Middle East Peace
(and more)

by Swami Beyondananda

Dear Swami:

With the Middle East peace process on the rocks, I noticed that someone actually had a functional idea for the future of the Holy City of Jerusalem -- put it under God’s jurisdiction. I was thinking that maybe, just maybe the major religions could come together and submit to a higher authority than their own until I read later in the week that the Catholic Church declared itself the only sure way to get to heaven -- and even more important, to avoid going to hell. Swami, is there any hope that religions will ever work together to achieve a higher good?

Waylon Wall,
Knoxville, Tennessee

Dear Waylon:

I went back into the anals of psychology, and I think I found you a reason for hope. Some 40 years ago, Dr. Milton Rokeach, a resident psychiatrist at Ypsilanti State Hospital in Michigan, performed an intriguing experiment. Three mental patients at the hospital all had delusions of being Jesus Christ. Dr. Rokeach wondered what would happen if the three Christs were put together in a therapy group. Would they relate to each other? And how would they accommodate each other’s delusions?

The result of the experiment was a book, The Three Christs of Ypsilanti. At the beginning the three Christs were a lot like that old TV show, To Tell the Truth: "My name is Jesus Christ." "My name is Jesus Christ." "MY name is Jesus Christ." But after being together for months, and despite their differences -- not to mention their similarities -- they actually began to enjoy being together. And at least one of them began to suspect that maybe we’re ALL Jesus Christ. 

In many ways, the three major religious systems are like the Three Christs of Ypsilanti. Each lives in a delusional system that it alone is the One True Path. And now, in the Mother of all Psychology Experiments, God has placed them all in therapy together in a city which all three hold holy to see if they can heal their delusions enough to walk their dogmas instead of merely talking them. 

As for the Catholic Church’s recent pronouncements, I can understand their reluctance to give up a kick-ass marketing plan that has worked for centuries: "Buy our product, go to heaven. Buy the other guy’s, go to hell." Not to single out the Catholics, though. Fundamentalists of every stripe play out a dyslexic version of that childhood taunt, "My dog’s better than your dog." Except that "my God’s better than your God" has resulted in millions of deaths and oceans of tears. 

Now religion does serve one worthy purpose, and that is as a vehicle for prayer. Because scientific study shows that prayer absolutely works. In his book on the healing power of prayer, Dr. Larry Dossey cites studies which show that patients who are prayed for -- even without their knowledge -- heal more quickly, experience less discomfort, and have fewer complications. But what’s most interesting is, all prayer seems to work, regardless of the form. 

Now I suppose if the Pope or the Ayatollah or an Orthodox rabbi or the Dalai Lama or the Maharishi wanted to organize a Religions of the World Series, we could turn prayer into a truly competitive event of Olympic proportions. And each year, some religion would get the bragging rights for winning the Pray-Offs. But as of now, the smart money would go with using a variety of modes of prayer instead of just one. Or, as my guru Harry Cohen Baba used to say, "Don’t put all your begs in one askit." And since prayer does have proven effectiveness, perhaps we can influence that big psych experiment going on in the Middle East. Those religions that have prayed for us all these centuries, perhaps now it is time that we pray for them.

* * * * 

Dear Swami:

Why is it that when I go on these spiritual retreats, I feel so empowered, and yet I have such a hard time maintaining that sense of connection with the divine when I return to the mundane workaday world? And how can I remind myself of my divine connection?

Annie Mae Jerdude,
Irvine, California

Dear Annie Mae:

We all forget our divinity from time to time. I-Am-That-I-Amnesia, it is called. So let me reassure you that each of us is fruit of Divine. Or, as God said unto Abraham, "If I’m ONE, you’re ONE too."

* * * *

Copyright 2000 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved.

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