At the core, the essence, of the world’s religions is spirituality. The spiritual urge is to try to make sense of the Is. Contemplation of existence reveals the fact that we appear to be. If we are, then we must be part of some thing, but how are we to understand and come to terms with it. It says in the Tao that the Way that can be described is not the Way. This is, however, just another attempt to come to terms with the Is.

 From time to time people come along who, like Lao Tzu, or Buddha, or Jesus or Mohammed, put forth systems that seem to make sense. When these efforts take hold and many people begin to follow the teaching, the originator comes to be seen as an avatar and sometimes is elevated to godlike status. Often these efforts are presented as divinely inspired, either by the teacher or later followers, and become what we know as religions. Once the original teacher passes on, the ideas become carved in stone and are not encouraged to evolve and grow. Adherents of the religions then over time become defensive of their systems and at times become willing to kill and die for them.

Avatars are inspired by the spiritual urge. Buddha sought to understand human suffering and brought forth a system for escaping it. Jesus focused on furthering the connection between ordinary consciousness and higher consciousness that had been taught by the system he emerged from. I’ve not spent the time with the Koran that I’d need to speak about Mohammed’s inspiration, but I will say that if he could have seen 1500 years into the future, he would not have allowed what he said to be interpreted as some of his followers have done.

The spiritual urge is humanity’s finest endeavor. While I tend to agree with Lao Tzu that the Is cannot be comprehended by simple human intelligence, I believe that the effort is essential to our evolutionary arc. Having come from the Judeo-Christian tradition, I work most closely with the highest understanding of Jesus’ teachings that I can grasp, but also draw freely from the other systems. A spiritual approach recognizes positive attempts to understanding the Is from wherever they may have originated.

Humanity once again stands at a crossroads. Will the various cultures remain hidebound to their religions or will they recognize and respect the validity of all? Make no mistake about it, religion launches Crusades and flies airplanes into buildings. Spirituality does not.