their stupidity. But if the religion is quite confident in its ideals, it will have an open mind toward all ideas other than its own. This third way is the way of peace, and the future of the world if the world is to survive.
So how do we become confident in our religion? There is only one way - to question it. If we are afraid to question our religion, then we will forever fear other religions; it's as simple as that, and it can't be any other way. The ones who have thoroughly questioned their religion; have taken their religion from its roots, shook it out, and followed it throughout its development and practiced its tenets and found the results to be good and not evil - these people can then confidently open up to all other beliefs, and even find commonalities where they can agree and cooperate and therefore begin to end the madness that is religious conflict.
Read the typical comments at the end of many religious articles, where the venom and dissension clearly demonstrates the seeds of religious war. All logic and civility goes out the window, and soon both parties are calling each other names. If they were not on a computer and were actually face-to-face, there would no doubt be blows, and maybe even killing.
I see no compassion, I see no progress for humankind, I see only trouble ahead.
Think about this . . . please.
E. Raymond Rock of Fort Myers, Florida is cofounder and principal teacher at the Southwest Florida Insight Center, http://www.SouthwestFloridaInsightCenter.com His twenty-eight years of meditation experience has taken him across four continents, including two stopovers in Thailand where he practiced in the remote northeast forests as an ordained Theravada Buddhist monk. His book, A Year to Enlightenment (Career Press/New Page Books) is now available at major bookstores and online retailers. Visit http://www.AYearToEnlightenment.com
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