Many thanks to all those people who replied to my recent article regarding War Against Terror.
One correspondent (outside Australia) was sending it to their deputy Prime Minister.
Another circulated it across their school as an urgent topic for debate.
Another circulated it to their friends – and received a resounding rebuttal of my ‘naivety’ (my words).
I feel very strongly that, for sanity’s sake, universal spiritual truths should be the very basis of our economic and political systems.
I see no future for the planet (or at least for human beings) if we are going to continue the carnage we’ve been used to for two millennia with the new weaponry almost every nation and faction now seems to possess.
Joanne wrote:”……… I don’t think that people understand that making someone the outsider is not the answer. It never is. I keep praying for people to be more understanding of each other. I think if enough of us do and enough of us care and understand – and accept each other, then there is hope…….”.
In this regard, militant Islam is a serious threat because it makes every non-believer an outsider.
The term ‘Jihad’ appears twice in the Koran. Many Islamic scholars interpret its inclusion to indicate warfare.
Islam – in its most radical interpretation – teaches that ONLY Islam is legitimate; and the Koran urges Muslims to convert the ‘unholy’ – so it’s hard for an Islamist state to fight the concept of Jihad (unless they’re being specifically invaded) especially as that is precisely how Mohammed established ‘the True Faith’ (which every Muslim vows to uphold and expand).
In this regard, most Western nations – Australia included – have allowed Islam to spread without realizing the potential of their actions amongst fundamental Islamists.
Of course, it was the same, in the 10th to 16th centuries, with the Catholics.
Now, in the 21st century, all people coming to Australia should come in friendship. They should be willing to accept the religious and political beliefs of one another without any desire to demand conversion. Those that seek to cause division and control shouldn’t be allowed to come (or stay) and destroy the harmony of the rest.
The ultimate answer, I believe, is to DROP ALL religions and instead uphold spiritual principles.
This is to deny the man-made manipulative and controlling dogmas of every faith and stand up for honesty, truth and love.
And we can only do that ONE person at a time.
It has to start with you, then me, then him, then her…………
In the meantime…
It doesn’t matter if you are a Christian or a Moslem.
It doesn’t matter if you are a Buddhist or a Hindu.
Or a sikh, a Parsi, a Bahaii or a Jew.
It doesn’t matter if you are an Anglican or Catholic.
A Methodist or Presbyterian or Baptist or Mahayanist or Sunni or Shia
It doesn’t even matter if you are agnostic or atheist.
It doesn’t matter if your sacred day is spent on Fridays or Saturdays or Sundays or Wednesdays or at the pub or the temple or the races or the shopping centre.
It makes no difference if you say special prayers, nod your head a particular way, face any particular place, get dunked under water, wear special clothes, chant special mantras, undertake special meditations, hold your breath, use special symbols, get given special titles or have people think you’re special for any reason.
It doesn’t even matter if you abuse your neighbours, swear, drink, take drugs, earn a living as a prostitute, a drug dealer or as a politician, run a church, eat meat, cheat on your partner, enjoy orgies, shoot birds or join a nudist colony or couple’s swap club.
You are STILL an aspect of the Divine Presence.
You STILL live forever.
You are still LOVE trying (maybe poorly!) to express itself.
Three things are certain:
1. There is no heaven or hell other than the environment we create with our thoughts: they are both WITHIN us!
2. There is no possibility of an actual terminal state called death
3. We live and then live and then live and then live….regardless of anything we do……and then live and then live and then live….
So it’s really our choice to wake up and find our True (spiritual) Selves.
That way we’ll find that Kingdom of Heaven which is waiting within.
And then the world will once again become the Garden of Eden it was always meant to be!
Have a beautiful week!
Blessings,
Les