Polynomial

I have always found this analogy to be most fitting for understanding religious indifference. At their core, most religions believe in ‘practice’ and/or ‘ritual’ of some form or another. Whether this practice manifests in the direct worship of the divine, or if it comes through meditation and careful cultivation of the mind and body, they all endorse a particular path for the adherent to follow.

The aim? The cultivation of the soul/spirit/mind/body towards goodness and positive flow.

Bearing this in mind… Why then is there much misunderstanding and dispute between religious doctrines? Just because the practice between these precepts might vary greatly, it should not always mean that one’s religious ideals are so different from one another. While one practitioner might sit in solitude and silence, stilling his mind into a state of pure awareness, another would sing hymns and listen to sermons in places of worship i.e. in a mosque or a church.

At their core, do they not both embody similar aspirations of peace, love and understanding of their fellow men?

Ponder on this… Stand back and view the circles in the picture above. Imagine the central two circles (each surrounded by four other circles) are like two different religions. Then imagine that the surrounding circles correspond to their respective practices and rituals. Upon first glance, each religion might seem very different, just as the central circles seem different in size. But upon close inspection, one can see just how similar in fact they really are.

Just as color and creed can sometimes divide mankind, when we look closer, beyond the superficial differences that seem almost to be so obvious, we can begin to see an even more subtle similarity between us all. We all respond well to love, care and nurture. Seldom do we actively chose to bring pain and suffering into out lives. Nearly all of us have two arms, two legs, a head, with eyes, ears, nose and mouth. We speak languages to communicate with one another. We all eat food, imbibe drinks and water, and breath air. And under even closer scrutiny, we have realized that we are all made from the same matter: our bodily proteins and molecules are all made from atoms, which were born from the same star above us, and the subsequent stars that shone before it, the bodies of which now burn fiercely within its own.

As we can see from the picture above… The human mind is so prone to basking in illusion. Memes linger on from many streams of thought and projection in the Western world. Television, radio, theater, books… They all ensnare the mind and distract it from present endeavors. Ripe with fantasies and illusions, they tell stories of others and their differences. And as one might imagine, it takes mindful dedication and perseverance to begin to see past these propagated ideals that flow through the media

But when one clears the doors of their perception and begins to see things as they truly are… Then they are set free. For we can then act in true knowing, through love and compassion, because we understand how similar we all are to one another.

The universe is fractal in many ways… So let us use this wisdom that nature so avidly adheres to and build our lives into the same flow and similar understandings. For then we can begin to better follow and merge with the Tao.