A Different Well
Some people wonder how I can be a follower of Buddhism and also be a devotee of Therese of Lisieux, a Catholic saint. To some folks, that’s like saying I’m a strict vegetarian who eats steak every night; it's contradictory.
But I don’t see it that way.
Now before I say another word, here's a disclaimer: It's not my intent to convince you what you should believe. That's a deeply personal decision. My goal here, as it is with every reflection I post, is to lead you to think about what I've written and then do your own reflecting.
With that said, I'll share my view. I've come to believe that all major religions, at their core, have more in common than meets the eye and they share the same quest to connect with the higher power. I'm not alone in this belief.
When Ghandi, a devout Hindu, was asked why he had a picture of Jesus on his wall, he answered, “I am a Christian and a Hindu and a Muslim and a Jew.”
Thomas Merton, an American Trappist monk and theologian, felt that serious seekers of all faiths share a common mystical experience. Describing his relationship with the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, Merton wrote “Nhat Hanh is my brother … I have far more in common with Nhat Hanh than I have with many Americans.”
Bede Griffiths – a Catholic priest, Benedictine monk and mystic who incorporated elements of Hindu worship into the Christian liturgy – believed strongly that all religions breathe one spirit. He used the metaphor of a hand with five fingers to illustrate how different traditions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity are all connected through their essence in the same way that the palm of the hand connects the fingers.
Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk who has been a key figure in promoting Buddhist-Christian interfaith dialogue, believes that this root source of religious connectivity is where we find a deep and pure spiritual experience. Brother David wrote “the tug that the Great Mystery brings to bear on the compass needle of the human heart … is more important than any of the religions.”
Instead of focusing on differences, Brother David stresses “basic human religiosity – the one underground water table, which the different religions tap, each by a different well.”
You may disagree passionately, and your heart may tell you that the water in your well is holy and everything else is just plain water. Or you might be an atheist who believes it's all just plain water. As for me, I'm with Brother David, Bede Griffiths, Thomas Merton and Ghandi. I believe it's all holy.
Photographer's Footnote: The rustic bucket and rope shown above are part of a water well that was dug by hand in the late 1700s in present day Huntersville, North Carolina.
