3: Getting Connected

We can learn from everybody, including those of different faiths. What can a Christian learn from a Hindu or Muslim, or vice versa? Consider that every faith, every culture, has something unique to offer. When we don't allow ourselves to question, to learn from and to explore our beliefs, people are sometimes tortured, enslaved, or killed in the name of belief.

Lessons From History

Pagan Egyptians killed and enslaved Jews. Pagan Romans fed Christians to the lions. Christians slaughtered thousands and perhaps millions of pagan witches in medieval times. Do you think the divine approves of the brutal murder, torture, or enslavement of even one person, let alone thousands or millions - especially under the guise of religious belief? I don't.

During the twentieth century six million Jews were obliterated in the 1940s by a sect of Christians with a political agenda. In the first year of the new millennium people in Sierra Leone slaughtered those suspected of being witches. When will the killings in the name of faith stop? Millions more will die on this planet because of religious and cultural differences and because of political ambitions - unless we learn how to work together and find ways to reveal a common sense of spirituality.

There Are More Similarities Than Differences

Most holy books are hard to interpret. If interpretations of each religion were explored and shared openly, while asking questions, things might become clearer and make more sense across all faiths.

People who support a particular faith do so because they feel a strong connection to their belief, their particular worldview. That connection can be shared, without the negative judgment that stifles and sometimes ends in death. All faiths, all of humanity, will benefit from sharing with other faiths with compassion and understanding for individuality.

Pagan religions that honor many gods and goddesses are not much different from those that honor one god. There are more similarities than differences. Each god or goddess represents a single simple part or concept of the whole god or goddess. The Hindu god Ganesha is the god of wealth, the remover of obstacles, invoked at the beginning of any new undertaking. The Greek goddess Aphrodite (also adopted by some pagans) represents passion. To Christians and Muslims, one god - God or Allah - represents both wealth and passion as well as everything else that is good.

Sensing the Connection

When we break down the concept of divine into many aspects it is easier to adopt the belief that the divine is actually part of us. I find that formulas help to simplify complicated concepts. When we bring many simple concepts together, things get complicated. Similarly, when we break complicated things down into simple aspects, things become easier to understand.

Simple + Simple = Complicated

Complicated - Simple = Simple

Our journey involves incorporating the smaller components of god and goddess into ourselves so that eventually our energy becomes one with that of the divine. Wanting to feel a connection with the divine is a universal desire.

Our cup of life is half-full of heaven and half-full of hell. Does anybody like the idea of going to hell? Why then would we allow ourselves to exist in hell on earth? We can choose to look at this place, our planet earth, as a heaven. How do we make that choice?

We choose by carefully selecting which feelings we want to react with and by asking the right questions for us. The questions and answers will continually evolve. Which feelings would be part of hell and which ones would be part of heaven? I sometimes ask myself: How would Christ react in this situation? How do I fit in? What do I want to contribute to this planet that offers me life, learning, and so much more? How can I help? How am I connected to everything?

Life is about a journey toward wholeness and connection to the divine. We can look at this journey as opportunity for growth, with the wonder of a child, or we can continue to struggle against the truth.

The Divine Within

We are connected in many ways. Many faiths consider earthly elements significant because through them, we get a physical and spiritual connection to the ground we live on. I believe the divine is within everything, including ourselves. In Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 27, the Bible says, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

The universe is multidimensional. Perhaps multiverse would be a better name for it. The book The Holy Science claims that there are seven elements - five types of gross matter and two types of energy - that make up everything in the multiverse, including the divine and ourselves.