Tag Archives: faith

There are many ways

I love this Chinese proverb:

There are many ways to the top of a mountain, but the view from the summit is the same.

It reminds me that we are all on our own journey; that we don’t have to follow a single path. It reminds me that some people have to work harder than others, and some have to face hardships that others don’t. But we are all seeking happiness or success.

It makes me think about all the different religions, and how they have similar goals. And it makes me realize that one’s faith is not as important as the path they take to their belief’s version of heaven. I have met faithful people in different religions who walk a virtuous path, and I have similarly met people of different religious beliefs who are less virtuous, less caring, generous, or kind… yet they all claim to be heading towards a similar metaphorical summit.

We all walk our own path. Sometimes we share that path with others. Sometimes we walk alone. Sometimes people are walking together and feel alone. Sometimes when we are alone we still feel like we are not alone, I think this can be achieved by self-confidence or by faith. But faith in what? Faith in a belief system that says, “Only through this faith can you reach the summit”?

There are many faiths that set people on virtuous paths. There are many secular people who choose to be virtuous without faith or organized religion. If each of these different people live a good life, are they not heading to the same or similar summits? Do they not deserve the same view?

How many paths are the ‘right’ path? Can there only be one? I doubt it. People who follow the same path don’t all make it to the summit, but community, and family, and friends can certainly make the journey easier. Yet virtue isn’t just about caring for those like you, with similar beliefs and attitudes. Virtue doesn’t spring from being exclusionary. And virtue doesn’t require faith.

There are many ways to the top of a mountain, but the view from the summit is the same.

I wish tolerance and acceptance of others had a greater role in religion. I wish different faiths could see the value in learning about each other’s path, and that people of different faiths learned to take their journeys alongside each other. This seems to happen more often in spite of faith rather than because of it. Or it happens in response to tragedy, but not in everyday life. Yet everyday life is the journey, is the path. Are we not better off believing that we are all on the same mountain, heading to the same summit? Can we not all share the same view when we get there?

From faith or with faith?

This isn’t meant to be a critique of any specific religion, and it’s not a criticism of having faith in your beliefs. It’s a simple question: What should religions really teach us?

All religions have benevolent followers who act out of kindness and love. Support for family and community is a driving force for them.

All religions have unkind and unlikeable followers who act out of selfishness and self-indulgence. A lack of care for others well-being is inherently in their goals and aspirations.

Many people have benefited from a church or religious community supporting them. A sense of greater belonging strengthening their identity with like-minded people.

Many people have suffered in religious wars, crusades, and attacks from foreign people with foreign beliefs. A sense of alienation, a world of slavery, forced conversion, or death follows the invasion.

Do we need religion to act kind and benevolent? Could we be loving, caring and community-minded without a holy scripture? Could we be good people without faith in an organized religion, without a scripture to point the way?

Does goodness come from following a faith, or does a faith promote the goodness already inherent within us?

We can coexist with people of different faiths being loving and kind to one another. We can see the good in others who approach their faith with benevolence, even if their faith is not the same as ours. And if a faith prevents this, is that a benevolent God to follow? Can we seek peace beyond our faith, with those from outside our faith?

Do we learn to be good from our faith, or do we need to better understand how to be good to everyone beyond those that share our beliefs, as well as those that do? For it seems to me that in this day and age, if one’s faith does not promote openness and love beyond that faith, the faithful need to question how much good that faith brings them?