| This requires
that we go beyond religious teachings which do not acknowledge such truths. Whether
the fire burns or not, for example, is not a matter or one's belief. If a person believes
that fire doesn't burn we don't have to give equal weight to that belief in order to
appear socially or intellectually tolerant. Yet
that is the kind of practice we may be doing in the religious realm if we accept all
religious beliefs as valid or equal. The standard of belief is arbitrary and places things
beyond examination. To cater to it, even in the guise of tolerance, prevents the process
of examination whereby we are really able to discover what is true.
It is necessary to affirm Truth both in religion and outside of it, not merely to affirm
religion as we know it as Truth. Such is the real spirit of tolerance and universality but
it may require abandoning rather than upholding the religions that we have in the world
today. All that we call religion requires a reformulation in the light of universal Truth.
Hinduism, as perhaps the most universal of religions, can provide important keys how to do
this. |
