We live in a time in which dialogue with religions other than our own is almost unavoidable.\u00a0 Such dialogue can be nurturing to us and can also build cooperative relations for social action among the most progressive practitioners of this wide array of very different religions.<\/p>\n
The downside of this opportunity is what I call \u201creligion hopping\u201d\u2014jumping from the most shallow portions of one of these grand religious traditions to the next, to the next, to the next, but never following any religious practice to the depths of that profound humanness that valid religions come into being to express.<\/p>\n
\nHere is a metaphorical picture that I will use to distinguish shallow from deep in our interreligious dialogue.\u00a0 Imagine a planet in which there are about six cultural regions each of which digs a hole down to the hot core of that planet.\u00a0 Let that hot core represent profound humanness.\u00a0 And let the hole-digging represent the practices that each religion uses to experience that profound humanness.\u00a0 On the surface of the planet, each religion does reflections, theoretics, theologizings and the like that support that particular community and its hole digging.\u00a0 Also on the surface for each religion are moralities, styles, mode of association that support that particular hole digging.\u00a0 And finally there are institutions and organizations with their economics and politics that are also needed to support sustained hole digging across the centuries.\u00a0 Got the picture?\u00a0 Each religion is digging holes into the same profound humanness, but the holes and the support structures can\u00a0 be very different, and emphasize different aspects of this overall digging.<\/p>\n
So what is this hole digging that promises assistance in reaching the hot core of profound humanness?\u00a0 It is religious practice.\u00a0 For example, one of those holes is called meditation practice.\u00a0 On the surface of that hole digging is\u00a0 theoretics, styles, and organizations of a religion called \u201cBuddhism\u201d perhaps.\u00a0\u00a0 In any case, much Buddhism is a set of teachings for the sake of supporting effective meditation practice.\u00a0 I love the story about the student who ask his meditation teacher if doing meditation causes enlightenment.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNo,\u201d said the teacher, enlightenment is an accident, but meditation\u00a0 makes one more accident prone.\u201d\u00a0 Meditation practice is just one of many useful religious practices that makes one more accident prone to realize that hot core of Reality called by many names, including \u201cenlightenment.\u201d<\/p>\n
In another cultural area, another hole is being dug to the hot core of Reality.\u00a0 Let\u2019s call this hole-digging the religious practice of \u201cdialogue.\u201d\u00a0 Everyone is in ongoing dialogue with other people: parents, teachers, authors, scriptures, mentors, gurus, art pieces, artists, dancers, singers,\u00a0 novelists, fictitious characters, and more. These dialogues go on constantly in our inner beings.\u00a0 The religious practice of dialogue consists of giving intentionality to that natural dialogue, thereby assisting one in digging a hole down to the hot core of Reality.\u00a0\u00a0 Metaphorically speaking, we seat our dialogue partners in a set of concentric circles.\u00a0 In the inner circle we seat those who nurture us in our descent into the hot depths of Reality.\u00a0 We intentionally listen and talk back to them.\u00a0 We view their art, sway to their songs, dance to their music, etc. This hole-digging can also make us accident prone to the accident of authenticity, salvation, sanctification, or whatever name points us to that hot center of profound humanness.\u00a0 Whatever we name it, and however we describe it, that hot core of profound humanness is the same humanity being opened by the Buddhist meditators.<\/p>\n
The point of this spin is simply to point out that the thinking, beliefs, styles, moralities, and the organization of a religion are only its surface features, useful for illuminating and sustaining its practices.\u00a0 It is the practices of a religion that are digging a hole to the profound humanness that every valid religious practice can assist us to discover.\u00a0 So being deep in our interreligious dialogue means doing dialogue and cooperation with other religions near the profound humanness heat, not at the surface level of beliefs or moralities, thoughts, actions, organizations, etc.\u00a0 It is our awareness, our being, and our doing of our profound humanness that reveals to us the valid gifts of a religion.\u00a0\u00a0 A religion\u2019s thought, action, and practices are good to the extent that they are expressions of that profound humanness that can happen to each of us.<\/p>\n
There are many other religious practices than the two described above.\u00a0\u00a0 See chapter 19 of The Enigma of Consciousness: A Philosophy of Profound Humanness and Religion<\/em> for a full development of the topic of religious practices. For more information on this book and how to order it, click here for full-color flyer:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.realisticliving.org\/PDF\/Consciousness\/EnigmaFlyer.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n