We may disagree on many issues where
our religions are concerned, but if we dig down to the foundations of
them we would find little to differ on. At our core we are
one.
NOTES:
We
have added special Events pages for the United
Nations and for Meditation
and Prayer Circles. And to encourage and honor the wonderful
work being done by the Youth of
the world we have added a special page in the Groups section
dedicated to them. This is simply a beginning and will change over
time. Your input would be welcomed - especially the input of our
young visitors.
It is interesting here to note the uniformity of the teaching of all religions and races as to the technique of entrance into the kingdom of the soul. At a
certain point on the path of evolution, it would appear as if all ways converge and all
pilgrims arrive at the same identical position on the Way. From this point of junction, they travel the same way, and employ the same methods, and use a curiously similar phraseology. That the time has come when this should be definitely realized becomes apparent when we note the wide study of comparative religion, and the interplay between the races. These two factors are steadily breaking down the old barriers, and demonstrating the oneness of the human soul.
Pg 184 From Intellect to Intuition-
A.A.Bailey
The Pluralism Project
The Pluralism Project was developed by Diana
L. Eck at Harvard University to study and document the growing religious diversity of the
United States, with a special view to its new immigrant religious communities. In the past
thirty years, the religious landscape of the U.S. has changed radically. There are Islamic
centers and mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples and meditation centers in virtually every
major American city. The encounter between people of very different religious traditions
takes place in the proximity of our own cities and neighborhoods. How Americans of all
faiths begin to engage with one another in shaping a positive pluralism is one of the most
important questions American society faces in the years ahead.
The word religion comes from the Latin religare,
"to reconnect, to bind together." Thus at the root of all religion is
the visceral passion for bringing together the many diverse aspects of life and,
by extension, the recognition of the oneness and interdependency of all
Creation. Religion is the heart and guts of humanity's pursuit for meaning,
understanding and values. Religion expresses humanity's deepest desires and
celebrations.
Attempts to define religion are
manifold and various, but all contain the same basic purpose of uncovering
meaning and gaining access to the powers which appear to control destiny;
religion also seeks the intercession of those powers; and finally, determines
how to live in harmony both with the divine and the human.
Our most profound values are often
expressed in forms of symbolic behavior, whether in ritual settings, creedal
statements, or actions of ordinary living. In most cultures the code of
"right behavior" also reflects the religious code, and forms the basis
of both civil and spiritual life.
In addition, throughout history
religion has been the vital inspirational source for much of the greatest
artistic, literary and scientific achievements. The religious imagination, rich
in metaphor, meaning and expression, presents insights that cannot be garnered
in any other way. It has been said that all true art is sacred. We must also
add, sadly, that grave intolerance, discrimination, violence and atrocity have
also been perpetrated again and again in the name of "religious
truth."
The Interfaith Center holds that
if we are to survive we must both recognize the extraordinary beauty and truth
present in all the great faith traditions and also seek a common understanding
of the sacredness of all of creation.
"...
the essential truth of all religions is much closer than people like to admit.
It’s the cultural forms, the language, and the ritual usages that vary."
A Quaker Mandala
From the Friends Conference
on Religion and Psychology
RECENT discoveries made by great mathematicians and
Kabalists thus prove, beyond a shadow of doubt, that every theology, from the
earliest and oldest down to the latest, has sprung not only from a common source
of abstract beliefs, but from one universal esoteric, or "Mystery"
language. These scholars hold the key to the universal language of old, and have
turned it successfully, though only once, in the hermetically
closed door leading to the Hall of Mysteries. The great archaic system known
from prehistoric ages as the sacred Wisdom Science... is contained and can be
traced in every old as well as in every new religion...
pg. 310 The Secret Doctrine, HP Blavatsky
Sir John Templeton by Robert L. Herrmann
From a speech given by Sir John
Templeton when he received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in London:
"Courses in religious education
might be more productive if they...focus more on encouraging each student
to develop his own list of virtues and spiritual principles, which can
make his whole life more useful and happy. Many, many such laws of life
can be discovered and learned, which are self-enforcing rather than
depending on authority. By collecting strong scientific evidence, many of
these laws can be convincing even to skeptics. Most important of all, laws
collected in this way can avoid divisiveness, sectarianism, and
regionality.
A few spiritual laws which can be
supported by strong evidence are as follows:
1. Thanksgiving results in more to
be thankful for.
2. The family that prays together,
stays together.
3. It is more blessed to give than
to receive.
4. We receive freely when we give
freely.
5. It is better to love than to be
loved.
6. You cannot be lonely while
helping the lonely.
7. Agape given grows, agape horded
dwindles.
8. Enthusiasm is contagious.
9. You are only as good as your
word.
10. A loving person lives in a loving
world.
11. Laugh and the world laughs with you;
weep and you weep alone.
12. We tend to find what we look for,
good or evil.
13. You can build your own heaven or hell
here on earth.
14. We tend to become what we think.
15. It is better to praise than to
criticize.
16. Crime does not pay.
17. If you do not know what you want to
achieve with your life, you may not achieve much.
Can every religion on earth agree on
these same virtues and vices? Probably every nation can agree and also
every political party. So why not help every student to learn
them?..."
Esoteric philosophy reconciles all religions, strips every one of its outward,
human garments, and shows the root of each to be identical with that of every
other great religion.
The Secret Doctrine,
H.P. Blavatsky
Introduction: by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
"The solution to the problem of the day is the awakening of the
consciousness of humanity to the divinity of mankind." --PVK
THE HUMAN SOUL is continually seeking to realize its true being and
fulfill its purpose in life. This can be seen not only in each individual's
yearning to realize to the fullest the potentialities inherent in his or her
being, but also in the unfoldment of our collective being towards the highest
expression of human existence. The consciousness of humanity is awakening to
the interrelatedness of all life, and this is reflected in the new holistic
understanding of the universe emerging in all spheres of human experience
today. We can see this trend in the growing concern for the ecological balance
of our planet, interest in holistic health, a deeper social conscience
concerned with the plight of suffering people all over the earth, and a
growing awareness of the one underlying truth brought forth through all the
religious traditions. At the same time, recent scientific discoveries are
disrupting established concepts and models of the universe. In physics,
biology, medicine, and psychology the very foundation of our notions about
life is being superseded by the realization that we are both a fraction of the
universe linked with all other fractions by resonance, and also the totality,
as every cell of ours contains the code of the whole universe.
This view, in fact, corroborates the vision of the mystics
throughout history who have peered beyond the frontiers of their separate and
limited personal perspective to encompass the vaster reality of the whole...
Nothing can prevent the new world religion from eventually emerging. It always has down the ages and it always will. There is no finality in the presentation of truth; it develops and grows to meet man's growing demand for light. It will be implemented and developed by the spiritually minded in all churches, whose minds are open to the new inspirations of God's Mind, who are liberal and kind and whose individual lives are pure and aspiring. It will be hindered by the fundamentalists, the narrow-minded and the theologians in all the world religions, by those who refuse to let go the old interpretations and methods, who love the old doctrines and men's thoughts about them, and by those who lay the emphasis upon forms, upon rites and ceremonies, upon ritual and pomp, on authority and the building of stone edifices in these days of man's extremity, his starvation and his need.
p. 139 Problems of Humanity - A.A.Bailey
"Everything
is Spirit—in essence,
though hidden in manifestation.
If you had the perception,
you would see God in everything."
— Paramahansa
Yogananda
Everywhere people are ready for the light; they are expectant of a new revelation and of a new dispensation. Humanity has advanced so far on the way of evolution that these demands and expectations are not couched in terms of material betterment only, but in terms of a spiritual vision, true values and right human relations. They are demanding teaching and spiritual help along with the necessary requests for food, clothes and the opportunity to work and live in freedom; they face famine in large areas of the world and yet are registering with equal dismay the famine of the soul.
pilgrims arrive at the same identical position on the Way. From this point of junction, they travel the same way, and employ the same methods, and use a curiously similar phraseology. That the time has come when this should be definitely realized becomes apparent when we note the wide study of comparative religion, and the interplay between the races. These two factors are steadily breaking down the old barriers, and demonstrating the oneness of the human soul.
RECENT discoveries made by great mathematicians and
Kabalists thus prove, beyond a shadow of doubt, that every theology, from the
earliest and oldest down to the latest, has sprung not only from a common source
of abstract beliefs, but from one universal esoteric, or "Mystery"
language. These scholars hold the key to the universal language of old, and have
turned it successfully, though only once, in the hermetically
closed door leading to the Hall of Mysteries. The great archaic system known
from prehistoric ages as the sacred Wisdom Science... is contained and can be
traced in every old as well as in every new religion...
