Dec 28, 2008

Fire

I was standing in front of my woodstove early this morning absorbing heat, when it occurred to me that the fire is a manifestation of God - energy - producing heat. According to the theory, the fire must also have awareness. Well, it's a fetch trying to attribute awareness to a fire. In fact, fire doesn't appear to be at all like man, so how can it be God? After all, according to Biblical religions, man is supposedly made in God's image, so God must be like man. Man is separate, so God must be separate too, and so evolves the whole Biblical concept of a separate God.

The idea of a separate manlike god leads each Biblical religion to believe that its concept of this God must be the right one, and all others wrong, which leads to intolerance and many of the present day problems in the world. So how can one convince a Muslim that Islam is not the only true religion, that its just a reflection of truth? And similarly, a Christian that Christ was not the only son of God, that we are all sons/daughters of God? Or a Jew that they are not the only chosen people - that there are really no chosen people?

Any answers?

e

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If we follow the theory of Budhism, we will easily think that Islam, Christ, or Budha are different names of the only one God. And we all are his daughters and sons. Therefore, there’s no reason for the world's problems happening.

Hello from Lien Doan

Editor said...

Hello Lien and Happy New Year!

You're right - there is really only one God, and there shouldn't be all the world's problems. It seems the real problem is human nature - our identity/ego is based on our beliefs, and it's very hard to change those beliefs, as it would be an attack upon the ego. So those who hold strong beliefs (have strong egos) are going to fight for them.

So what's to do? Perhaps change ourselves first, then see what happens.