The quickest, easiest way to change the world… all it takes is 3 wise men*
*actually wise, not clever.
The reality some of us are currently living in…
“Terrorism is the worst threat to mankind.” Terrorism is created by Isis who form their ideas from the Muslim religion, which states that their version of the truth is the only truth.
“Aborting fertilized cells is murder”. Abortion is very bad, while the suffering and death of actual children is ok, therefore the refugee crisis should be ignored. This is created by the agenda of right wing Christians who believe that their religion is the only truth.
“The creation of the state of Israel is totally legal.” It is NOT some opportunistic Jewish land grab — God gave this land to the Jewish people when he was in the real estate business, 3,700 years ago. Truth.
Over the years a lot of wars have been fought over who has the right ‘truth’ but it seems obvious that absolute truth is not something that belongs to our current reality. Perhaps it lives in the 5th dimension, which is higher up the ladder of evolution. What we have in this 3rd dimension is subjective truth, and an awful lot of words.
Words are a very masculine thing. After all, God gave Adam (not Eve) the right to name things. If you take any word, you can go up or down a scale, just like music. Take the word “car” for example.
If you go down the scale you get more granular.
Car
Ford
Ford Fiesta
2.8 litre with alloy wheels and flashy stereo system.
If you go up the scale you get more abstract.
Car
Vehicle
Transportation system
Movement in general
So it is with all of the religions of the world. We can go down the scale…
Christians/Muslims/Jews
Rules about sex (no sex before marriage, raping your wife is ok because she’s your property); diet (no pork ever, fish on Friday, halal meat); clothing (covering the head or the whole body with fabric); the day of redemption (angels at the four corners of the world, judgment day, 72 black eyed virgins); people – we’re special, or ‘chosen’ in some way, you’re not. And of course rules about words — (God’s first name is God, Allah, Jehova).
Words are important because they’re masculine — men are in charge of the granular world of particles. Women prefer waves.
So let’s see what happens when we go up the scale…
Christians/Muslims/Jews
Love. Compassion. Collaboration. Inclusivity. Helping. Care. Creativity. Joy. Bliss. Togetherness. Shared Laughter.
So much commonality!!
Though these are words, they are more abstract — and of course the higher we go, there are even more states for which words are completely inadequate — or there are simply no words for.
These domains have traditionally been associated with the feminine. Not because girls are better than boys but because their biology dictates that they actually love and care for the needs of another human being — otherwise the human species would not survive. This isn’t a competition, it’s just an accident of birth.
Over the years many men (the creative ones) noticed that these states of being (beyond the world of rules and conventions) were far more preferable. Great! Unfortunately some men (the rigid, inflexible, fearful ones) wanted to keep things exactly as they were a thousand years ago — remember this period of time wasn’t called the Dark Ages for nothing.
There was some video footage a while back which showed what happened after a Catholic priest was murdered by a Muslim. The whole community gathered together. Muslims left their mosques and attended the service in the Catholic church. There was much hugging, empathy, commiseration and love. A few enlightened people said afterwards “After all, there is only one God”.
Whatever you call this “God” he didn’t write down a bunch of rules. Men did that. Men interpreted a feeling and wrote it down as a fact. Facts change. We know the earth isn’t flat so there won’t be an angel at each corner. We know slavery isn’t a good idea. We know that women have souls and brains. They’re not just vessels for making more men!
Facts change, feelings are universal. This new reality based on feelings, could be our future…
It’s time for the leaders of these three religions to climb the ladder together to the world of metaphor, symbolism and ultimate truth.
God is not in the detail — the devil is.
God isn’t hierarchical, exclusive or competitive — people are.
If these three leaders could get their heads together (and their hats!) to communicate this new idea to their respective tribes, the world could change in a heartbeat.
All it takes is three wise men.
Of course I’ll resist the urge to say that if the Magi (the original three wise men) had been women, they’d have probably brought gifts that were a lot less “flashy” — perhaps a large casserole to feed all those shepherds, some chocolate for the exhausted mother, a spare baby-grow for the infant. The scene would be less hierarchical “Shepherds at the back, just before the oxen, angels stage left and right, gifts prominent…we need to see the gold”.
In fact the scene would probably have less reverence and more laughter, more joy and a whole lot more love.
And I think, overall, God would be well pleased.