Happy Christmas to all
(Notes of a lecture delivered at
the Unitarian Church, in Oakland, California, on February 28, 1900)
Between all great religions of the
world there are many points of similarity; and so startling is this likeness,
at times, as to suggest the idea that in many particulars the different
religions have copied from one another.
This
act of imitation has been laid at the door of different religions; but that it
is a superficial charge is evident from the following facts:
Religion
is fundamental in the very soul of humanity; and as all life is the evolution
of that which is within, it, of necessity, expresses itself through various
peoples and nations.
The
language of the soul is one, the languages of nations are many; their customs
and methods of life are widely different. Religion is of the soul and finds
expression through various nations, languages, and customs. Hence it follows
that the difference between the religions of the world is one of expression and
not of substance; and their points of similarity and unity are of the soul, are
intrinsic, as the language of the soul is one, in whatever peoples and under
whatever circumstances it manifests itself. The same sweet harmony is vibrant
there also, as it is on many and diverse instruments.
The first thing in common in all great religions of the world is
the possession of an authentic book. When religious systems have failed to have
such a book, they have become extinct. Such was the fact of the religions of
Egypt. The authentic book is the hearthstone, so to speak, of each great
religious system, around which its adherents gather, and from which
radiates the energy and life of the system.
Each religion, again, lays the claim
that its particular book is the only authentic word of God; that all other
sacred books are false and are impositions upon poor human credulity; and that
to follow another religion is to be ignorant and spiritually blind.
Such bigotry is characteristic of
the orthodox element of all religions. For instance, the orthodox followers of
the Vedas claim that the Vedas are the only authentic word of God in the world;
that God has spoken to the world only through the Vedas; not only that, but
that the world itself exists by virtue of the Vedas. Before the world was, the
Vedas were. Everything in the world exists because it is in the Vedas. A cow
exists because the name cow is in the Vedas; that is, because the animal we
know as a cow is mentioned in the Vedas. The language of the Vedas is the
original language of God, all other languages are mere dialects and not of God.
Every word and syllable in the Vedas must be pronounced correctly, each sound
must be given its true vibration, and every departure from this rigid exactness
is a terrible sin and unpardonable.
Thus,
this kind of bigotry is predominant in the orthodox element of all religions.
But this fighting over the letter is indulged in only by the ignorant, the
spiritually blind. All who have actually attained any real religious nature
never wrangle over the form in which the different religions are expressed.
They know that the life of all religions is the same, and, consequently, they
have no quarrel with anybody because he does not speak the same tongue.
The Vedas are, in fact, the oldest sacred books in the world.
Nobody knows anything about the time when they were written or by whom. They
are contained in many volumes, and I doubt that any one man ever read them
all.
The
religion of the Vedas is the religion of the Hindus, and the foundation of all
Oriental religions; that is, all other Oriental religions are offshoots of the
Vedas; all Eastern systems of religion have the Vedas as authority.
It
is an irrational claim to believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ and at the
same time to hold that the greater part of his teachings have no application at
the present time. If you say that the reason why the powers do not follow them
that believe (as Christ said they would) is because you have not faith enough
and are not pure enough — that will be all right. But to say that they have no
application at the present time is to be ridiculous.
I have never seen the man who was
not at least my equal. I have traveled all over the world; I have been among
the very worst kind of people — among cannibals — and I have never seen the man
who is not at least my equal. I have done as they do — when I was a fool. Then
I did not know any better; now I do. Now they do not know any better; after a
while they will. Every one acts according to his own nature. We are all in
process of growth. From this standpoint one man is not better than another.
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