The other day I listened to Ruth Cranston's contribution to the This I Believe project. She was one of the original contributors back in the 1950's, and the title of her essay was "These Eternal Truths." Essentially, she discusses the wisdom (or eternal truths) common to all major religions and their prophets. The itunes podcast actually contains a little bit of extra commentary from the guys running the This I Believe show these days, and one of their comments struck me.
There has always been a lot of strife between people of different religions or different sects of religions. Each believing that their way is the best way, and other people are wrong for not holding the same beliefs. However, the commentator on that particular podcast contends that the mystics of various religions have always gotten along famously. He attributes this to them having an understanding of this common wisdom, or eternal truths, and that they understand that different religions are all just different paths to the same thing. The latter argument could be contested by some, but I would support the first.
I wonder how understanding of common wisdom would affect people's views of their religion's outsiders. In addition, I have come to find that most ideas that there are some religious doctrines that encourage hatred and violence are actually unfounded. It's people that create that ugliness.
I also have to wonder what else mystics have or believe that allow them to live more harmoniously. I have a few ideas, but I think I'll leave you to ponder that yourself...
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