Boston University professor of religion Stephen Prothero’s essay in a May 17 edition of the Christian Science Monitor (Stop Thinking That All Religions Are Essentially the Same) surprised me to the degree he misses the mark by dismissing what mystics and Huston Smith mean regarding the ultimate unity of religions and his failure to understand the role of worldviews in determining our spiritual beliefs.
Many parts of his commentary, I believe we can all agree upon. Are all religions the same? Just as Prothero discusses, the answer is no. Has our focus on these differences caused humanity difficulties? The answer is obviously yes. Do we collectively need to develop a realistic view of religion so that we can be respectful of our differences yet through healthy dialogue “agree to disagree” on those details? The answer is yes.
Although Prothero’s students may be allergic to arguing over their religious differences (a fact he believes is indicative of the “straight jacket of religious agreement” caused by accepting the unity of religions), much of Prothero’s essay outlines how much of the world’s religious conflict is not bound by such a belief. Both the religious conflicts described, his students avoidance of such conflict as well as Prothero’s judgment of both are all representative of different worldviews.
What’s called for here is to step out of the situation and put on what philosopher Ken Wilber would call an integral viewpoint. Individuals bound by seeing life through a pre-rational mythic lens will accept at all cost the truth of their religious beliefs even if it leads to conflict. Individuals who have grown into a pluralistic post-rational way of viewing life will place the most emphasis on the rights of others to believe as they believe. Individuals whose worldview is rational will totally dismiss the other worldviews as not being based in “reality” without realizing how their lens is defining for them what that reality is. And, more often than not, that reality is externally based upon things that can be seen and measured without taking into account an equally valid inner reality.
Using an integral viewpoint allows us to see how humanity is evolving — both internally and externally. Our outward expression of religion is evolving from the high degree of dogma and fighting over differences towards a growing tolerance and hopefully to the need to drop the attention on differences altogether. Our inner awareness of God or Spirit is also evolving too — from an external God who is different from faith to faith to our sense of a relationship with a power and intelligence that transcends all differences. Our worldviews are evolving to greater levels of acceptance of our diversity within this unity.
The Buddhists have a saying that we should focus our attention on the moon, not the fingers pointing at the moon. As Prothero focuses us upon all of the fingers of religion, of course we all see differences. Are all religions, that is the “fingers pointing”, the same? No. Much of humanity’s current viewpoints are at levels of awareness where our focus is on these differences. Mystics and Huston Smith, when they discuss the convergence of religion, their focus is not upon the religions being the same, but rather upon where they are all pointing — the “moon”, that which is beyond words — the one God or Spirit.
Mark
Orthodox, institutional religions are quite different, but their mystics have much in common. A quote from the chapter “Mystic Viewpoints” in my e-book at http://www.suprarational.org on comparative mysticism:
Ritual and Symbols. The inner meanings of the scriptures, the spiritual teachings of the prophets and those personal searchings which can lead to divine union were often given lesser importance than outward rituals, symbolism and ceremony in many institutional religions. Observances, reading scriptures, prescribed acts, and following orthodox beliefs cannot replace your personal dedication, contemplation, activities, and direct experience. Preaching is too seldom teaching. For true mystics, every day is a holy day. Divine revelation is here and now, not limited to their sacred scriptures.
Conflicts in Conventional Religion. “What’s in a Word?” outlined some primary differences between religions and within each faith. The many divisions in large religions disagreed, sometimes bitterly. The succession of authority, interpretations of scriptures, doctrines, organization, terminology, and other disputes have often caused resentment. The customs, worship, practices, and behavior within the mainstream of religions frequently conflicted. Many leaders of any religion had only united when confronted by someone outside their faith, or by agnostics or atheists. Few mystics have believed divine oneness is exclusive to their religion or is restricted to any people.
Note: This is just a consensus to indicate some differences between the approaches of mystics and that of their institutional religion. These statements do not represent all schools of mysticism or every division of faith. Whether mystical experiences vary in their cultural context, or are similar for all true mystics, is less important than that they transform each one’s sense of being to a transpersonal outlook on all life.
Thanks for the post, Ron.
I couldn’t agree with you more in that the exoteric aspects of religion is where we generally focus our lens….and as we look at their outer expressions, we see differences and tend to assume from that that at their core they are all different…..but as we go inward to the esoteric or mystical side as I mentioned in my article….we see their commonality and the one place to which they all direct us…..I will check out your ebook, it sounds good!
Mark
In an earlier comment I had mentioned the similarity of the mystical traditions vs. the difference of orthodox religious doctrines, as outlined in my e-book at http://www.suprarational.org In fairness to Dr. Prothero, I came across a later editorial review in which he states: “Mystics often claim that the great religions differ only in the inessentials. They may be different paths but they are ascending the same mountain and they converge at the peak. Throughout this book I give voice to these mystics: the Daoist sage Laozi, who wrote his classic the Daodejing just before disappearing forever into the mountains; the Sufi poet Rumi, who instructs us to “gamble everything for love”; and the Christian mystic Julian of Norwich, who revels in the feminine aspects of God. But my focus is not on these spiritual superstars. It is on ordinary religious folk—the stories they tell, the doctrines they affirm, and the rituals they practice. And these stories, doctrines, and rituals could not be more different. Christians do not go on the hajj to Mecca; Jews do not affirm the doctrine of the Trinity; and neither Buddhists nor Hindus trouble themselves about sin or salvation.”
Those who believe the kinship of faiths should join the social network of the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Look at http://www.peacenext.org/profile/RonKrumpos and I would be happy to be one of your first friends there.
Thanks for the post, Ron. I agree with you and have signed up at the web site….would suggest that others do so as well.
Mark