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Reconnaissance by Claude Gruffy
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We may liken truth to a mountain, and various interpretations of that truth to different paths leading up to the summit. Many people are traveling along all of these paths and every one, while he is at the bottom, thinks his path is the only one; he sees only a small part of the mountain, and may therefore be justified in crying to his brothers, "You are wrong! Come over to my path; this is the only one that leads to the top." But as all these people progress upward, they will see that the paths converge at the top and that they are all one in the ultimate. –Max Heindel
They say, "All roads lead to Rome." Perhaps the roads were built that way because humans were aware of a greater truth.
While we're driving along a highway, we can't see much more than about a mile ahead, and that is only if the road is straight and the air is clear. We can see much more of the road from a higher vantage point, such as the top of a mountain, or from an airplane. From space, if we had the right equipment, we could see even more of the road. That's the kind of perspective God has, a 360˚ view to infinity.
There is only one Creator, and it doesn't really matter, in the end, what you call IT, or what qualities or powers you ascribe to IT. In fact, our understanding of God continues to grow as we move from moment to moment in our lives. There are as many different religions as there are understandings of God.
It's not God that changes from religion to religion; it's only our own human concept of God that is different. God is what IT is. We are the ones who change. Our perspectives and beliefs change, based on our experiences in life. We change as we mature in any given lifetime, and we change as we progress from one lifetime to the next.
Each perspective has something to offer, something to teach us. We come into life on this planet time after time, and in each one, our understanding of God is a little different, until we have had a chance to experience all kinds of understandings. Once this is done, we are better able to find points of agreement with people of other faiths, rather than dwell on the differences.
Many wars have been fought over religion, and there are still some conflicts going on today. However, I do believe that as a whole, humanity is beginning to move away from warfare based on religious belief. Ever so slowly, we are learning to tolerate, then accept, then learn from one another.
A challenge: As we begin a new calendar year, let us find points of agreement between our own path and that of others. Try to find at least five religions that are different from yours and find at least three things you can agree with. If you are not religious, you may be surprised to find that there are probably a few points on which you can agree with members of one religion or another. If you believe in God, you may be pleasantly surprised to find that you can even agree on some things with an atheist. Give it a try. :-)
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