Gathering Together the Spiritual Voices of America

By Chang Jie
12/28/2008

On Sunday, December 28, 2008, Venerable Chang Ji gave a talk at the Chan Meditation Center entitled, "Gathering Together the Spiritual Voices of America".  This talk is based on a conference Venerable attended in November 2008 hosted by the Global Peace Initiative of Women in Aspen, Colorado.

Over 100 leaders from Abrahamic, Eastern and indigenous religions participated in the event to discuss the current environmental, political, social and religious crises and come up with solutions.

Currently, there are many religious wars and conflicts around the world.  According to Venerable, religious explanations are given to justify what we do to others in the name of religion and national honor, to the point that religion has become the most dangerous thing on the planet.  Real contemplatives know that the divine has many faces and has existed in different times throughout history.  Religion is the cosmic whole and the cosmic consciousness.  Every religion seeks the same goalóinner peace, interconnection with the entire planet, and letting go.  The focus must be, not on the religious person, but on the universal truth.

In order to try to transform the attitudes of the American people, the conference attendees came up with these proposals:

* To learn to love one another
* To put together what we each have, so that we may all have and share together
* To practice deep listening and understanding of other people
* To do this together, harmoniously, with equality, not in hierarchy
* To reconnect with all life on earth by bringing the temple outdoors
* To move away from rituals and words and move towards experiencing universal truth

The participants of the conference came up with thirty-four proposals for harmonious and sustainable religions.

Reference: www.religioustolerance.org