Religion and Oneness of God

Essence of Religion and Oneness of Creator
Mike Ghouse

Oneness of God is also expressed as oneness of the creation, oneness of the humanity and oneness of the people.

The phrase like God is one; world is one express Unity of the universe as numerical number “one”. It is a large embrace of diverse people to live together without conflict, when you do that, you have embraced them all and a sense of oneness surfaces, in essence, a conflictless world.

If we can learn to accept and respect the God given uniqueness of each one of the 7 billion of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge; peaceful co-existence.

One may wonder how each group praises the lord, to many it remains a myth as they are afraid to explore the truth; they have a sneaky suspicion that other ways of praising the divine is as legitimate as their own and erroneously believe that it would amount to infidelity to their own faith.

The guardians of the faith have a vested interest in promoting the idea that their faith is the best, and others are deficient, or even inferior or illegitimate. This protects their interests, but spiritually they are wrong, a majority of the people believe otherwise, they simply want to get along with others and do not believe for a moment that, their good friends who follow another faith will not receive God’s grace, they instinctively know that God will not cheat them.

When my daughter Mina was little, I took her and her brother Jeff to every place of worship… and then I would share the essence of what they pray or sing…One day, Mina’s excitement floored me; she exclaimed “Gee dad, it is cool that God can be worshipped in so many different ways.” Indeed, each way is beautiful to the believer. Like they say, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, I would say “faith is in the heart of the believer”.

To be spiritual is to live in humility. Arrogance and spirituality are mutually exclusive or inversely proportional to each other; the greater the arrogance, lower the spirituality and vice versa. Claiming a faith to be superior is sheer arrogance as it knocks the humility and spirituality out, indeed, it is the source of conflict and puts one on missionizing exercises, constantly undermining the other.

The goodness of one's faith does not hinge on the perceived or propagandized badness of other faiths, each faith is good and beautiful to the believer. When we can get to the point of appreciating every faith, it brings liberation to you from the aggressive emotion of arrogance, and you pave the way for you to achieve Nirvana, Moksha, Mukti, Nijaat, salvation liberation.

Now let’s quickly review the essence of a few faiths (to represent all);

Bahai

His holiness Bahaullah and the Bab, founded the Bahai faith some 150 years ago, it is simply founded with the idea that the creator God is one, humanity is one and the world in one place.

Buddhism

Twenty five hundred years ago, Gautama Buddha, the learned one, shared that life is a struggle between pain and pleasure, and categorized his teaching into four truths, learning which will help one attain Nirvana, the state of being free from pain and suffering. Those truths are: i) Life means suffering ii) The origin of suffering is attachment iii) The cessation of suffering is attainable and iv) the path to the cessation of suffering must be followed.

When you are free, and when the 7 billion of us are free, it is one heaven of a world to live.

Christendom

Jesus taught these truths* to follow – Love thy neighbor, when you love the people; you are free from tension, anxiety and malice. Imagine if most of us can do that, the world would be a better place to live. And when Jesus said, turn the other cheek – it simply meant that when you are angry, don’t aggravate it by slapping back, instead mitigate the conflict and bring a solution. It is a very powerful message of peace and non-violence. By the way, one cannot have peace unless others are in peace.

Hinduism

The Hindu scriptures mention the concept of “Vasudeva Kutambam”, meaning the whole world is one family. When a family in Iowa suffers, you feel the pain and when you work to relieve the person from that pain, there is a relief for you, there is freedom and Mukti. It is a release from the conflict. Hindu faith has been around for over 5000 years and continues to evolve.

Jainism

To live in peace, we have to accept the diversity of the world. The Creation is intentionally diverse; no tree, no mountain, no ocean and no life is alike, each one is unique and they all are designed to accept each other’s uniqueness. As individuals our views are different as well, but we have to embrace them all to co-exist in peace. This powerful concept is called Anekant Vaad in Jainism following which will bring Moksha, liberation and peace to diverse people. Lord Mahavir is the 22nd and the final spiritual master in putting the knowledge together known as Jainism some 2500 years ago.

Judaism

The essence of Judaism is the Law. The law brings justice and equality to one and all; it binds the individual with the divine. God’s will is that our will should conform to His: “Be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 11:44). It is such powerful statement “Be holy, for I am holy” When people follow the law, the ten commandments– no stealing, no lying and no cheating, the world would become a better place to live. Each one of us has to do our own work to create a better world for us and all others to live. It is an individual responsibility.

Sikhism

About 500 years ago, His Holiness Guru Nanak saw the need for unifying people for the common good of humanity. He saw the essence of different faiths and developed a system that is founded on caring for Humans. Like all faiths they believe in the oneness of mankind. Guru Gobind Singh, the 9th Spiritual Master put together the Holy Book called Guru Granth, which is the final teacher for the followers of the faith of Sikh, Sikhism.

Wicca

Wicca Spirituality is the practice in pursuit of reunion with the Divine. There is ONE Divine Source, whose essence is Love - and all things are part of this One. It is about connecting with the earth that facilitates life. The divine is a non-discriminatory, equal opportunity creator and sustainer.

Zoroastrianism

The Zoroastrian system may be defined as monotheism modified by a physical and moral dualism, with an ethical system based on the triad of Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds, and on a divinely revealed moral code and human free will. If we dedicate our life to this path with Devotion, we will reach Perfection and be attuned with the divine laws of nature. True Happiness and Immortality is assured through the achievement of perfection. The United Nations just commemorated the 5000 years of heritage of Zoroastrianism; some say it is 10,000 years old.

Islam

If I were to define Islam in one word, it would be Justice. The ultimate focus of the religion is on creating a just society. It comes with a strong belief in a single source of creation and following the guidance provided. God asks the believers to submit to his will, as the Torah says “be holy, for I am holy”, you can feel the same vibration when Lord Krishna asks one to surrender to him, and of course, Jesus tells to follow him. When you are like God, everything is yours, and you belong to every one, creating a conflictless abode.

God in the Qur’aan says, the best amongst you is the one who does good deeds, and Prophet Muhammad explains a good deed as planting a seed, when you plant the seed, you know very well that by the time that seed takes the form a mature tree to yield the fruit or shade, you are not the beneficiary, but the unknown others are. A good deed is defined as what you do for others without any thing in return.

Religion defined - To be religious is to be a peace maker; one who constantly seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful co-existence of humanity - God wants his creation to be in peace and harmony, and that is purpose of religion; every religion.

Mike Ghouse