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Beautiful Flowers from the Same Garden

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  • #30237
    Molly McCord
    Participant

    “For me, the different religions are beautiful flowers from the same garden, or they are branches of the same majestic tree. Therefore, they are equally true, though being received and interpreted through human instruments equally imperfectly.” ~Gandhi 
    What are your thoughts about all the beautiful flowers from the same garden?

    #30244
    Lori Deschene
    Keymaster

    I love this idea! I think most religions revolve around the same basic principles. It occurred to me when I was younger that I followed the specific religion I did because that’s what I was born into. If I had born into a family with a different faith, I would have believed in that. Since faith implies not knowing, I think all we can ever know for sure is that we want to uphold those core ideas that most religions have in common: love, forgiveness, and kindness, to name a few–and that implies not merely tolerating but actually embracing people of other faiths.

    #30255
    Molly McCord
    Participant

    I completely agree about the same basic principles, Lori! It’s been refreshing for me to see it from that perspective because it removes the “better than” perceptions that have permeated humanity for centuries. I feel calm and grounded when I return to the common threads that connect religions – Love, Forgiveness, Compassion, Joy, Peace – and then see those same qualities in each other.

    #30296
    Kenneth Vogt
    Participant

    The relative spirituality of the founder of a religion (and mostly they didn’t intend to be), the religious organization, and individual adherents vary greatly. It is no wonder that people find the claim that all religions lead to the same place as dubious. Religion is a framework that can but does not guarantee to lead to spirituality. It is the adherence to spiritual principles that makes for a spiritual person. If their religion teaches and promotes such principles, it is a support for their spirituality.

    #30459
    Guy
    Participant

    I agree with Kenneth: Religion can but does not guarantee to lead to spirituality. I noticed that the more people focus on the scriptures and the ‘rules’ of their religion, the more they are taken away from the spiritual path. And the more they focus on their own personal evolution and being a good person, the more they are taken away from religion.

    I feel that just pronouncing yourself as a member of a certain religion is taking you away from your spiritual path. By saying: ‘I am a Christian’, you are putting yourself in a box. You are differentiating yourself from everyone who is not Christian. And the same goes for claiming to be part of any other group or movement (Country, religion, sports team, race, … ) It all creates a degree of separation when there is only oneness.

    Just the fact that all these religions have become ‘religions’ goes against everything their founders taught. Don’t focus on yourself, fear God,  … . The people who turned these teachings into religions knew very well what they were doing. They turned them into tools to control the masses. And for centuries this worked almost flawlessly.

    Now, more and more people are awakening and finding their own path to God and often this doesn’t involve religion. Which is a good thing. There should be diversity, there should be different paths.

    You might think I am against religion, but I am not. I think it is neither good or bad. If  a person chooses the path of a certain religion, it all comes down to how he interprets the message. What he does with what he learns is what makes it bad or good.

    #30460
    Guy
    Participant

    I agree with Kenneth: Religion can but does not guarantee to lead to spirituality. I noticed that the more people focus on the scriptures and the ‘rules’ of their religion, the more they are taken away from the spiritual path. And the more they focus on their own personal evolution and being a good person, the more they are taken away from religion.

    I feel that just pronouncing yourself as a member of a certain religion is taking you away from your spiritual path. By saying: ‘I am a Christian’, you are putting yourself in a box. You are differentiating yourself from everyone who is not Christian. And the same goes for claiming to be part of any other group or movement (Country, religion, sports team, race, … ) It all creates a degree of separation when there is only oneness.

    Just the fact that all these religions have become ‘religions’ goes against everything their founders taught. Don’t focus on yourself, fear God,  … . The people who turned these teachings into religions knew very well what they were doing. They turned them into tools to control the masses. And for centuries this worked almost flawlessly.

    Now, more and more people are awakening and finding their own path to God and often this doesn’t involve religion. Which is a good thing. There should be diversity, there should be different paths.

    You might think I am against religion, but I am not. I think it is neither good or bad. If  a person chooses the path of a certain religion, it all comes down to how he interprets the message. What he does with what he learns is what makes it bad or good.

    #31285
    MJ
    Participant

    I agree with several of you, there seems to be a lot of focus on “rules” in religions in general and whether someone is following what is written in a book or not.  For me it has always seemed a bit arbitrary which is  why i have had trouble committing to a religion.  I like the idea of just following one’s own spiritual path and not focusing on the “rules” all the time.

    Also I am not sure all religions are beautiful flowers.  Some religions promote peace and that is a good thing.  But others seem to get caught up in not promoting peace and making it about whether everyone follows their rules.  If one doesn’t follow their rules, bad things can befall them.  So, with that maybe those religions are flowers with thorns, i don’t know… i just don’t think they are all beautiful if their purpose is to exclude people and do violent things when the rules aren’t followed.

    so i have a little bit of a hard time with the statement that they are all beautiful flowers.  maybe they *could* be beautiful flowers as long as they stick to peace and bringing people together instead of the not so great aspects that i mentioned…

    I also agree that there can be seperateness created by putting into groups when really we are all together.

    #31345
    Sheila McCann
    Participant

    I believe that spirituality is a universal human expression and is the seed of most religions.

    It can be expressed inside or outside the context of  a specific religion.

    Religion plays a big role in terms of societal structure and rules.

    This can at times interfere with  spiritual expression/oneness.

    #31848
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    ?Fear God?, ?what is there to fear?, I would say, fear the “absence” of God, excuse the metaphor since “the absence of God” is nothing more than a metaphor, meaning a lack of communion, our final destiny, which is, to be called by that energy himself, my child, Anything less is religion, me thinks religions are created by the vacuum thereof, that, creates a gallant effort, that can be thwarted by the delusion we call ego, that, in the parade of life is always marching before the shortfall, please continue to be gallant,  in case someone’s forementioned ego misconstrues the words.

    #34416
    Joanne DuPonte
    Participant

    Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it. -Buddha

    I think people confuse religion and spirituality. Following a religion, even if you have been raised to believe it is true and therefore believe it is, is not the same as finding your spirituality. Following the teaching of another and accepting them as truth because we have been instructed to does not mean we have found our spirituality, it just means you have accepted another persons truths to be your own. Spirituality means you have found your own truths.

    I was raised Catholic in a strict Catholic family. I recieved all my rights of passage but never stopped questioning what I was being taught. I envied those who could have such faith in something I found so hard to believe. However, I never stopped knowing that there was something greater beyond what this world has to offer and that this was just one chapter in a whole story of who I was.

    I researched and studied and searched for answers to my questions which is what brought me to Eastern belief systems and it was if a light switch had been turned on within me. As I read the teaching of Zen Buddhism it was as if all the questions I had ever had were being handed to me all in one place. I often explain the epiphany, not as learning something I chose to believe but as reading something I just knew to be true. It all made sense to me once I found a path.

    No matter what a person beleives or chooses to believe, in the end we will all answer to the same divine, so how we choose to see or worship while we are here is up to the individual.

    There is no one right answer to living a spiritual life, it is all about what is right for you.

    #34852
    Deanna
    Participant

    This quote reminded me so much of the Baha’i Faith and its teachings about world unity and oneness. Here are a couple quotes for you to explore 🙂

    O well-beloved ones! The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. (Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 218)

    The most glorious fruit of the tree of knowledge is this exalted word: Of one tree are all ye the fruit, and of one bough the leaves. Let not man glory in this that he loveth his country, let him rather glory in this that he loveth his kind. Concerning this We have previously revealed that which is the means of the reconstruction of the world and the unity of nations. Blessed are they that attain thereunto. Blessed are they that act accordingly. (Baha’u’llah, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 127)

    It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens. (Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 250)

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