Posts
True Spirituality Can Bring About Peace
September 11, 2001, changed our nation profoundly, and those who
remember what our lives were like prior to 9/11 realize how egregious
that attack was and how it changed us. Since then, there is a growing
number of Christian fundamentalists in America who depict Islam as
nothing more than radical suicide bombers waging war on the U.S. There
is certainly a terroristic threat against America by radical Islamic
fundamentalists, but they do not represent all of Islam.
Christian fundamentalists also have a habit of distorting
history to show how superior they are over the other religions of the
world. However, their Islamophobic rhetoric is far from the truth.
When the Christians were experiencing the Dark Ages (400-1400
A.D.), brought on by religious extremism. Muslims were writing about
Plato, Aristotle, and other great philosophers.
It was the Muslims' deep thirst for knowledge and wisdom that
preserved some of the early literature of antiquity's greatest
philosophers. They also preserved the writings of early Christian
theologians.
Most contemporary historians - but not all - believe that
during the Dark Ages the Christians burned the library of Alexandria in
Egypt. The library contained hundreds of thousands of scrolls,
literature, and knowledge of the ancient world's greatest thinkers.
The Christians at that time, however, believed that the Bible
contained all the knowledge necessary for man's salvation. That belief
resulted in the burning of the library and the loss of a treasure trove
of knowledge.
There is a particular Islamic sect known as the Sufis, who
believe all knowledge is sacred because the human intellect is ours for
the enhancement of humanity.
St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1228 A.D.) was greatly influenced
by the Sufi belief system. He and the Sufis believed that the spirit of
God is implicit and can be known intrinsically by all people,
regardless of their religious upbringing. The Sufis and St. Francis of
Assisi's spirituality stood in total contrast to mainstream Islam and
the Catholic Church's teachings at that time.
The Sufis sought to bring spirituality into the Islamic faith
by living and communicating it altruistically. St. Francis was trying
to accomplish a similar mission within the Catholic Church of his day.
In the 13th century, Muslim and Christian extremists were
slaughtering one another in the name of religion. St. Francis, however,
walked into the Muslim camps without harm. He talked to the Muslims
about Sufi spirituality and how similar it was to his own.
He was revered by Muslims and Christians alike for his
implicit understanding that if you want to be understood, you must touch
the hearts of others. He did not accomplish his mission by imposing his
will and beliefs upon others. He simply lived his life as he would want
others to live their lives; in doing so, others embraced and emulated
his way of life.
The Sufi Muslims have a similar mission: to bring about peace in the world through a genuine, authentically lived spirituality.
We mustn't judge all Muslims by fanatical fundamentalists. On
the contrary, there are many good and spiritual followers of Islam.
Fundamentalism is dangerous - it forces ill-willed people to
live their lives ignorantly due to a lack of spiritual insight and a
narrow-minded belief system. You can find these extremists in every
religion throughout history.
Religion is shaped by one's parents and by their parents'
parents, but our spirituality is what we are born with. Spirituality is
the spark, the essence, and the spirit that sustains us and all things.
It's beyond rituals and religious symbols because it's the core of our
existence. True spirituality is the torch that lights the way, not
religious principles that are imposed or mandated on others. It is lived
and expressed freely in one's character for others to emulate and
embrace.
I did not write this with the intent of offending the
religious. I wrote this as a way of expressing how religious beliefs and
differences separate people. On the other hand, spirituality can and
does unite those who are searching for an altruistic way of life.
Always with love,
Thomas F O'Neill
- Email: introspective7@hotmail.com
- Phone: (410) 925-9334
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Thomas_F_ONeill
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-f-o-neill-6226b018/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomas_f_oneill/
-
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577967478775/
No comments:
Post a Comment