Peace

I have been reading a lot about Buddhism recently, and at one point while I was thinking about some of the parallels between Christianity and Buddhism it dawned on me that the real crux of how both religions teach us to live is love and compassion. Both teachers told us that the way to treat our fellow man is with love and compassion, don't hate, don't hurt, to exclude. Also, while reading about Buddhism I've learned a little about Hinduism, and they also seem to teach love, and then I looked into Islam, and it also teaches love for people. If you take the people who say they follow these religions, it comes up to about ¾ of the world. And that portion has probably been about accurate for the past while, so why then so much war? So much killing? So much hatred? Don't tell me that it is that remaining ¼ (most of whom do follow a religion, and I would be willing to bet that they teach love as well, I just haven't looked into them), those ¾ are doing a hell of a lot of this, they are ignoring some of the basic teachings of what they say they believe. Why?

Of course no one expects followers to be perfect. Those religions hold up a pretty high standard, but even the occasional slip from the followers wouldn't be enough to explain all of this hatred. I know it is difficult to love your neighbor as yourself (your neighbor being everyone, of course), or to love your enemy and bless those who persecutes you, but isn't it equally difficult to ignore such commandments 24/7? If people truly believed what they say they believe, then shouldn't people be striving for this high standard constantly, and when they fall, get back up and keep on loving?

Something written by Scott Adams in his book “God's Debris” has stuck with me for a while, so I thought I would share it, “Four billion people say they believe in God, but few genuinely believe. If people believed in God, they would live every minute of their lives in support of that belief. Rich people would give their wealth to the needy....A belief in God would demand one hundred percent obsessive devotion, influencing every waking moment of this brief life on earth. But your four billion so-called believers do not live their lives in that fashion, except for a few. The majority believe in the usefulness of their beliefs – an earthly and practical utility – but they do not believe in the underlying reality.....it is not belief to say God exists and then continue sinning and hoarding your wealth while innocent people die of starvation. When belief does not control your most important decisions, it is not belief in the underlying reality, it is belief in the usefulness of believing.” Maybe he's right, and that's why there is so much hatred and killing in this world. I just don't know, nor what to do about it.



“Smiling is very important. If we are not able to smile, then the world will not have peace. It is not by going out for a demonstration against nuclear missiles that we can bring about peace. It is with our capacity of smiling, breathing, and being peace that we can make peace.”
Thich Nhat Hanh