God/Nils/Religious Toleration
< God < Nils<God
Tolerance between religions and all people is requirement to create a world of peace, love and happiness. Inter-religious dialog is important to achieve a better world. Even theists and atheists should find a way of understanding. This is possible on the basis of scientific clarification of the question of God.
In history we often find that war and hate is rooted in religions disputes. Our future can only exist by promoting the goal of peaceful cooperation. Killing each other has to be repudiated and for this strengthening the peaceful tendencies of religions will be a factor.
Toleration of thoughts from other people is part of the essence of true democracy. Only if freedom of expression exists, it is then possible to discuss the best way for all. True democracy is, so far, the best way of living in a society without war and killing each other.
The first goal of toleration is to avoid hate in a society. The second goal is promoting constructive discussion, especially between divergent views, like religions. The third goal is that all work together for a world of love, peace and happiness.
To create a global dialog of faiths is the goal of the Parliament of the World's Religions.
Jesus as the One Way?
Christian: Jesus Christ said: "I am the way and the truth and life, no one comes to the Lord without me."
Yogi: This sentence has been misunderstood by many Christians. Jesus didn’t say that he was the only enlightened and the only way to God. If that were so, he would have denunciated spiritual masters such as Abraham, Moses, John the Baptists as false prophets. Jesus didn’t seek to start his own religion. He explained clearly “I did not come here to dissolve the teachings of Moses or other prophets, I am here to fulfill their teachings”.
Jesus saw himself as a person who had realized the laws and testaments of the Bible in his life. He wanted to take the Jewish people back to the original point of the Bible. He wanted them to practice spirituality. Many Jews had interpreted the teachings at the time in a dogmatic way and were missing the true point of these teachings. Without an enlightened teacher, every religion can become dogmatic. The task of the enlightened is to bring humans back to effective spiritual exercise. The words “I am the way” should be understood in this light. Every enlightened is a way to God. When we understand the words in that sense, then we can refer to the necessity of enlightened masters to effectively practice spirituality. The Desert Fathers (St. Anthony) had this principle and were therefore successful on their spiritual path. Later the Christian church has abandoned this principle incorrectly. One can also understand this sentence, that one has to develop the qualities of an enlightened (Jesus, Buddha) to attain enlightenment. Personally, I can accept that every religion thinks its founder is the only true enlightened one. Scientifically and with respect to tolerance and religious freedom, we should honor all positive religions as paths to God.
Those who consider their religion as the one true religion, only serve to strengthen violence on earth. When we fail to stop this, there will always be faith driven wars. When a group of believers think they are the only ones who are right, they need to then slay their foes, those who believe otherwise in a physical or spiritual way. A too rigid interpretation of the sentence “I am the way” is incorrect. Every enlightened is a son or daughter of God. He or she embodies God consciousness. The Christians need to let go of the idea that Jesus was the only enlightened master. This idea is understandable from a psychological standpoint, but fully unacceptable in scientific terms.
God is Love
Anna Franziska: I am a Christian, but I respect Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and other religions.
Nils: Thanks. We should all respect one another.
Atheist: You have your interpretation of the Bible, but I could imagine another just as well.
Nils: Jesus gave humanity a new idea of God. God is a God of love according to Jesus. Most Christians believe in a God of love. We should defend ourselves against confused fanatics. They have the wrong idea about religion.
Agnostic: You mean God has something to do with love, but you cannot prove it.
Nils: I can prove that. God is a term from the experiences of the enlightenment. When you live in God, you experience love. You live in the energy of peace, love, and happiness. God has everything to do with love.
Esther: God’s most important concern is love. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”( John 4,16)
Nils: Thank you. That is exactly the way it is. God and enlightenment (holiness) are two sides of the same coin and the middle is love.
Agnostic: The Bible is a collection of myths.
Nils: That’s right. That’s how I see it as well. The old Testament is mostly a collection of myths. The myths serve as a description of the way to enlightenment. The new Testament, which is what Christianity is based on, is however not a collection of myths. The mountain sermon is the most important part of the new testament and is a direct indication of the way to go about the spiritual path. The statements made there fit according to the knowledge of many of today’s enlightened.
---> "Mother Teresa: The fruit of calm is prayer. The fruit of prayer is belief. The fruit of belief is love. The fruit of love is service. The fruit of service is peace."
In meditation, conflict and tension dissipate. When all conflict recedes, inner happiness remains. The human lives in God. He or she experiences God and believes in God. With God, love and goodness awaken. He or she would then like to help his suffering fellow beings. He or she remains in God when he lives from that point of inner calm, and for the good of all beings.
Stop religious fights, get peace, love and happiness. It is possible!!
Klaus: If there is God, there is also truth. I am searching for this truth because it’s important for me to understand the similarities and differences among the religions, and as such it is also important to take those differences seriously. Nils: There is only one truth. There is only one God. But this God is not comprehensible for unenlightened people. God can be described with words like love, peace, truth, happiness, and light, but those are words which cannot replace the experience of God. The main way to reach this experience of God is to do the corresponding exercises and activities of one’s respective religion consistently and with wisdom (with real feeling and emotions). Everyone must find the way which is correct for him or her in order to proceed spiritually.
Klaus: Of course differnt religions can meditate together, but that doesn’t get rid of the differences, meditating together doesn’t lead to the transcendental experience which brings everyone to the same God.
Nils: If we really comprehend what God is, then every religion will come to the same God. Every religion can practice its own rituals, but we should also find ways to practice spiritually together. Meditation is a good way toward this goal, as well as praying, singing, and celebrating together. When meditating, everyone may use their own understanding of God, their own term for God. When we deeply experience our understanding of God, every term or word for God will lead to inner peace and all-encompassing love. I wish for a world of love and peace, and not a world of so-called holy war, or wars over religion. I wish for the various religions to stop fighting one another but that they love and support each other.
Mountain of Religions
There were five people who sought God. One was an atheist, an other a Christian, the third a yogi, the fourth a Muslim, and the fifth a Buddhist. One day the five seekers came to a large mountain. Up on the mountain shone a bright light. The atheist said: "This is the sun." The Christian said: "This is God." The Muslims gave it the name of Allah. The Buddhist thought it was the Nirvana (emptiness / unity / bliss). The Yogi called it Brahman (the higher reality). The five-seekers debated long about the light, the happiness and God. The atheist insisted that there is no God. The Buddhists did not believe in a personal God. Which the Muslim and the Christian contradicted violently. The Yogi surprised his friends by stating: "This question cannot be clarified by an unenlightened man. We all must get enlightenment, then we will understand what God is."
The five seekers had a long talk about God. They learned about their respective viewpoints. The talk was a great enrichment for all. But they could not come to a final result. They therefore decided to climb the mountain and to investigate the light exactly.There were many paths leading up the mountain. Everyone rose up on his own path.
When everyone had arrived at the summit, they decided to enter into the great mystery. They took each other by the hand and went into the great light. They passed through a great darkness (the ego resolution) and found themselves in God (transcendence). They stayed some time in God and then went back into the world of matter (the duality of things) . In God all had been speechless. But now her mind began to work. Excited, they told each other about their experiences.
The Yogi felt God as happiness (peace-unity consciousness-bliss), the Christian as universal love, the Buddhist as inner peace (no attachments), the Muslim as a great power and the atheist experience God as a higher truth. The Muslims got the word "Allah", the Christian the word "God", the Buddhist the word "Enlightenment" (my Buddha nature), the Yogi "Sat-Chit-Ananda" (I am this) and the atheist "Cosmos" (unity consciousness). If they thought their particular word, they could immediately go back into the light. The word was their personal key to entry into the great mystery. Anyone who has met God, can come with the power of the memory and his personal mantra again into the state of enlightenment.
Each of the seekers kept his word as the greatest. They were arguing about their prayers and could not agree on a verbal level. So they decided to end their conflict and prefer to concentrate on the spiritual practice. They lived many years together on the mountaintop. They read in their scriptures, meditated a lot, pilgrimaged every day to the mountain summit and met once a week to a joint celebration. Some day all arrived the permanent light. And the great light transformed them. They saw the light in all beings and all things of the world. They realized that they are all brothers and sisters. May we stop all religious wars in the world. May we be build a golden age of love, peace and happiness on earth. May the light, the love and the truth always be with us.
See also
| Search for Religious pluralism on Wikipedia. |
External links
|
| Search for Toleration on Wikipedia. |
- A World of Peace, Love and Happiness
- How to Practice Religious Tolerance
- Religious Toleration (Catholic Encyclopedia )
---> Download the Wikiversity Book God in various formats (PDF, Epub, Kindle) for reading and give away.