2009 Parliament of the World's Religions

“The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Chef, builder, journalist, counselor. At one level, these words appear to have little in common. From a different perspective, however, each of these words represents a line of human endeavor that serves to support and sustain society. These four words also represent career paths I have walked in a bid to make a place for myself in this world. At the same time, from a closer vantage, we find common threads running through and between these vocations. Cooking and construction require good hand-eye coordination. Journalism and counseling involve the ability to organize and communicate ideas. Thus, both over-arching and intrinsic themes can bind activities that at first blush appear unconnected.

Such is the situation with the world’s religions. Buddhism and Taoism initially appear to have little in common with Christianity and Islam. Judaism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, and aboriginal mythologies seem to have landed from different planets. Yet all of the world’s religions attempt to organize and communicate methods for understanding truths that reside outside immediate perception and even comprehension. They distill rhythmic poetry and eloquent narrative from the chaotic free verse and stream of consciousness prose we see around us.

Equally important, religions serve as repositories of societal tradition. The underlying theology or philosophy, and even accompanying liturgy, almost inevitably are gilded and inculcated by such cultural realities as language, garb, architecture, cuisine, etiquette, etc. Even a society’s political and economic agendas can be transposed onto its religions. Interestingly, and whether intentional or not, many of life’s inherent ambiguities and contradictions often find expression in religious symbolism. I believe it is safe to say the world’s religions collectively and individually admire and promote moral and harmonious life, even if they, in my humble opinion, often get the details wrong.

I have experienced many spiritual traditions over the years, never feeling completely at home in any one theology or philosophy. Today I consider myself a Buddhist Unitarian Universalist but attend Science of Mind services every Sunday, and visit Catholic or Episcopal churches on Christmas. I celebrate Passover each year, even when I do not get invited to a family’s home.

I choose to embrace a kind of agnostic theology that frees me to recognize the metaphoric wisdom found in so many spiritual traditions. I believe the subjectivity of human experience, especially of our transcendent world, means Baal and Thor and Elohim and Chakramuni are equally real to those who believe, and should be respected as such.

The 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions, so very fortunately held in stunning Melbourne, drew together a dazzling variety of spiritual traditions and the rich cultural decoration that inevitably attend. Brilliant robes and austere vestments, curious hair styles and headdress, cosmetics and accoutrement – the mosaic was truly pointillist, finding coherence from micro- and macro-perspectives but dizzying and nonsensical at mid-focus.

Although strategies differed, session after session emphasized common interest in poverty alleviation, social justice, compassion, and environmental protection. Cultivating mutual respect through familiarity, as opposed to xenophobia, also was high on the agenda.

Most traditions proudly displayed objects of reverence, sacred documents, and practices to promote introspection or express celebration. Whirling Sufis, chanting Buddhists, canting Jews, drumming aboriginals, singing Christians – spiritual expression took many lovely forms at the Parliament. And, although prayer and meditation came in diverse form and expression, a desire to set aside the immediate and profane to focus on the infinite and divine formed a golden thread running through the bedazzled tapestry. As an aside, I felt a strange sense of personal pride when the spiritual and philosophical traditions to which I subscribe went on display during the Parliament.

The value of honestly listening to one another on spiritual matters cannot be over emphasized. Gustav Niebuhr addresses this point in Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America. He noted that, for example, the Catholic church made huge strides into the modern world when it issued the Nostra Aetate declaration as part of the Second Vatican Council. Referring to the world’s diverse faiths, “The Catholic church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions,” Niebuhr quotes the declaration on relations with non-Christians as saying.

The declaration’s recognition of “truth and grace” in the faiths of non-Catholics opened the door to “deeper understanding of spirituality and God and God’s workings in the world,” Niebuhr quotes Paul J. Knitter, a Catholic theologian at Union Theological Seminary in New York, as saying. And so it is: Listening begets understanding which begets insight which begets more questions.

Languages are complex symbol sets designed to organize and communicate understanding, usually in the context of a specific society’s experiences and values – its anthropological realities. From my experience, this is exactly the service religions provide.

Using a panoply of symbols, religions solidify theological and philosophical theories in the context of a people’s collective experience, then propagate those understandings over generations. Religions also provide centers of gravity around which populations organize. The rites of passage, the family structures, the ethics and morals, the political and social agendas – all are shaped and enforced through religious institutions. Thus, as living repositories, religions beautifully reflect the eloquent diversity of human experience, even at its most contradictory height.

I have traditionally distrusted religion, believing any attempt to codify the inherently unknowable mysteries of life threatens to homogenize and disempower individual spirituality. Worse, polities that lock cultural truths in dogmatic amber inhibit, not advance, the human condition. It may be valuable to note that as a relatively new word, coined in the 13th century, “religion” is etymologically linked to the Latin word “religare,” which means to tie back or restrain.

I am particularly agitated by the treatment of gender nonconforming populations and archaic indictments perpetrated over millennia despite social evolution and enlightenment. Only two sessions at the Parliament examined sexual orientation and spirituality, even though almost all religions have something, usually derisive, to say on the subject. These two sessions attracted audiences that overflowed available space. Despite obvious interest, and despite the over-representation of sexual minorities in religious communities, many spiritual leaders insist on almost unflinching adherence to ancient edicts regarding sexual expression. Ugh!

The unwillingness to look honestly and realistically at the role of sexuality in modern society, particularly healthy expressions of same-sex attraction, is discouraging. That said, some religious communities, including Hindus and Native American tribes, reserve places of reverence for gender nonconforming people. Considering how controversial same-sex attraction is among many of the world’s religions, and considering one of the Parliament’s goals is promote healing the earth and hearing each other, I hope the next convocation will devote more serious attention to the subject. “The practice of dialogue has produced results that are way ahead of the theology,” Niebuhr quotes Knitter as saying. “Our experience exceeds our understanding.” Yes, structured institutions and their support materials almost always lag behind, serving at once to stabilize the human condition and inhibit its evolution.

[Not to beat a dead horse, and almost completely unrelated to the current topic, I like to note the word “eunuch” is linked to the Hebrew word saris, which is translated into Greek as eunouchoi – an overarching term for gender nonconforming men, including homosexuals. In ancient times they often served as chamberlains. According to the Book of Isaiah, no less a source than God said, “To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” And wasn’t it Jesus of Nazareth who said, according to the Book of Matthew, some eunuchs have been emasculated from birth, some are made that way by man, and some make themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. My point here is that while Leviticus may condemn men sleeping with men as with a woman, other parts of the Bible embrace a more accepting perspective. Isn’t it lovely how scripture, religion and humans can be so contradictory yet manage to survive? This theme was brilliantly clear at the Parliament.]

Much of what it is to be human is common and universal – need for food, procreation, sleep, shelter, etc. As a result, I would think relating to one another, even on the most intimate levels, would be as easy as accepting the reality of our shared adventure on this “Pale Blue Dot.” In truth, however, finding connections can be a challenge for almost everyone. The irony is that, because we all enjoy unique lives, we share the experience of perceived uniqueness and difference rather than homogeneity and synergy.

What does the poem at the start of this entry say to you? To me it speaks volumes about the unknowable aspects of life and the subjectivity of spirituality – prayer and worship in particular. It tells me that the world’s religions are all attempting to do the same thing: bring adherents into harmonious and happy existence with the universe writ large.

Adopting dissimilar and even antithetical strategies, the theologies are not always logical, constructive or even peaceful. Yet the human condition is not always logical, constructive or peaceful. Roberta Bondi, a professor emeritus of Church History at Emory University and author of A Place to Pray, recently noted that if prayer is the human end of a connection with the divine, then it is perfectly reasonable that prayer will be imperfect, rife with distractions, pleadings, selfishness, and such. And so it is with religion. For proof, just read the Psalms. As human institutions, religions will be political, they will be myopic, they will be “wrong.” Thus, it behooves us to look for the best in religion just as we look for the best in our fellow human, all the while calmly working to bend ignorant agendas to the good.

The Parliament of the World’s Religions offered a great opportunity for thousands of spiritual leaders and students to expand their world views and learn from one-another. It would be cumbersome to list all the speakers to whom I listened or the individuals from whom I learned. Suffice it to say the Parliament offered a cornucopia of ideas regarding the faithful devotion to ultimate reality, finding expression in a wonderful diversity reflecting the breadth and depth of humankind itself.

The lessons for this pastoral counselor in training would require an encyclopedia to fully articulate. I can say the experience reinforced my faith in humankind’s ability to respect and learn from difference while allowing each community to stand proud in its own traditions.

Warren Clements on the Didgeridoo

As I was waiting in the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to board the last leg of my flight to home to Chicago, I read an editorial in the December 14, 2009 issue of The New York Times titled, “Settling Indian Trusts.” This editorial alerted readers to a case pending in the courts for the last 13 years regarding the shortchanging of American Indian trusts by the United States Government in an agreement dating back to an 1887 law. Once again, the bad history of broken agreements needs to be somehow rectified, and this editorial alerts readers to this reality. The specific case of the Australian Aboriginals, regretfully, has universal applications.

After I left Australia, I stayed in Hawaii a few days thinking about the great event of the 2009 Melbourne Parliament. While in Honolulu I noticed the premiere of a documentary film on Hawaii’s indigenous population titled, “Hawaii – A Voice for Sovereignty”. This 84 minute film explores indigenous Hawaiian culture, its social, economic, political, and environmental issues. This sounded like an ideal follow-up to the consciousness raising of the Australian Aboriginal population at the Parliament, so off I went to the University of Hawaii to see the premiere showing of this documentary.
Hawaii’s history, from independent nation ruled by royalty to a questionable take over by business interests in the United States, to territorial status, and, finally statehood in 1950 has left its native population feeling violated. They fear for their way of life. Film director Catherine Bauknight introduced her documentary, and, following the screening, there was a panel discussion.
The film tells the story of the native Hawaiian population, their sad and abusive history, their present concerns and conditions, and their hopes for the future. It’s well done and communicates a sad reality of abuses suffered by indigenous populations, much like we learned about the Australian situation during the course of the Parliament.
The panel following the film represented some of the more radical viewpoints about what should/must be done in the future to right the wrongs. Full independence for Hawaii as its own restored nation was presented by some of the panel members as the only way forward to correct the wrongs. (N. B. Under President Clinton, a formal apology was issued by the United States government, a fact few Americans probably are aware of)
I’m not so sure such a single issue radical solution will ever come about. The United States fought its bloodiest war to hold the union together. Maybe the people who view Hawaiian independence and nationhood should reflectively consider the strides being made in Australia to heal the hurts and divisions brought on by their colonizers, and focus on a future for all peoples living in that country. It’s too bad this documentary was not premiered at the Parliament, and these indigenous Hawaiians were not part of the discussions and presentations in Melbourne.

There was a listing in the program for a presentation by the World Subud Association (WSA).  I knew this was one I must attend.  A few years ago, living in Manhattan, I was acquainted with a practitioner of Subud, and even then found it of interest.  But with this opportunity to hear it discussed by a panel, it was definitely time to learn more.  The full title of the presentation was; Spiritual Experience for the Development of Human Potential – A Presentation by the World Subud Association.

     The discussion panel itself was composed of several remarkable people.  One was Simon Xavier Guerrand-Hermes, a member of a French Huguenot family who is the Chairman of the Board of the Guerrand-Hermes Foundation for Peace and an Honorary Fellow of Oxford University.  Another, Alexandra Asseily, has created the Garden of Forgiveness or Hadiquat as Samah in downtown Beirut, a garden that is to be developed to help heal the trauma of the civil war in Lebanon.  This war caused her to seek out her own responsibility for war and peace and to become a psychotherapist.  She is a member of the Leadership Council of the Harvard Divinity School.

    Then what is this organization and what does it do?  “The name Subud is derived from three Sanskrit words; Susila (humane behavior in accordance with God’s will), Budhi (the inner power within human beings) and Dharma (surrender in following God’s will). This name symbolizes surrender to the experience of the divine force within each person.

Members practice a spiritual exercise known as the latihan.  This is open to those of all religions and beliefs and contains no belief that would be contrary to the tenets of any religion.  Subud is not a religion or faith, but a spiritual practice. It was divinely revealed to Muhammad Subuh (this name has no connection to Subud) in Java, starting in 1925, and has spread widely.   Members do not proselytize, and those who wish to learn about Subud and the latihan must request the information.

     In participating in the 2009 Parliament, the WSA declared its hope to connect with like-minded organization to aid in the expansion of spirituality in the world for the benefit of the human community.

  In preparation for the 2009 Parliament, I began to think about Australia and Australians, and rhe first to come to mind was The Crocodile Hunter, the late Steve Irwin; naturalist, environmentalist, and director of the remarkable Australia Zoo near Brisbane.  His exuberant manner and unrestrained and contagious love for wildlife and the environment made him endearing.  So as I thought of Australians and their distinctive style of speech, I thought of Irwin and his booming “G’day”.

     Ethicist Peter Singer was the second Australian I thought of, but I didn’t connect him with a turn of speech as much as with a vocabulary.  The words that came to mind were “animal rights” and “alleviation of world poverty” and “vegetarianism”.  Thinking about meat and non-meat triggered thoughts about the “Barbie” — that prime Australian culinary icon and center of social life.  Holding the thought of Peter Singer, I changed the selection of items to be found on the grill from spare ribs to spears of asparagus, and from pork chops to potato skins. Whatever the menu, there would be no shortage of luscious things to eat, and I hadn’t even brushed against the topic of Bush Tucker.

     But beyond popular conceptions of Australia as the land where they say; “G’day” and socialize around a friendly Barbecue, I know there is the everyday Australia.  This is the Australia of balancing the check book, filling the gas tank ,driving to the job, attending meetings and ironing out problems.  The challenges they face are major.  Dealing with drought on an island continent composed largely of desert is one.  Finding ways to work out the relationships between Australia’s Aboriginal people and the newcomers of the past two-hundred years is a second.  Facing the economic challenges of a nation physically positioned on the doorstep of China is yet another.

     Despite all that, the energy and dynamism of Australia and its people is unmistakable.  I – and most Americans – relate to their positive outlook. There may be an exuberance of speech reflecting an exuberance of spirit.   It can be felt in the crowds surging down a busy street at midday.  It is sensed in the buzz of people gathered in a meeting or a restaurant.  And it shows itself in a spoken phrase.  We won’t talk long before somebody says;” No worries!” It is a distinctly comforting phrase that removes anxiety from the equation.  And the way it is said is good, too, with a syncopated emphasis and a reassuring smile.  Take it to heart.  It is easy to agree that all is well, that action will be taken, and there are definitely, absolutely;” No worries!”  Especially if “No worries!” means there are no worries that can’t be faced and overcome.

So in thinking about Australia, nobody will say there are no problems, but everybody can say; “No worries!”.

Throughout this whole conference, the presence, participation, and wisdom of Australia’s first people, the Aboriginals, have been profound. I think this has been the 2009 Parliament’s charism. From the welcoming ceremony to the closing ceremony, at many of the workshops and presentations, and particularly at the specific workshoprs and presentations, Aboriginal graciousness and wisdom abound. Likewise, many non Aboriginal speakers have paid their respect to these original custodians of this Australian land by acknowledging them as such at the beginning of their presentations.
The last workshop session I went to on the final day of the Parliament was indicative of this spirit that pervaded the week. Orginally scheduled for a small room, it had too be moved into a much larger venue because so people wanted to attend. The woman who was to present had a pressing family emergency, and two Aborignal guys filled in at the last minute. I don’t even know their names, but I do know their profound abilities to communicate their tradition effectively.
They began by telling us that the land itself is sacred and central. Where you are born, whether you are Aboriginal or not, ties everyone into the sacred. It also ties us ultimately to each other, because like drops of rain, they gather into a oneness of rivers and seas. So, as one of the presenters said, when he meets a stranger, whether Aboriginal or other, he can say to him, “Good to meet me again, my brother!” We are more than intimately connected.
They also spoke of the dreams and dreamtime. The “dream holders” capture yesterday; the “dream keepers” incarnate today; and the “dream makers” work toward the future.
Aboriginal people mapped their land, not on paper, but through sand drawings which could not be picked up and saved. So they developed verbal maps — Songlines — of their physical maps, and carry these songs with them everywhere. Much more ecological than using paper and destroying trees! Some Aboriginal sites are specifically sacred because an energy from the ground is emited there. They are also recorded in the songlines. Yet it is not only the sacred sites where rituals are performed, but it is the whole of the land that is sacred.
An Aboriginal boy becomes a man through initation that gives him the power to excel by transcending his physical body in times of danger to him and his community. Secret knowledge not be shared with outsiders is also passed along in this process. The two men spoke only of “men’s things” and acknowledged their presentation was only half the story because no woman was there to speak of “woman’s things” in their tradition.
“Come sit, listen to us talk” one of the presenters said at the beginning of the presentation, and that is what we did. I felt as if I was catching just a bit of the profound wisdom of the Australian Aboriginal spiritual experience, but those bits and pieces were enough to make my well aware of the profound spiritual insights these people possess.

It is almost impossible to imagine how or why a group would protest interfaith communication. I would think that only good things could come from people of diverse spiritual traditions getting together to discuss their shared values, to respectfully understand their differences, and to seek points of potential cooperation. Amazingly, however, a small group of protesters appeared each morning the Parliament.

A group called Parliament of World Affairs Deception published a small pamphlet. It starts with what appears to be a ringing endorsement of the Parliament: “From December 3-9 the Parliament of the World’s Religions meets in Melbourne. It is heavily subsidized by government funds. The organizers expect thousands to attend from many countries. The Dalai Lama is to open the event. Jews and Christians will mix with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and people of other religions in what is probably the biggest interfaith event in Australian history.”

So good so far. The next paragraph, however, reveals the group’s agenda: “This shows how far Australia has forsaken its Christian origins. Also how Australia has moved toward being a polytheistic, pluralistic society.” The brochure goes on to paint the Parliament as a direct threat to Christian values and to insist that the only way to God is through Jesus, not through religion, and especially not through a non-Christian religion.

Honestly, attending the Parliament has compelled me to expand my theological horizons and attempt to relate to people of diverse spiritual perspectives. This “Jesus: The only way to God” group presents a true challenge to my willingness to accept diversity of opinion. Somehow intolerance is a difficult philosophy for me to include in the pantheon of venerable ideas.

Religious Intolerance

In 1977 there was no such thing as a personal computer; today there are 1.1 billlion in use. I am typing this blog on one of those 1.1 billion computers in use today. The power to teach and learn through computers is, of course, immense, and the hostility to Internet education is also there. One presenter here at the Parliament focused on the awesome power of the Internet to educate. His church group launched an Internet Education program that reached 215,000 people in 161 countries, and the cost of the program was less than .80 cents per year per student. Amazing. Compare that to tuition bills at any school, and one wonders what the future of traditional education might look like.
Other benefits include the ability of a student to move at his/her own pace. Bright students can move at their speed and other students at their speed. No longer do students need to move lockstep through the learning process. I was reminded of my trip to Australia 23 years ago when I visited the “School of the Air” in Alice Springs. There teachers sat in two-way radio booths and worked with students one on one in isolated sheep and cattle stations in the bush. Students who “attended” the School of the Air were on an average two academic years ahead of their peers in traditional schools. Might a similar phenomenon happen with Internet Education?
Yet another intriguing concept introduced at this session is “peer to peer schools.” People often teach each other. The formal teacher is not the only entree into learning. Many of us learned and continue to learn about computer activities not through formal classes, but by asking each other and learning from each other. A web site: www: P2PSchools.ning.com has capitalized on peer to peer learning offering great opportunities to teach and learn.
“Learn anything, anytime, anywhere” is Internet Education’s mantra!