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In a Shrinking World, Back in the early ’60s, Dr. Milton Rokeach, a resident psychiatrist at Ypsilanti State Hospital in Michigan, was faced with an intriguing situation. He had three mental patients who all claimed to be Jesus Christ. Back in those days, there were really no reality TV shows, except those panel game shows. And since this probably would have been a little too edgy for “To Tell the Truth” (“My name is Jesus Christ.” “My name is Jesus Christ.” “My name is Jesus Christ.”), he decided to do the next best thing. (No, not a sitcom called “My Three Christs.” How could you even think something like that?) He put the three of them together in a therapy group—sort of a Candid Karma kind of a thing—and waited for the fun to begin. In his book about the experiment, The Three Christs of Ypsilanti (it’s really a book, you could look it up), Dr. Rokeach writes about how these three delusional characters accommodated—and did not accommodate—one another. And in the end, at least one of them suspected that maybe we’re all Jesus Christ. Fast forward about forty years and the experiment—or at least a version of it—continues. Only this time, the setting is Jerusalem and the three mental patients are Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Each, at its most extreme, lives in the delusional system that it alone is the One True Path. And unlike the Three Christs of Ypsilanti, these folks are armed and dangerous. And now, in the Mother of All Psychology Experiments, God has placed them in therapy together in a city that all three hold holy. Meanwhile, the rest of the world gets to see if the Big Three Karma Dealers can transcend their delusions enough to curb their dogmas instead of having them poop on someone else’s sacred ground. Now this is what I call a reality TV show! Now it may sound a little extreme—blasphemous even—to refer to sacred systems as “delusional,” but Webster’s doesn’t lie. The dictionary defines “delusional” as a “belief held despite invalidating evidence.” Now while there may not be any irrefutable evidence that invalidates any particular religious belief—unless, of course, you want to believe in the “junk sciences” of biology, archeology and anthropology—there is evidence that invalidates the childish notion, “my dogma’s better than your dogma.” It doesn’t seem to matter what breed of dogma you’ve got, they all have the same Master. Amazing True Facts: Science Proves Prayer Works, Even When Religion Doesn’t! In his book, The Healing Power of Prayer, Dr. Larry Dossey cites numerous experiments where patients who are prayed for heal more quickly and have fewer complications following surgery. These experiments were done as serious double-blind experiments, and were repeated using animals (as the pray-ees, not the pray-ers), and the results were the same. It seems that all that was needed was a prayerful intention, and the prayer worked. No one religious system was shown to work better than another. Pray-Back Time is Here So, what can we conclude from this? Well, for one thing, next time you’re sick, pray to be in the prayed-for group. But more importantly, the belief that one’s own religious system is the One True Path ends up being the One True Pathology because evidence says any well-intentioned prayer works equally well. Right now, elements in those three religions are sticking to their stories, and indeed the entire region remains littered with dogma-doo. But as more and more of their followers become leaders in telling the highest truth, maybe they’ll end up like the more enlightened Christ of Ypsilanti, who put one and one and one together—and got One. These religions, bless ‘em, have provided us with spiritual nourishment for years, and we know that their prayers work. They have prayed for our souls. And now it is time for us to pray them back. Let us now pray for their Souls to rise together in levity, as they overcome the gravity that has brought them down—and threatens to take the rest of us down with them. Time to Milk the Sacred Cow, and Take the Bull By the Horns By now, you’re probably ready for some good news, so here it is: There is no need to butcher anyone’s sacred cow, if we just cut through the bull. The sacred cow is the milk of human kindness, which nourishes us. The bull is everything else. Those fighting dogmas, those pit bulls pitting their bull against someone else’s, that is the bull we must take by the horns. The bull is our stubborn addiction to mind and matter—usually in the form of rigid religious doctrine—when really it is the heart that matters. And at the heart of the matter is love. That is our source of Vitamin Be One. Think about it. While it is admirable when people use the Bible as a standard and go through every aspect of their life with a fine couth tome, having a one-tract mind has its limitations. And while it is true that the unexamined life is not worth living, it is equally true that the unlived life isn’t worth examining. Focusing more on the letter than the Spirit is like going into a fabulous restaurant—and chowing down on the menu. So I say, when you find a sacred cow, milk it for all it’s worth. How fortunate we are when we find a spiritual expression that—well, that gives us a heart on. Whatever that religion or spiritual path is, let’s use it for goodness sakes! Even if we don’t know God, we all know Good. Just about everyone knows what it means to bring even just a small piece of goodness to the world. I mean goodness gracious, maybe if more people experienced loving arms, we wouldn’t have rival groups each insisting God is with them, holding the rest of the world at armaments’ length. Maybe we need to take this “born again” thing seriously—without reincarnation, that is. What if, in all our communities, we invited people (in any religion, in all religions, and in none) to experience being reborn into loving arms? Maybe if we all rebirthed ourselves into this new world in this way, we would get that no matter where we reside on Spaceship Earth, we’re all womb-mates. If more people were received by loving arms when they emerged from their womb, there would be fewer of us humans lovelessly arming. Excerpted from Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction, © Copyright 2004 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved. To find out about upcoming Swami events and his new book, Swami for Precedent, visit Swami online at www.wakeuplaughing.com, or call him toll free at 866-525-0778. |
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