Robert Thurman Weighs In On the “All Religions Are Paths Up the Same Mountain” / “God Is Not One” Debate
by Danny Fisher
On Faith asks panelists the following question today:
Are all religions the same? The Dalai Lama, who just celebrated his 75th birthday, often refers to the ‘oneness’ of all religions, the idea that all religions preach the same message of love, tolerance and compassion. Historians Karen Armstrong and Huston Smith agree that major faiths are more alike than not. But in his new book “God is not One,” religion scholar and On Faith panelist Steve Prothero says views by the Dalai Lama, Armstrong and Smith that all religions “are different paths to the same God” is untrue, disrespectful and dangerous. Who’s right? Why?
The one and only Robert Thurman offers one of the most insightful replies. Here’s just a snippet:
I don’t think His Holiness the Dalai Lama, or Karen Armstrong, or Huston Smith are any of them saying there are no differences between the world religions, that they are “different paths to the same mountain,” etc., meaning by “the mountain” a single entity of a religion, or a single reality of “God.” Not at all. They all know very well the exquisite particularities of the various faiths, and they all revel in the rich diversity of them. In fact, the Dalai Lama makes a big point of insisting that religions must come to consider each other as each a complete path to each one’s chosen goal of what it means to be a good human being. He compares those who hope for a single world religion for all with people who would like it if all restaurants in the world served only the same meal!
What these writers do say though, is that all lasting human religions have urged their followers to be compassionate, charitable, moral, gentle, and wise, at a minimum.
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[Stephen Prothero's] point, as I divine it, is rather that anyone who says all religions are the same is really saying that they shouldbe the same, and therefore that what that person holds to be “the true religion,” inevitably her or his own religion or set of beliefs, must be what everyone else should believe. This is a disguised form of bigotry or even fanaticism, a crusader attitude that everyone should convert to the crusader’s religion or else. It is disguised by the pretense that the fanatic doesn’t need them to convert, since they already are believing the same thing, whether they know it or now. So that kind of “all religions are one” theory is obviously untrue, it is disrespectful since it doesn’t allow for true variety in religions and doesn’t respect others’ religious choices, and it is dangerous, because it quickly leads back to the long established dangers of religious fanaticism and the lethal intolerance or crusaders.
You can read “Buddha Bob”‘s whole post here.
Scriptures, theologians and many religious leaders tell us what the divine is by listing grandiose attributes. Most mystics worship the personal aspects of the divine, but they also speak of what it is not. Many of them said that the divine essence is nothing, i.e. no thing, that it is immanent in all things, yet it is transcendent to everything. Mystics consider this seeming paradox to be a positive negation.
Avidya, literally non-knowledge in Sanskrit, is used in Buddhism for our “spiritual ignorance” of the true nature of Reality. Bila kaifa, literally without knowing how in Arabic, is Islam’s term for “without comparison” to describe Allah. Ein Sof, literally without end in Hebrew, is the “infinite beyond description” in the Kabbalah. Neti, neti, literally not this, not this in Sanskrit, refers to “unreality of appearances” to define Brahman. In via negativa, the literal way of negation in Latin, God is “not open to observation or description.”
Mysticism speaks of a spiritual knowing, which is not rational and is independent of reason, logic or images. Da`at is Hebrew for “the secret sphere of knowledge on the cosmic tree.” Gnosis is Greek for the “intuitive apprehension of spiritual truths.” Jnana is Sanskrit for “knowledge of the way” to approach Brahman. Ma`rifa in Arabic is “knowledge of the inner truth.” Panna in Pali is “direct awareness”; perfect wisdom. These modes of suprarational knowing, perhaps described as complete intuitive insight, are not divine oneness; they are actualizing our inherent abilities to come closer to the goal. It is consummate cognition, unmediated discernment, with certainty.
Direct experience in the divine essence also has various names. Devekut, cleaving or being joined in Hebrew, is the immediate state of attachment or adhesion to God. Realizing the Dharmakaya, dharma-body in Buddhist Sanskrit, is a consciousness of ultimate Reality void of dualities. Fana, annihilation or dissolution in Arabic, is the state of perfection achieved by the extinguishing of all human attributes. Samadhi, putting together or union in Sanskrit, is the absorption of consciousness in Brahman. Unio mystica, mystical union in Latin, is an experience in which the soul of a human is said to enter into unity with God. These are the supreme experiences in this life; there are also alternate definitions and terms.
(Quoted from my e-book at http://www.suprarational.org )