In a world forever fraught with religious division, St. Thomas Aquinas of the Catholic faith once said, ‘How can we live in harmony? First we need to know we are all madly in love with the same God.”
St. Thomas words during the Christian Crusades as they were fighting to ‘take back’ Jerusalem from the Muslims, is obviously a relevant one. These 700+ years later people protest about the building of an Islamic Mosque on Ground Zero, a place where 2000 people, several hundred of them Muslim, died by the hands of those with twisted religious ideas. We watch, either irate or in numbness, having seen one too many wars, one too many protests on behalf of one too many religions. How can we ever learn to blend the lines of faith in peace and remain ever faithful?
Thomas of Aquinas had the Answer but like so many spiritually inspired, could not make happen the means by which to help others see it. His message is lost on ears and eyes that define God in terms of a religion rather than a universal Truth.
Then as it is now, in a pluralistic nation such as the U.S., the urgency remains to find the means to accomplish peace between our religious faiths while keeping intact a common thread of Love for the same God.
For all of us, from the east, west, north, south and of all nationalities, black, white, brown, yellow….I believe we can and someday will transcend the boundaries of our separateness through forgiveness. Obviously, I don’t pretend to reveal a new idea. It’s been the message of every true prophet since recorded history. What we collectively seem to lack is the understanding of HOW to do it, myself included.
On my own journey of trying to expand my own consciousness, I have found the value of something we don’t often talk of in American culture; learning to live in the Present Moment. It is the means by which forgiveness can occur and conquer even our darkest fears and pain. We all possess the capacity to find the Present Moment; a place where we agree to let go of the past and join it to the present and where the Present is free to extend itself into the future.
From this place of the Present, I watch from the fleeting faulted thing I call a body and know that our God is found in an awareness of Love in the Present Moment, illuminating our true Spirit as we leave our judgments of the past and fears of the future by the wayside. By a willingness to view the world from the Present Moment, we are granted a kind of perception based on acceptance rather than defense. A Course in Miracles, which claims no one religion itself, speaks to this kind of universal perception:
“The bible tells you to become as little children. Little children recognize that they do not understand what they perceive, and so they ask what it means. Do not make the mistake of believing that you understand what you perceive, for its meaning is lost to you. Yet the Holy Spirit has saved its meaning for you and if you will let Him interpret it, He will restore to you what you have thrown away.”
What we have thrown away is the ability to ask, rather than direct; to simply listen rather than assume we know the validity of the threats posed by life’s many obstacles.
In my own experience in finding this common thread, I see that God lives in that deliciously full moment where creation is aware of Itself and I realize with painful acceptance that all flaws are but a filter I put upon perfection just to keep my fear of joining with God and others intact and forgiveness an impossibility.
From this view point I see that this ‘conflict’ of building the Mosque is but a buried, inner fear of joining made manifest in the world outside of us. It occurs to me that the whole world can be used to separate, to anger, to keep us from those glimpses of Love, until we see through the eyes Love, which alone is able to forgive. And then, a whole new world could be born. Perhaps this is the ‘New Age’ of which so many of spoken of; one that will take another 2000 years to unfold.
If we are to rise above the battleground of our differences, someone must begin the seemingly impossible task of expressing the true message of all religions and stating it clearly; Love cannot be found by judgments made on past mistakes. It cannot be found by fearing the future will be like the past. It is found and lived in the Present Moment and all else we do and think is but a defense against that moment where nothing is judged as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ because there is no past or future with which to judge against. The building of the Mosque can be seen as benign as easily as it can be seen as an attack. It is our determination of what we want that makes it what it is. And in a nation that agrees on all religions being able to be expressed with equal emphasis, our determined goal has already been stated in our Constitution, collectively.
We have all risen above the battleground of hate and seen life through the eyes of Love even if only for moments and only if even a few times in our life. It takes very little of this little moment of pure Love to assure us that it is all we need to have Peace on earth. We need to begin to have this conversation with each other, and show examples of it to the world.
It did not take me long in looking for an example of this kind of acceptance of the Present Moment of God’s Love in our recent history and the unity it can create. I was reminded of the incident in 2006 at an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania; the little sisters, 7 and 13 who, when held at gunpoint in their schoolhouse, asked to be the first to be killed, if he would allow their schoolmates to go free. He agreed and killed the 13 year old first, then shot the rest anyway. The 7 year old sister survived to tell the tale of her sister’s ability to stay above the fear by showing only faith in Love.
Like the crucifixion of Jesus, it is not their martyrdom that evokes a sense of sobering joy in me, but their lack of fear and abundance of trust in what the Present Moment was bringing them. Despite the terror, both sisters looked out from within hearts of love and faith and saw only Love and faith outside of them, without need of judgment upon the head of their assailant. Only one who is living in the Present, without any claims to their future, judgment on their killer, or a clinging to their past could be so able to trust in God’s Love being their savior, right here, right now.
Imagine the trust. Imagine the lack of fear, the purity of thought, the Present Love. Now, in the same vein of thought, imagine no religious boundaries keeping us from loving and trusting in the same God with those of another faith and even those who wish to murder us.
And there is another part of this story from which we can learn as well. The schoolhouse was of course, a scene of horrific images and memories. Surprisingly, this Amish community decided to let the place where it occurred grow into a non descript but lovely pasture much like most of their Dutch Pennsylvanian landscape. They found another spot for their children’s school. No marking, no statue, no plaque on the field where it happened. Such non-action is a silent symbol of Forgiveness, knowing all land was sacred land when forgiveness has blessed it.
Never in my lifetime had I seen such a display of perfect love and forgiveness; such perfect understanding of the need for being Present with Love as our guide and forgiveness being the only solution to leaving it behind.
“If you feel the Love of God within you, you will look out on a world of mercy and of Love”….A Course in Miracles. No example in our lifetime expressed the meaning of Mercy more clearly than this did for me.
In contrast to the example of the Amish, both which demand of us the seemingly impossible task of forgiveness, it seems to me the fear and anger displayed at putting a Mosque on Ground Zero is just another mask on the fear of joining. It also veers away from the intention of our forefathers to create a country based on separation of church and state in an effort to protect both state and church, one from the other. It seems to me to be a case of wanting to see division where unity could blossom, if only it were not in the hands of mankind but instead in the hands of those young girls.
If we are all honest, few of us are safe from the need to find division and we do not look for Love in the Present Moment, especially in horrifying situations that return again and again in a mind clouded by pain.
Deepak Chopra says it well in his recent book, “The Third Jesus,
“This is why love provides the perfect litmus test. Each of us begins with an awareness that love has failed in many ways. We know we don’t love our enemies; at times we doubt that we love our nearest and dearest as much as we should. We look around and see little evidence that God loves us in the redemptive way that Jesus says he does.”
It is easy to turn our backs on the Present Moment, finding reason to believe in something less perfect like holding another to their past mistakes, or doubt their motives or wishing things were different instead of accepting our present circumstances. On a larger scale, it has larger consequences when we don’t rise above it all. It’s not only easy to take the wider path, it’s part of the challenge of being human. But at some point, as we are watching our world remain stagnant and even possibly culminating in catastrophe due to religious differences, we must all be held accountable for the difference we must make, and the change in our own awareness that must occur for the world to change.
Deepak goes on to say, “Jesus’s teachings are truly learned only when you become the teaching. There is already something deeply instinctive about love in all of us. Yet innate as love may seem, we didn’t become love. We pick and choose whom to give our love to, but when the switch is turned off, we can be completely unloving. The lesson about divine love that Jesus taught is that love is so full of Grace, it leads to transformation; it changes a person’s whole being.”
The devotion to learning of the unconditional Love that the Amish girls were brought up with, served to bring them to that kind of transformation. It shows that when we dedicate and devote ourselves to this kind of understanding, no matter what religion one practices, we ‘become’ the practice. Repeating and practicing at a young age the simple creed of the Jewish faith, “The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’”” is another example of this practice of inner devotion to our shared Creator. And if we are atheist or agnostic, the understanding of a human connection that can help us to heal all wounds is the same because it is the power of Love.
The Present Moment is like a Love that humbles us in its Knowing. It can only be shared because it falls upon us all Now. The Present sees all and judges nothing. It alone has nothing to judge from. By this it erases all lines of color, culture, religion and region for those who wish to find It waiting. Those Amish girls went on the faith that God’s Love in that moment of their death was all there is, and by this, accepted their fate. By this faith they feared nothing.
Who can be the judge of another when the Present removes need of judgment? Its fairness lies in the Knowing that what is, is the way Home. Knowing this, who could throw the first stone?
Why can’t we real-eyes, the symbols of his Love, such as a Church, the Mosque or a little white school house can never be anything but symbols and the Present, when realized as the gift it is, can never hold anything but His Love.
As far as creating a memorial to the dead at 911, and holding it as ‘sacred’ ground, perhaps we can learn from something Jesus said to a follower when he asked for a leave of absence from their travels to bury a family member, 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:59-62
And like Jesus would also do, offer alms to those of the Muslim community as the Amish did for the widow of the gunman.
Although we may be far from the little girl’s kind of fearless faith, and certainly far from Jesus, we are just as far from realizing that the war waged by Osama bin Laden is taking place in our country when we begin to quarrel about this Mosque ~ just as he planned.
Certainly, what Osama bin Laden does not want is religious diversity and tolerance, for such a thing takes the power away from those who wish to use religious division against those of other faiths. Our acceptance and support of the Mosque would put a real damper on his zeal for conflict. The bond we share with the Muslims of having several hundred of their own children, husbands, wives, sisters and brothers die at Ground Zero is a bond that is not broken by the fear mongering tactics of the media in an attempt to separate rather than join.
This Mosque is but a symbol of Muslim faith, just as the Ground Zero is a symbol of the victims of religious division. It is not a symbol of the lives and love of the deceased; it is a symbol of their death. Neither symbol needs protecting, because neither one has any ‘real’ meaning.
Again, we would all be the wiser to look at what Jesus felt about paying attention to the purpose and intention rather than the effect or the symbol: “You blind fools! Which is greater, the gold, or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred?” Matthew 25:17-22
Instead, we argue which Truth is True, when there is nothing true on earth but our ability to join in Love.
Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” Matthew 5:43-45
Can you love in the past? Can you accept in the past? Can you forgive in the future? Then how can we live in this world of time and not real-eyes time’s purpose is used to argue or join, to keep us blind; or set us free? It can be used to condemn us or release us. We can use time for healing or for hatred made manifest. There are only two choices we seem to have. Yet there is only one Answer.
Jesus also taught of our need to stay Present.
“Take no heed for what to wear or what to eat. Tomorrow will take care of itself.” Matthew 6:34.
He knew the pathway to enlightenment and peace required us as individuals to hold no one to their sins of the past. If we are to truly live the life he knew, we are to forgive, no matter what.
“Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Matthew 18: 21-22
I know it’s unlikely we can move up to the consciousness of Jesus by a prayer or by some random article. But we can all begin by making an effort to remain Present with our understanding and compassion on our brothers and sisters and thereby see changes in our consciousness.
Only by doing so can we see that we have built walls from our judgments made in and by time, but the Present wipes away time and the need for judgment.
The Present Moment abandons both time and space and sees only now, for it has no measure with which to judge anyone by.
It does not take from your awareness of Love; it can only give because it extends what it is.
Evidenced by St. Thomas’s words, even those faithful to a chosen religion can teach that our God is not a Christian God, nor a Muslim God, nor a Buddhist or a Jewish God but all of our God. And no savior saves but some of mankind.
While we must remain vigilant for Love as Jesus was, we must stand up to deception and fear in the name of religion as he did, and agree to find common ground, as he did. The media in our country is purposely staying vigilant for division, not for common ground. The more divided we become, the easier it is to control and manipulate the public. Do not be deceived by the world. Be as Jesus was, ‘In the world but not ‘of’ the world.”
The common ground between us is not ‘ground zero’ or any place or religion or political party, but as the two Amish girls demonstrated, the common ground is the inner realization and expression of the fact that our brother is loved by the same God; murderer or saint. And in that we are humbled and joined.
Do not let the seeds of hatred grow where love and forgiveness could just as easily be sewn. Be a gentle reminder to others to keep their faith growing in the fertile soil of our Unity. Let the discernment of the universal Spirit we call the ‘Holy’ Spirit be our only Guide.
