Wisdom from the World's Religions: A Guide to Basic Human Questions - Softcover

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Peter Feldmeier is professor of Catholic studies at the University of Toledo, OH, and author of numerous books including Encounters in Faith: Christianity in Interreligious Dialogue and Experiments in Buddhist-Christian Encounter: From Buddha-Nature to the Divine Nature.

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RELIGION / Comparative Religion

RELIGION / Spirituality

RELIGION / Christian Living / Spiritual Growth

Cover design: Marco Gallo

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US$26.00

ISBN: 978-1-62698-485-1

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In 1971, John Lennon released Imagine, a song of peace in the midst of the Vietnam War. What would the world look like, he asked us to imagine, if there were no countries to kill and die for, if there were no possessions and no need for greed or hunger, but rather a universal brotherhood of man? We were also invited to Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try. No hell below us. Above us, only sky, and ultimately no religion too.

These realities—countries, possessions, and religion—were imagined to be the very things that divide us, that create hatred, greed, and impoverishment. Indeed, it is not hard to find examples where patriotism, consumerism, and religious bigotry have caused considerable human suffering. According to a British poll, the belief that religion itself is divisive and causes violence was over 80 percent. In 2019, scholars representing the British Psychological Society, in an attempt to make sense of widely divergent results from modern studies, noted that “the literature is clearly a hodgepodge.” But the assumptions about religions and violence is widespread in Europe and the United States. In fact, the belief that religion divides and harms is so common, it would not be unusual to see defenders of religion accepting it as fact and trying to explain it away, such as by saying that moderates are not violent—only fanatics are. But what if the belief is fundamentally false?

Some of the most up-to-date studies on religion in America are correlated in Robert Putnam and David Campbell’s American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us. 2 Among their findings was a high correlation between religious observance and what they call “good neighborliness.” They found that religiously observant Americans volunteer more, are more civically active, and are more generous with their time and money, and that this is true for secular causes as well as religious ones. They also found a high correlation between religious observance and religious tolerance. Among the most religiously dedicated, 89 percent believe that members of other religions can go to heaven. In other words, the more religious you are, the more likely you are to be particularly sympathetic to religious others.

But can we go further? Can religions actually unite us in some ways? Could we go beyond mere acceptance and tolerance to seeing other religions as repositories of wisdom that we ourselves could use? I believe that exposure to other religions and their deep insights into the spiritual condition of humanity can be a boon for all of us, even if one is purely secular and even atheistic. When I was interviewing for my job at the University of Toledo, a secular state school, I taught a class as an example of the kind of teacher I would be. In my presentation, I shared a version of a bodhisattva vow to the class. Bodhisattva means “enlightened being,” and the vow to become one has everything to do with service to others. The very reason one wants to be enlightened is to use that enlightenment solely for the purpose of helping release others from their suffering. This is what I shared:

The bodhisattva resolves: I take upon myself the burden of all suffering. . . . At all costs I must bear the burdens of all living beings. . . . All beings I must set free. . . . I must not cheat all beings out of my store of merit. . . . It is surely better that I alone should be in pain then that all these should fall into the states of woe . . . and with this my own body I must experience, for the sake of all beings, the whole mass of all painful feelings. . . . In reward for all this righteousness that I have won by my works . . . may I be balm to the sick, their healer and servitor . . . may I be in the famine of the ages’ end their drink and meat; may I become an unfailing store for the poor.

Attending the lecture was the chair of my department, a philosopher who is an atheist. He later told me that he was so inspired by the heroism of the bodhisattva vow that he was teary-eyed the rest of the class period. What would life look like if everyone were this humbly devoted to service? If one shared one’s own good karma with others that they may flourish and took on the bad karma of others, personally enduring their pain, to free them from future suffering? Imagine, John Lennon asked us in 1971. Maybe insights from other religions would help us imagine our lives differently, having been exposed to a very different vision of humanity and spiritual pursuits. Certainly, it would encourage a deeper respect and even honor for those who have embraced other paths.

One might be concerned by such a project, particularly if one is decidedly religious. A devout Muslim, for example, believes the Qur’an represents the fullness of revelation and that the Prophet Muhammad is the singular example of faithfulness. The teachings of the Qur’an and the examples and sayings of the Prophet make for the surest expression of how to live an authentic spiritual life. Likewise, a Christian holds that Jesus himself is the absolute expression of the divine. St. Paul writes, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. . . . For in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things” (Col 1:15–20). One might argue that if I have the fullest revelation, even if other religions have interesting beliefs or practices, those beliefs can only be less than the fullness I already have.

There is another problem: If two claims about reality contradict each other, then at best only one of them could be right. So entertaining religious claims that contradict my religion could compromise it with falsehoods (presuming mine is right). And there is still another problem: Religious claims are not islands unto themselves, but are part of a web of understanding of the nature of the universe, the human condition, and the Divine. Taking a given claim or insight out of its context, as though that context did not matter, can undermine the integrity of that religion or one’s own. It can even lead to the problem of syncretism, the amalgamation of different religions into one. This amounts to metaphysical mush.

This book is decidedly opposed to syncretism, which ultimately fails to respect religious traditions in themselves. I have been studying religions of the world for thirty years, particularly Christian and Buddhist traditions, and see large problems in blurring differences or making all-too-easy equivalences where they should not be made. I tell my students, “A great way to insult a Buddhist is to tell them: ‘I know what you mean by Nirvana; it’s what we call heaven.’” A Buddhist ought to think: “You’ve just co-opted my religion and shoved it into yours!”

None of these pitfalls has to be one’s fate. With prudence, exposure to the wisdom and experience of religious others can expand our minds and hearts. We can actually become more spiritually mature in our own religion. We can learn to apply the insights we encounter in ways that do not undermine what we believe but may help us see ourselves differently and engage our lives more fully.

Here is an example I have used many times. Much of Buddhist thought is concentrated on the quality of one’s consciousness and what proceeds from it. As the Buddha taught: All phenomena are preceded by the mind, created by the mind, and have the mind as their master. If one speaks or acts from a corrupted mind, suffering follows as a cartwheel follows the ox’s foot. . . . All phenomena are preceded by the mind, created by the mind, and have the mind as their master. If one speaks or acts from a pure mind, happiness follows as a neverdeparting shadow

Buddhism...