Our Eviternal Conversation
Dr. Jagath Asoka
Only a very few people would contemplate on the eviternal source whence all pairs of opposite proceed: male and female, peace and strife, and creation and annihilation. Only a very few would think of God as a collective being, combining the characteristics of both sexes, transcending youth and age, birth and death, practically immortal, and exalted above all temporal change. If such a being existed, the present and the moment of creation that occurred some 15 billion years ago or the period before that would mean neither more nor less. If such a being existed, that being would be the dreamer of all dreams; we would have an eviternal conversation about that being, yet we would not be able to fully depict or describe that being; that being would be omniscient, omnipotent, and ubiquitous, not a troglodyte.
I feel like a troglodyte, who, now and then, would come out of his cave to be among fellow human beings. I am surrounded by the images of gods and goddesses from all over the world. My meditative state of mind is supported by these images in front of me, and my mind’s eye is focused eviternally on a human image that lines the margin of my soul. The Buddha and Jesus are among these images.
Can you imagine having a long evening around the fire with the Buddha, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed? I would love to sit in on that. If such a conversation occurred, I am certain that the Buddha that I have read about would not talk only about Buddhism, and Jesus would not talk only about Christianity. Each participant of these somewhat omniscient beings would talk about comparative religion. To listen to such a marvelous conversation would be truly blissful.
Why do we have to study comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization? The best answer that I have seen was given by the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark:“One’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization.” Read More
