Religion

Religion is also what happens when the incomprehensible mysteries of That which we name as God, become entangled with the limited, finite, self-absorbed anatomy of our human minds, psyches, emotions and desires. Religion has the capacity to lead us toward God as well as to lead us in meaningless circles, chasing after our own shadows.

There are many religions, it has seemed to me, because there are many different human needs. When I was younger I saw these differences as serving the psychological differences of different personality types. Now I also see this diversity serving the different spiritual needs of people. Some need a religion that meets the necessities of their everyday life, addresses their fears with hope , their loss with comfort, their failures with forgiveness and guidance, that makes God present in the here-and-now. Others need a spiritual path that answers the incessant questioning of their minds, they need a system of thought complex enough to continually meet and even surpass all the new questions that arise. Still others need to learn about the path that reaches beyond the material to the very doorstep of God. These are only a few of the many paths our needs require.

There are also many religions because the infinite qualities and characteristics of God will appear differently in different cultures, societies, times, and places. No one religious tradition can encompass all the infinity of God; each tradition can perceive and express only some small limited part of the whole.

Just as the view from one window will be different from the view of the same place from another window, each religion is a separate window on God. What is seen may be similar or even much the same, but the angle is different, the perspective shifts. Sometimes new things can be seen from one direction that are hidden from another.

The windows take the shape and configuration of all our innumerable ideas and view points. Our own conceptions of what is and what is not, of what is possible and impossible, of what is good and what is bad, what is pleasant and unpleasant all of these and thousands more affect what we are capable of seeing in life and how we see it. Our understanding of God is colored and distorted by the eyes with which we look, the windows provided by our own mental framework that we think of as reality.

Nevertheless, the beauty and wonder that is revealed about God through all the various religious traditions can enchant the mind into desiring something more from life than mere material satisfactions and comforts. It can remind the soul of its true nature and home. It can open doors in the walls of our rooms so we can stop looking through the windows and walk out into the mystery.

This website attempts to present many of the different windows on God so that at least, even if we do not yet have the courage to walk through the doors, we can look through many more windows.