In Buddhism, the Wheel of Samsara has many different meanings, just as does the Cross in Christianity, the Crescent Moon in Islam, or the Star of David in Judaism.

What do you see?

I see movement. So, I’m thinking today that Thanksgiving comes and goes so quickly. Does it seem so to you? For two straight days, I observed the tireless way in which Pam prepared the special dishes of food that we might enjoy as a family. Days of preparation and, in a flash, it’s over and gone for yet another year.

I will be mindful today of the forward movement of life.  It goes on, and I go with it, whether I wish to or not.  There are tasks to be done today. I will let nothing keep me from moving into today and living it with my entire presence.

I see the cycle of life in the Wheel of Samsara. Everything appears; everything disappears. And so do we.  Today, I will remember the preciousness of life, of each day, of this moment. I will embrace this moment as I did my children when they were but infants.  I will enjoy this day as if my last.  It just might be.

I see many spokes in the wheel. Might that be the varied people in my life or within this world? Each separate and yet mysterious connected?  Every person I meet–every person–will be different from me and deserves to be accepted, not because they meet my standards of expectation or acceptance, but because they are who they are–period!  I will remember, when I judge another, I am really only ever judging myself; when I reject another, there is something mysteriously self-damaging in that in that rejection. I may not like it, but I am connected to all and all are connected to me. I am “we” and we is thee. Or, in Vedic literature, the Rishis say, “I am that, you are that, all this is that, and that’s all there is.”

When I see the Wheel of Samsara, I see something else. Though there are many spokes, the spokes all meet in the center.  Maybe you’re like me but, I see something of the same mystery when I observe the thousands of limbs on the giant oak tree in our front yard. Now that most of its leaves have yielded to their destiny, the limbs and branches are exposed.  They are too numerous to count but, mysteriously, they all draw their sustenance, their strength, from the same trunk, the same root system, the same Source.

So do we.  Which is why I will be mindful today that “no tree has branches so foolish as to fight among themselves” (Native American wisdom).  When we meet in the center, our Source, we meet each other…we meet ourselves.  We become the One we really are already.

Jesus said, “When you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 20:29). That is the oneness I am…you are.  Robert Frost pointed to something of the same mystery when he wrote, “We dance ’round the ring and suppose; but the secret sits in the middle and knows.”

I’ll sit in the middle. Join me?

He was right then. He’s still right today.

I’m a Christian by heritage and by choice. But I’m also a proponent of all spiritual traditions and so I encourage “inter-spirituality,” too.  I do so because, as I learn the practices of other traditions, the practice of my own takes on more meaning.  How could you ever read, for example, the love poems of the Rumi, the Sufi poet, and not be deeply moved?

Additionally, if history has taught us anything, it is that there will never be just one religion. Huston Smith clearly made this point in his classic, The World’s Religions.  The longer a religion is around, the more diverse it will become.

Even people in the same religion disagree and so divide. Today, for example, there are approximately 20,000 different denominations within Christianity alone. In Hinduism, there may be twice that many.  Given more time, Christianity will only become more diverse and divided, too.

When I came to this awareness, I decided to spend the rest of my life, not trying to convert everyone to Christianity, but instead seek to create an environment of cooperativeness between all traditions.

Here are two other things about which I’ve become aware from the teaching in various traditions.

First, I’m learning the importance of meditation.  Many Christians mistakenly think meditation is an eastern practice but Christians pray instead. What they do not know, however, and I did not know for many years, is that meditation may be the highest form of Christian prayer.

How so?  Consider this. Most Christians are taught to pray like Aladdin rubbed the lamp to release a genie to grant his wish. Meditation, however, transforms this limited perspective on prayer. Instead of prayer being the recitation of wishes, meditation brings one into alignment with Life itself.  It silences the mental noise, enabling the nurture of a quiet, trustful heart instead.

Meditation awakens you to life itself, too. Pema Chodron, the Buddhist monk, said, “We don’t meditate to become good meditators; we meditate to become more awake.” This present becomes more real through meditation; the past and the future less significant.

Saint Paul said, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). You could only ever do this by practicing meditation or become a Benedictine monk. Jesus said, “When you pray do not be like the hypocrites who pray in public,” (Matt. 6:5). Yet, most churches are obsessed with the practice of public prayer and too often at the expense of private prayer, silence, or meditation. “When you pray,” instructed Jesus, “go into your closet…” (Matt. 6:6). This was his way of saying, “Go into the inner world–that is, go into meditation in that world where the real Kingdom exists—inside yourself (Luke 17:21).

The benefits of meditation and prayer have been well documented in recent years. But, as Christiane Northrup has observed, “It’s most unfortunate that for people in the west, the only acceptable form of meditation is still hospitalization.”

Second, I’m learning how to live in space, not time.  That is to say, I’m learning how not to be bound by clock time.  For example, I don’t wear a timepiece anymore and I do not for two reasons. One, I have a clock on my smart phone already. Two, whenever I feel the need to know what time it is, I am reminded to be more conscious of space itself, out of which all time emerges.

For much of my life I’ve had a fascination with the stars and planets.  In recent years, however, I’ve become more keenly aware of the emptiness out of which all heavenly bodies appear.  In other words, I’m infinitely more fascinated today by the infinity of emptiness itself.  Space is more of nothing than it is of anything, if that makes sense.

Now, I know almost nothing about the cosmos or Einstein’s theory of relativity and even less about quantum theory.  But what I do know is that I live with a profound awareness of nothing. I cannot explain this and I realize how subjective it is.  But, for me, the greatest mystery, as well as paradox, of human existence is that space may be the place of grace. That is to say, when you are aware of nothing, you may have tapped into the reservoir of eternal wisdom—into God.

Could this be what Saint Paul meant? “Fix your attention not on things seen, but on things unseen. For what is seen lasts only for a time; what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

I don’t think it ever occurred to my parents what impact these experiences would have on me or my brothers.  I visited countries and witnessed cultures where the Christian faith is anything but the primary religious tradition.  For instance, I met scores of people who were devoted practitioners of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam.  While most of their spiritual practices were foreign to me, even weird at times, the one question that haunted me on many occasions was this:  If my religion is right—Christianity—and their religion is false or, at best, incomplete or misguided—which is precisely what most Christians still believe today—why has it taken them thousands of years to discover their error?  Furthermore, if their religious practices were not rewarding them with a life-changing experience of the Divine, why would they keep doing them for centuries?  Are they just slow to learn?  What’s the problem here?

So, I made it my practice, not only to know the efficacy of my own faith tradition, but to study and know what other religions teach, too.

Here are a couple of conclusions to which I’ve come.  There has only ever been one spiritual truth.  It is known, experienced, and expressed in multiple languages and through a variety of cultures and traditions.

The other is this:  There is far more that all religions share in common than there has ever been that distinguishes or separates them.  The future of humanity is at stake and the Dalai lama is so correct in saying, “Until there is peace among the religions, there will be no peace in the world.”  We are at a crucial time in human history.  Many thinkers and visionaries do not believe humanity will survive if the religions of this world do not share together their similar commitments and work together to bring harmony between people and nations.

What many Christians do not realize is that the world views much of their message as a conflagration of contradiction.  For example, Christians say the gospel they preach is powerful enough to change the world. Yet, in recent years, there’s been an enormous interest among Christians in what they call the Rapture or Return of Jesus Christ.  Many of them are even praying for it.  One of the most popular and money-making fictional series in the history of Christian publishing has been the “Left Behind” series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.  Their entire storyline is based on this hugely complex system of the Rapture—of how the world will come to an end.  What many Christians seem to have forgotten is the one caveat Jesus gave as to when he would NOT return—that’s when everyone was expecting it. Jesus said that his return would be as a thief in the night, when everyone was least expecting it.  Since the majority of Christians are looking for his imminent return, they would do well to recognize they’re just as likely responsible for his delay.

Of course, I say all of this with tongue-in-cheek.  I no longer subscribe to any of these apocalyptic views of the culmination of human history.  Had God wanted us to understand how the world would end, he’d have sobered up Saint John long enough to write something a little more intelligible than the Revelation he gave us.  What Jesus did give us, around which there is no confusion, is the clear admonition, “Take no thought of tomorrow.”  Words do not get much clearer than this. Yet, most Christians seem interested in talking more about tomorrow than in how they’re living today.

One day, the rabbi took Jacob aside and said, “Jacob, why do you suppose Christians make it a habit to tap the side of the saltshaker while Jews always tap the bottom?”

Certain the rabbi was going to join him in ridicule of Christians, Jacob was more than ready to play along. “No, Rabbi, I do not know. Why do Jews tap the bottom of the saltshaker while Christians tap the side?”

“To get the salt out!” answered the rabbi.

There are many ways to tap the shaker, but the purpose is the same—to dispense salt.

Ask the followers of almost any religion what is the purpose of their religion and they will say the purpose is to guide them to know God. They may use different words or ideas to say this, but it is essentially the same purpose. Even in religions like Buddhism, where there is no belief in a Higher Power per se, they still speak sometimes of the “Universal Mind.” What is that, if it is not the same Reality toward which the words and names that others use point, too?

Similarly, a spiritual seeker in Christianity is really no different than a spiritual seeker in Islam, Taoism, or Hinduism. All want to know God, the higher self, or to reach what Hindus call Samadhi, which is “bliss consciousness,” what Christians may call, “salvation,” or “God-realization.” In other words, everyone wants to be complete, to be happy, and to alleviate human suffering, which The Buddha showed us is mostly self-induced anyway. In other words, we all seek the same thing. We just know it in different ways, based on our cultural, social, ethnic, and religious conditioning.  Since everyone is seeking God-consciousness, sometimes confused with “happiness,” then you can understand that every religion has evolved to help facilitate this purpose.

Yet, throughout the history of humanity, religion has been the prime cause of most human division and human and planetary destruction. If this is not mad, what is it?  Throughout the history of my own tradition, for example, Christianity has been either a Divine blessing or a demonic curse. Embarrassing to admit, it has been the latter far too often. If the human species is going to survive, it is imperative we make room on this little planet for everyone—that we have respect for all religions, as well as those who choose to have no religion.

Even as I say all of this, however, I realize, until a person wakes up, this will likely be more than they can accept. Until they experience a shift in consciousness, making it possible for them to see everyone and everything through lenses clear of conditioned thinking, then they will resist virtually everything I written so far. This is true whether they be a Christian, Muslim, or atheist.

If I have learned anything over the years, it is that every religion, in its own unique way, has something important to teach us about Ultimate Reality, or what I like to call the sacred art of knowing God. Even those who profess no religion at all may be able to teach the rest of us something about this Universal Intelligence, Consciousness, Being Itself or, as I am accustomed to saying, God.

I love the story I read of a Frenchman who approached the Dalai Lama after he had given a lecture in a city in France.  He said, “Your Holiness, I loved your words and I’ve decided I want to convert to Buddhism.”

In great wisdom, however, the Dalai Lama answered, “Why Buddhism?  Why would you wish to convert to this religious tradition?  You are in France.  In France, you have Christianity.  There’s nothing wrong with Christianity!”[1]

There isn’t, is there?  No more so than there’s anything wrong with the myriad of other paths one might follow toward the evolution of Divine consciousness.  It’s time humanity stops the insanity of thinking “We’re right, you’re wrong!” “We’re in, you’re out!” “We’re the chosen ones, you’re not!”

Just as is everyone,

You were born to walk with God;

So, why would you walk alone?