All World Religions Have Their Mystics
And that’s where we find the truth
When comparing religions or wisdom traditions — people sometimes say “there are many ways up the mountain”. What they are expressing, of course, is that the goal is the same, but there are many ways to get there. Sounds reasonable to me.
I am quite sure that Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th and current Dalai Lama would agree with this way of seeing things. He often encourages us to focus on what we have in common rather than our differences. As the Dalai Lama points out:
All humans want to be happy.
So, one mountain — many ways up it.
It is certainly important to focus on what we humans have in common. The last thing we need in today’s polarised and divisive times is to focus on our differences.
But if you look at it honestly, are there not in fact many mountains? A mountain range if you like. What I mean is that if you look at the various religions and wisdom traditions of the world, they differ considerably in their goals and how they see the nature of reality.
Different goals, different views of reality — different mountains.
Let’s look at the six religions (wisdom traditions) that have shaped our modern world: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism…
