….  has been my spiritual path.  Raised Protestant, for a time I  went through a very religious phase as a child.  Emulating my Catholic neighbors, I thought that was the way to go.  While a teenager I felt there had to be something more than a God to be afraid of.  I questioned what was preached at me by my Seventh-Day Adventist relatives.  “Why don’t you have a TV?” I asked.  “Because God didn’t intend us to watch it.” my cousin answered.  “Then why did he give us the brains to make it?” I wondered aloud. No answer.

I married right out of high school to a man who was raised in the Jewish faith. One day while visiting a friend, a  roomate of his,  who, back then we termed a “Jesus freak,”  verbally attacked my husband by saying,  “You’re a JEW!  You’re going to HELL!”

Oooohhh… that was the wrong thing to say and I asked him, “If YOUR God is so KIND and LOVING, is he going to send   e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y  to hell who isn’t a Christian?  Does that mean that MILLIONS of people, even though they may be devout in whatever religion they choose, are damned?  Monks, nuns, rabbis, mullahs, priests…, you mean they ALL are going to hell, too?”

He didn’t have an answer for that.

Religions and cultures fascinate me. There is beauty in every tradition.  I sat through many a service ‘in temple’ with my husband and his family.  His father quietly translated from Hebrew what was going on.  At the Passover table l learned like a child;  soaking up all the history, mystery, lore as a dry sponge.  Another friend was of Lebanese heritage.  We baked Arabic bread together, shared stories of families, and her mother got the biggest kick when I’d eat her wonderful Lebanese cooking!

I was never told as a child that ‘THOSE’ people are bad, be they Black, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern or from  anywhere else in the world.  My dad was in the air lines so from the time I was a young child, Daddy was bringing home people of other cultures.  When I was 17, and he was flying for Saudi Arabian Air Lines (now Saudia) my sister and I got to travel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  It was an experience I will never forget.

Another part of me is that of a peacemaker.

We are all one.

One people, one ‘species’ and there is no one better than another.  We are all created in the same way.  At our birth our parents  express  the same joy and wonder worldwide.  The same diseases plague every nationality, no one is exempt.  We laugh, cry, grieve and celebrate over the same things in every culture. Prick a finger of any ethnicity and the blood runs red.  In the end, we shed our Earthly bodies and return to the Light which created us. No human on this planet is capable of any more or less.

WE ARE ALL ONE.

No faith is better than another.  Joseph Campbell used the analogy of a mountain: all paths lead to God.  Some may go straight up, others may go at a 45 degree angle, still others may zig-zag while some may go in a spiral way.  They are all heading to the top of the mountain, to God.

Millions of people have died ‘In the name of God.’  The Crusades immediately come to mind.  Look at today:  Muslims killing Muslims who are worshipping in a mosque;  praying to the same God which the extremists kill in the name of.  People are killed at funerals mourning their dead, in the market, on a bus.  Little children, innocent little children are killed because they are of the ‘wrong’ faith, nationality, creed or color.  How absolutely insane is this?

Insane….  insane….

The “Us versus them” mentality has claimed millions of lives, not only on the battlefield but in starvation, torture, ethnic cleansing.

“It is MY LAND, not yours.”

“MY religion is THE ONE.”

“MY RACE is superior”

How insane is this?

Very insane and very, very sad.

All the treaties in the world will do no good unless the people realize they are killing their brothers and sisters. People create peace. (see link above)  Governments may say there is peace and this treaty has been signed, but unless it is in the hearts of every citizen, blood will continue to run.     Violence begets violence. Arabs and Israelis strike back and forth like little children.  “You hit me, now I’m gonna hit YOU!”  Muslim factions in Iraq mirror this.  Violence in Africa and in every other part of the world goes back and forth, back and forth.

What would happen if nobody hit back?

Some may read this and call me idealistic, wishful; that I do not know the meaning of ‘their’ struggle.  Perhaps not. In the words of John Lennon, ’You may say I’m a dreamer…. but I’m not the only one.”

What would happen IF                                     

we took all that energy expended on war

& turned it to helping one another & the Earth?

Be peace.