Creating Bridges.

For civilizations to survive, we need to be able to live harmoniously. The inevitable question is: how do we do it?


If we closely examine the following verse from the Mundaka Upanishad, we come to the understanding that there are many paths -- “rivers” -- to realising God – the “sea”; and that on realising God, the self becomes “freed from name and form” and merges with Brahma. This realisation is greater than “Maya” which is the tangible world around us.

As rivers, flowing down, become indistinguishable on reaching the sea by giving up their names and forms, so also the illumined soul, having become freed from name and form, reaches the self-effulgent Purusa that is higher than the higher (Máyá).

There are two tropes that recur and are of relevance for the moment: the abstraction of God versus the tangible notion of Maya. These two tropes are central to all religious texts; they are articulated in a different manner – but if we closely read what other religious texts have to offer – we will arrive at the same results.

The following is an extract from the second chapter of the Koran; “Al-Baqarah”:

This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah …

Who believe in the unseen …

And who believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you

…

Indeed, those who disbelieve - it is all the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them - they will not believe …

 

The “disbelievers” are those who are enmeshed in Maya; and those “who believe in the unseen” are those who have realised God.

 

In order to establish a civilizational balance – the perfect chi – and to ensure that we are not enmeshed in perpetual battles – we need to create bridges across religious divides.