And [on account of] their saying: “We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Messenger of God.” They did not kill him and they did not crucify him, but it was made to seem so to them. Those who argue about him are in doubt about it. They have no real knowledge of it, just conjecture. But they certainly did not kill him. God raised him to Himself. God is Almighty, All-Wise. (Quran, Surat An-Nisa’, 4:157-158)
Jesus is a symbol that pre-dates Christianity. He is the man who stood up for the truth and no one could kill him because even in his alleged death, his message prevailed. And that message was clearly reasonable. Those who are killed for speaking the truth are never dead. They are the very soul of mankind.
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It is simply an ethnic trait that has been adopted by the entire peace movement, which I believe is destructive because at least 80% of Americans believe in God. So that is a big part of why I think the peace movement up to now has been a self-defeating political movement. We need to acquire a language that we can use to connect with people who are very different from ourselves.
Most of all, we need to train our minds to get beyond ourselves in order to let go of what we know and let our deeper unconscious give us the solutions to our problems both personal and global. Clearly, what we consciously know right now is not adequate to run this planet smoothly. But I believe that humans have the answers within our DNA.
We have to create wisdom. We have to create it out of ignorance. That leap is a miracle.
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There is a problem within the anti-war movement, which is that the most radical peace activists are so aggressively hostile to the thing in life which gives the majority of humans on the planet a sense of peace. Obviously, if my personal focus in life is to strive upon a path of purification of my worship, and the other person views me for this reason on some level as a stupid idiot or mentally ill, we do not have an equal relationship. If I am politely avoiding saying “Praise the Lord!” in your presence and never mentioning my personal relationship with Jesus so as not to upset you, but you feel like it’s ok to disrespect God, or to devalue someone’s Faith, we don’t have an equal relationship. Our “peace movement” is stuck in a rut.
My main reason for wanting to have an academic sort of theological discussion about religious texts is precisely so that those people who engage in the anti-religion/anti-Gentile polemic won’t come, so that new potential leaders and organizers, letter-writers and shleppers for the movement, fresh blood, can come in. There are so many people who have been marginalized by the peace movement because they can’t open their mouths without having to deal with all this intense, blind, secular fundamentalist dogma. So what I’m looking for is an emotionally safe environment free of anti-God hostility, where the Meek can speak quietly.
There are ways to align your mind with the forces of the universe to maximize your effectiveness and joy in life. My Zen teacher referred to these methods as “spiritual practice.” The disciplining of the mind to polish the mirror of the heart through meditation on eternal questions is just like raking leaves. It can be done with or without religious belief.
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