“I hear you saying all paths are equally valid, how do we know?” This question came from David Campbell.
Let’s look at the end result of all the pathways from Mr. Spock’s perspective; He is not conditioned to favor one over the other, he is an objective person.
Each path exists (designed randomly, consciously, divinely or a combination of several elements) to contain the mess in society – robbing others belongings, invading others space, grabbing others food, hurting the loved ones, beating up others and all those acts that takes away peace of the other, which in turn takes away one’s own security. The self developed laws of the civic society or the knowledge of a higher being that will reward or punish the individual will cut down most of the ills of the society.
Moses saw his society going berserk and injustices were piling up, individuals were not secure and at peace, the powerful got away with his ways and the weak ones suffered, but sitting with the idea of getting even when they get their opportunity. One cannot live in constant fear; no one is secure with those attitudes and actions. Jesus saw how the religion was turned into business without justness, Mohammad saw the corruptness that was eating away the peace of the society and Krishna said whenever there is “unrighteousness” in a given society, he will appear as one of them and bring some sense and righteousness back into practice. Buddha saw the misery and sufferings of humans and he set out on research to find the causes and solutions for it. Guru Nanak saw the difference between two groups of people creating tension and he came with his own divinely inspired formula. I hope you can see where it is going, you will find that every spiritual master’s sole purpose was to bring justice, peace and security to the society. Isn’t each path valid?
If Jesus, Mohammad, Krishna and every spiritual master had multi-media and the monopolized TV at their disposal, the probably would have reached to one and all. However it probably would not have worked, as the nature is intentionally diverse in its make up. Aramaic, Arabic, Sanskrit, Latin, Hebrew, Mayan or Pali would not have been understood by one and all, the education system was not in place for such a reach. The clothing, food or culture would have been different for others to relate with them, the way each one worshipped would have been difficult. It needed time to see another point of view.
The second most evil (that which messes the justice and balance) in the world emanates from Arrogance, as people forgot the essence of each faith and focused on the outward identifications, the rituals of that religion were de-linked from the essence. The insecure men always found a false sense of security in dividing people and creating classes of good, bad and ugly to suit their deranged emotional needs and started frightening the masses that you are either with us or face the extinction with our brute force or frightening people with terror and massive deaths. These are the people who lost the religion; we need a Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha or a Krishna to come back and re-orient us with the essence of religion; that is to bring justice and balance with humility and not affiliations and grouping with arrogance.
It is not the path, but it is the outcome of that path we need to focus on. When Jesus said follow me, Allah says submit to my will or Krishna says surrender to me, our focus ought not to be the words, rather what becoming those words mean to one. Peace.
Continued from:http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2008/09/pluralism-conversation-ghouse-campbell.html
Mike Ghouse is a Speaker, Thinker and a Writer. He is president of theFoundation for Pluralism and is a frequent guest on talk radio and local television network discussing interfaith, political and civic issues. He is the founding president of World Muslim Congress with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world. His comments, news analysis and columns can be found on the Websites and Blogs listed at his personal website www.MikeGhouse.net. Mike is a Dallasite for nearly three decades and Carrollton is his home town. He can be reached at[email protected]