are we all one?

revised Monday

bowing.jpgI’ve long been uncomfortable with the one-religion-versus-another attitude. Continuing from yesterday’s post, I’m exploring what various wisdom traditions make of the phenomenon of inter-connectedness.

To start, Dan Millman (author of The Way of the Peaceful Warrior) writes: “The act of ‘exchanging self for other’ is one of the most profound spiritual practices of all time. In a sense, with every breath you live the life of Jesus and the life of Buddha….”

… which led me to:

“So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”King James Bible, Romans 12:1-9; see also Ephesians 4:25.

“Identifying oneself with all, one pervades the entire universe with thoughts of compassion, with heart grown great, wide, deep, and boundless, purified of all ill-will.”The four sublime states of mind. Christmas Humphreys, The wisdom of Buddhism, pp 89-90.

Since we are all one, let us / Call out to each other from our hearts / Without mouths or lips… / Let us give up conversation made with our tongues / and vibrate our hearts.”–Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, 13th Century mystic of Islam (as translated by Coleman Barks).

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