Genesis

One man's hero is another man's terrorist. One man's saint is another man's Satan. Often the metaphor of the coin is used, saying that the coin has 2 sides, but remains the same coin. How can one be fooled into thinking that a coin has 2 sides. Pick up a coin right now and look at it's face or at it's tail. On which side are your fingers placed? Neither the front nor the back. Either the fingers hold the coin by some unknown force or there is a third side. How can so many people speak of the 2 sides of a coin and miss the third? If it is so easy to miss what is right in front of us, how likely is it that we have missed the more difficult challenges of spiritual awareness?
As Ghandi said, "Knowledge without devotion is a misfire."1 Devotion is not kneeling in front of statues or idols, reciting prayers or mantras, or wearing robes and bracelets. Devotion is hammering the metal of a religion, beating hard on each teaching to find it's true meaning and significance. Most religious traditions have cooled over the years, as the new world teaches us not to question what has become tradition. To question is a sacred gift and it is the only gift that has the full power to unite us with the universal awareness, no matter what name you call it, and shed off our tainted thoughts and actions. We must never fear to question. We must also realize that religious pursuit is not a weekend race but a daily event that occurs over a lifetime. There are no breaks or pit stops. Every action we make, and every thought we generate sends forth a seed. That seed will bear fruit. The beautiful land of the future is built with golden seeds of the present. It is up to us to make this world come true. Don't doubt the heaven after death or the coming nirvana, but seek to make a pure land on earth, and leave those ideas to the moment of our passing. Welcome to my journey of discovery and question.

1. Ghandi, M.K. The Bhagavad Gita according to Gandhi Albany: Berkeley Hills Books, 2000