---

Many Paths to One
by Guy Spiro

---

There are many paths in the search for God, perhaps as many paths as seekers. I have always been amazed at the audacity of anyone saying that they know the Truth and that someone, or anyone, else is wrong. Like little boys arguing over whose dad could beat up the other’s, it is just as silly when proponents of religions argue over whose is right. The remarks by Army Lt. Gen. William Boykin is just the latest and loudest example of this.

Radical Islam portrays the United States along with Israel and the rest of the developed world as Satanic. They believe that they understand God and what is right and wrong, and that they are justified in all of the acts of terrorism that we have already witnessed and those that are yet to come. One of the ironies of this is that they have misidentified their enemy. In seeking to impose a medieval lifestyle, their enemy is not the developed world, it is the 21st century. Their fight against time is doomed to failure, as we all know that time waits for no one.

The second irony here is that Jews, Christians and Muslims are cousins. All three worship the God of Abraham, and Jihads, Crusades or religious wars of any kind can never be justified. But the connection between the religions and belief systems goes far beyond these three and encompasses global humanity.

Ask a more knowledgeable pagan, Hindu, or any other pantheist and they will tell you that the various gods and goddesses only represent different aspects of the One. Indeed any form of worship, however it is directed, is ultimately to the One. The One is all there is and we are all a part of it. At times like this I am reminded of what was probably the most enlightened thing Rodney King ever said when he asked, “Can’t we all just get along?”

Think for a moment. Is it possible that God, if for a minute we even think of him having a gender or personality, would care if we come to him through one faith or another? Would he not recognize worship if it were directed through a tree?

My own current opinion is very well summed up in the quote, “I looked for God everywhere and found only myself. I looked for myself and found God.” Let us all find God in whatever form or system works for us and leave others to do the same.