Surely different; absolutely the same

The Dalai Lama's message is one of religious harmony and tolerance. It is not my intention to speak for him, but I believe you have seriously missed the point here. Of course, he recognizes the diversity of thought and experience among the different cultures and religions of the world. He travels the world constantly and experiences this firsthand. And he reminds us all that, no matter what you believe, underneath these differences we are human, and ultimately more alike than we are different.

Given that people all over the world have been literally going to war and terrorizing one another for centuries over their religious differences, I find your position ridiculous. Do you know when I first heard Americans talk about the common threads underlying the world's different religions? After 9/11. In the wake of that horrifying experience, we began to look a little deeper for what was important and a broader picture emerged. Religious harmony is "dangerous?" If that's what my higher power was telling me, I'd get a second opinion.

A historian is one who researches, studies and writes about history. A good historian is one who documents that analysis in detail, making cogent, reasonable arguments. You appear to limit that possibility to someone with certain academic credentials. Karen Armstrong qualifies as a good, I'd say great, historian. By the way, exactly what are your credentials, curt2? Ever read her books and followed the sources? Or just don't like her conclusions? No correction needed, Mr. Wolpe.

A correction: Karen Armstrong is not a historian. She did pursue a graduate degree in English literature, but that didn't pan out. Then she wrote some insipid "inspirational" books about how miserable her life had been up to that point. That got her started as an author, which turned out much better than her previous attempts at being a nun or a scholar or a school teacher. She then managed to get a gig doing some religious programs for television, which turned her into an "authority" in the eyes of people who learn about religion from watching tv.

Scriptures, theologians and many religious leaders tell us what the divine is by listing grandiose attributes. Most mystics worship the personal aspects of the divine, but they also speak of what it is not. Many of them said that the divine essence is nothing, i.e. no thing, that it is immanent in all things, yet it is transcendent to everything. Mystics consider this seeming paradox to be a positive negation.

Avidya, literally non-knowledge in Sanskrit, is used in Buddhism for our “spiritual ignorance” of the true nature of Reality. Bila kaifa, literally without knowing how in Arabic, is Islam’s term for “without comparison” to describe Allah. Ein Sof, literally without end in Hebrew, is the “infinite beyond description” in the Kabbalah. Neti, neti, literally not this, not this in Sanskrit, refers to “unreality of appearances” to define Brahman. In via negativa, the literal way of negation in Latin, God is “not open to observation or description.”

Mysticism speaks of a spiritual knowing, which is not rational and is independent of reason, logic or images. Da`at is Hebrew for “the secret sphere of knowledge on the cosmic tree.” Gnosis is Greek for the “intuitive apprehension of spiritual truths.” Jnana is Sanskrit for “knowledge of the way” to approach Brahman. Ma`rifa in Arabic is “knowledge of the inner truth.” Panna in Pali is “direct awareness”; perfect wisdom. These modes of suprarational knowing, perhaps described as complete intuitive insight, are not divine oneness; they are actualizing our inherent abilities to come closer to the goal. It is consummate cognition, unmediated discernment, with certainty.

Direct experience in the divine essence also has various names. Devekut, cleaving or being joined in Hebrew, is the immediate state of attachment or adhesion to God. Realizing the Dharmakaya, dharma-body in Buddhist Sanskrit, is a consciousness of ultimate Reality void of dualities. Fana, annihilation or dissolution in Arabic, is the state of perfection achieved by the extinguishing of all human attributes. Samadhi, putting together or union in Sanskrit, is the absorption of consciousness in Brahman. Unio mystica, mystical union in Latin, is an experience in which the soul of a human is said to enter into unity with God. These are the supreme experiences in this life; there are also alternate definitions and terms.

(Quoted from my e-book at www.suprarational.org )

At the core all religions have one thing in common. A belief in a whole slew of unnatural phenomenon. Each slew may differ from religion to religion, in some cases even overlap. Discussing these religions and trying to make sense of them is just as fruitful and as stupid as to comparing and contrasting Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice" against Alexander Dumas's "Count of Monte Cristo".

When discussing the religions, I cannot get past these superstitious beliefs in the organizing documents (scriptures). Be it be the virgin birth and resurrection of Christians, Parting of the Waters and the Joshua being swallowed by a fish of Judaism, The flying horse or talking bones of Islam, or the many a superstitious beliefs of Hinduism, Jainism, & Buddhism from monster heads swallowing the moon & the Sun to the sweat (or the semen) of an ape swallowed by fish giving rise to a fully grown man. Any memes (all religions are indeed memes) that are based on all these silly theses deserve no respect and have really nothing to teach the 21st century humanity. I sincerely wish and hope that they are all relegated to the dust heap as the humanity as done with Alchemistry, Thorism, Zeusism and thousands of such other memes.

RevMark2U:

Re: Your post

Everything flows from the Shema. It is said twice daily by observant Jews. It is impossible to over-emphasize its significance.

Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad - Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One (Deut: 6-4) "Hashem" is also possible.

The ineffable name is unspoken.

Mr. Wolpe wrote "That is particularly the case because all faiths are built on a powerful, unshakable intuition of something greater than ourselves". He has an unshakable intuition and so we all have to respect that and accept all the delusionl nonsense as some kind of profound philosophy. Give me a break. All religions have one thing common that is all of them are superstitious nonsense and are also false.

How does Mr. Wolpe know that god is one. The fact of the matter is that he does not. Religious people make the most arrogant of claims, that they know the mind of god. Even assuming that there is a god, they certainly do not know god's mind. However, one not need make this assumption. Rather, one only need read the foundational documents of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to know that all these so-called great monotheistic religions are the same: utterly false, and neither great nor monotheistic for that matter.

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Aummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Amennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn..

.
..
...
............................. ._.
........................ ._.|._.|_.
.................... , .|._.| .. |._.|._
.................... | .|. . |. . |. . |._.|
.................... | .|. . |. . |. . |. . |
.................... | .|. . |. . |. . |. . |
................ ._.| .|. . |. . |. . |. . |
........... | .| .) .\ . . ..^ ..^ ..^ . .|
........... | .| . .| . . . . . . . . . .. |
........... | .| . .| . . . . . . . . . .. |
........... |. | . .| . . . . . . . . . .. |
........... \ .\ . . . . . . . . . . . . .|
............ \ .\ . . . . . . . . . . . ../
............. ). \ . . . . . . . . . . .(
............ /. .. \ . . . . . . . . . . .\
.......... / . . . . \ . . . . . . . . . .. \
.......... . . . . . . \ . . . . . . . . . . .\
.......... . . . . . . . \ .. . . . . . . . . ..\
.
..
...
PEACE, PAZ, SHALOM, SALAAM, AHIMSA, ZHINGYU..
.
..... Credit "JJ" http://onwapo.com

"Goy," the Hebrew word translated as "Gentile" does not literally mean "non-Jew." It just refers to a person of any ethnic grouping.

The Jews during Bible times sometimes used it like a word of prejudice meaning "they're not like us."

Orthodox Jews in the Roman Empire didn't stop saying the name of their God, aka the Elohim, until 90 AD when the Roman Army destroyed Jerusalem.

The HEBREW syllables transliterated into English for the name of the Elohom make the Hebrew word "YHWH." In English Bibles which are used by non-Jews, YHWH is MISTRANSLATED as LORD.

I know that the Jews were still pronouncing YHWH at the time of Jesus' ministry because he talked about invoking the name of God when one made an oath promise and included God as one's witness to the oath.

If a person didn't keep his oath, he took God's name in Vain. But, "God" is not really the name of the heavenly Father of Jesus. "God" is what He is.

I only hesitate on the last sentence, that "God is One." My Gentile appreciation (I trust it's an appreciation) of Jewish religion is its declining to speak the name of God. I extend that for myself, as do at least a couple of rabbinic friends of mine, in an era when some religions speak of no god, to decline even to name Ultimate Reality "God."

I prefer to speak of "the Mystery," or as the Dao de Jing says, "The Dao that can be named is not the true Dao." I agree, even though it's still an educated guess, that the Mystery we also call Ultimate Reality is one.