I admit that I have been remiss updating this blog with thought experiments as promised.
So, to make up for this I have a good one for you - especially those of you who are theologically minded.
Let's start with the premise that God exists and that God created a perfect world for humankind. If that is the case, then it is no accident that the world's population has so many different belief systems.
Is it possible that every major belief system has something to contribute to our spiritual welfare? If we look into the heart of each religion, we may actually see that each one has a different insight for us - and that together they point the way to a righteous life.
The word Christianity, I believe, comes from the Greek word christos - which means good. And goodness, according to Jesus - comes from the ability to forgive. Now Jesus himself shows the most extreme form of this generosity (after all forgiveness is a form of giving perhaps?) by sacrificing his own life to provide forgiveness for all of humanity.
I have been told that the word, Islam, in Arabic, means submission... If you were to go to a mosque, you may be surprised to find that there is no furniture there for worshippers to leisurely sit back in to pray to Allah. Instead, Muslims bow all of the down to God to show their complete submission.
Judaism, is related to the Hebrew word yehuda, whose root is the Hebrew word todot - which means thanks in English. If you watch a religious Jew throughout a day, he (or she) will thank God for so many 'little' things through the day. There is a blessing of gratitude when washing hands, eating bread, drinking wine, seeing a rainbow, eating a new fruit - you get the idea. In Judaism, the central idea is that an attitude of gratitude changes everything.
Buddha literally means 'awakened one' in English. My understanding of Buddhism is incomplete, but I would suggest that Buddhism is centrally concerned with the idea that we should become awake (or highly cognizant) of the fact that we can control our mental states, and that happiness is a choice, not a congruence of outside environmental factors (such as wealth or fame).
Sikhs are descended from the Warrior caste in India, and pledge to defend those who cannot defend themselves.
Jains believe they cannot reach Nirvana unless they cause no harm to other sentient beings... They will sweep the land before them to avoid stepping on worms, wear masks to keep from swallowing flies, and eat fruit that has already fallen from trees - to live up to this promise.
And so this is my perspective. I think it is vital that we look outside the religions we are born into to learn the spiritual lessons around us. After all, if the world was created by God, it is no accident that all of these wise and spiritual teachers from different religions are here to help us.
Peace,
Jonathan Starr