by Torc Bloos
Yes, what does “interfaith” really mean? During my 17 years of spiritual practise I’ve encountered it many times, yet it still has that ‘strangeness’ about it…as from time to time I renew my vision about it, sensing more and more the importance of it. Being around a lot on different message boards, English and Dutch ones, boy, spiritual/religious tolerance? What a task!!! Why?
We live in times of growing intolerance, leading to extremism in thoughts, attitudes and actions. At times it’s a far cry from our basic respect for nature and all that lives. Where does this all come from, I wonder. We’re living in modern times, we have access to plenty of material to try understand a little more of whatever tradition, belief system, that we don’t know/understand yet. Why is it that the human individual tends to think that his/her own spiritual practise or belief system is so much better than that of his/her fellow human beings???
The following are my personal perceptions, being an individual who has learnt to open up himself to the cosmos and all that is in it, sensing at last all the beautiful things that I denied myself for so long, as I belonged to a (Indian) tradition in which most followers tend to believe that only followers of the right path (theirs and mine at that time) would transcend this world. It is especially followers of such traditions and religions that make interfaith very difficult as truly they are only involved, in interfaith, in the slight hope that they might convert all the others to the only true faith (theirs) or to get a more positive image in the public eye. Hidden agendas make it more difficult to work together on an equal basis, as spiritual beings. But luckily, there are those persons, who have understood this very well, and have learnt to be truly humble, understanding the tiny part we play on this planet, working to gain a clearer understanding different traditions and religions.
Over the years I have read/experienced a lot about different traditions and religions and found so many things in common in a lot of them, that I have a very hard time understanding why we’re facing all this extremism around us… If Druidry brought me one thing, it surely is the feeling of openness (otherwise where should the awen come from, if we don’t learn to open up and listen?) to explore, to understand, sometimes taking a distance – but always in a respectful way, to really respect nature and life: such a wonderful opportunity if only we would realise! Finally embracing both daily life and spiritual practise, realising that we need both to be fully balanced.
Most traditions are based on love, be it Divine or not, yet often it is hard to love/accept ourselves, and without that, the other is impossible! So what we need, especially within interfaith, is acceptance and love, really being equal to one another, sharing that what gives/brings us so much joy, inspiration and fulfilment, … That we can learn from each other, being students of life, for as long as we live, breaking free of our Western ways of thinking, which leads us to egoism and feelings of superiority, to camouflage our deepest fears and shortcomings. We can make a difference, when everyone around us is in turmoil, sticking to our basic principles (we, as druids), teaching by our own example, in that way hopefully inspiring others to follow, keeping the flame of real freedom burning. If only we hold on… I humbly bow down to those amongst us who do.
Torc Bloos
dutch [at] druidnetwork [dot] org
January 2005
