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spirituality
Is Interspirituality Possible?
A key question is whether a person can enter into the spiritual experience at the heart of another tradition or is it only a matter of appropriating aspects of that tradition to enrich one’s existing pattern of devotion. Students of a religion other than their own are sometimes warned not to impose their questions on the religion they are studying. Christians, for example, should not study Judaism to find out what Jews thinks about Jesus.
Marcus
Braybrooke writes that at a conference which he attended in India several
Roman Catholic priests took part in Hindu devotional services, happily
chanting the bhajans or devotional songs. When he asked them about this,
they replied that mentally they addressed this praise to Jesus and not
to Krishna or Rama. On the other hand his wife Mary was invited in Japan
to share in the misogi or purification ritual which involves at night
time standing under a waterfall. It is an act of purification and oneness
with nature. Mary said that she did indeed have this sense of oneness
and that covered with the pouring water, the boundaries between the
body and nature dissolved. It was, she felt, an authentic Shinto spiritual
experience and different to those she had known in Christian worship.
Misogi at the sacred waterfall of Tsubaki OhKami Yashiro Michihiko
Many Hindus, like Mahatma Gandhi, have been deeply influenced by the person of Jesus Christ, but have remained Hindus rather than converting to Christianity. Does this, as some Christians suggest, that they have failed to appreciate the true significance of Jesus?
Just as some people become fluent in a language other than their native tongue, can a person, who does not convert to another religion, still enter into the authentic spiritual experience of another tradition? Some people deny that this is possible and that at the deepest level faith communities are impenetrable to those of a different tradition; others would claim to be an heir of more than one tradition; and others adopt a universalist position. Clearly the position we adopt will influence our readiness to learn from other spiritual traditions and our willingness to pray.
Here are examples of three positions...
Contents |Introduction |Religious Goals |Mystical Experience |Testing the Theory |Cave of the Heart | Inter-monastic Dialogue | Interfaith Worship | Is interspirituality possible| Questions | Inspiration | Resources | Weblinks
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interfaith organisations network 2003 |