Folks need to realize that religions are maps of subjective experience. It's better to read all of the maps and attempt to identify with the
territory they speak of instead of getting caught up in the legend, the shape of the map etc. Some are Mercator, while others are orthographic.
Sure, if you take a Mercator map, and compare it to an orthographic map, you get contradictions, but that's because they were both designed for
DIFFERENT PURPOSES!!! But.. they are still just MAPS.
The only problem with Religion, are those who forget that it is a map. Or use it to justify their own desires for rectitude and piety. Or, on the
other hand point to it as some grand conspiracy created to control the masses.
Anyone who has ever had a spiritual experience, or attempted ascension toward the godhead understands this. Now those people may decorate their
experience with the doctrine they've been taught, so they may also feel that their faith is the only true one, since they follow it and had an
experience.
Man... the Arrogance of Conviction abounds on this site.
Well stated, HunkaHunka.
I was going to try and make it through this entire thread before I commented on any one section of it, but Hunka, you come so close to my own feelings
on this topic that I felt like I needed to chime in.
The arrogance of conviction is a trait of our human ego. No doubt, many fantastic people have begun their spiritual journey through the teachings of
Jesus Christ, and that is wonderful! I know many such people. For some reason, though, people tend to close their minds when they feel like this one
part of the story is the WHOLE story.
You can find salvation through Jesus Christ. I think you can also find it through the Buddah and others. I really don't think it's important to
get caught up in semantics. It really makes no difference, so long as you make the journey.
What IS important is that somehow in your lifetime, you get in touch with that part of you that is eternal and learn to distinguish that from your
ego. I'm sure many of you have read Tolle's book "A New Earth", and if you haven't, I highly recommend it. He really sums things up nicely in
the first 80 pages or so of that book (which I find myself re-reading over and over).
I firmly believe that if Jesus were alive today and were sitting next to me, and I told him, "Hey, I figured out what it is to REALLY be a human
being, but it was the Buddah who showed me the way," his reply would be something like, "Oh yeah, the Buddah ... good guy. We get together every
Wednesday morning at Starbucks."