All consider themselves, respectively, the only guardians of the truth,
and that every other religion is composed of errors. They themselves are
right, all others are wrong! The Jews believe that they are the only
possessors of the truth and condemn all other religions. The Christians
affirm that their religion is the only true one, that all others are
false. Likewise the Buddhists and Muḥammadans; all limit themselves. If
all condemn one another, where shall we search for truth? All
contradicting one another, all cannot be true. If each believe his
particular religion to be the only true one, he blinds his eyes to the
truth in the others. If, for instance, a Jew is bound by the external
practice of the religion of Israel, he does not permit himself to perceive
that truth can exist in any other religion; it must be all contained in
his own!
We should, therefore, detach ourselves from the external forms and
practices of religion. We must realize that these forms and practices,
however beautiful, are but garments clothing the warm heart and the living
limbs of Divine truth. We must abandon the prejudices of tradition if we
would succeed in finding the truth at the core of all religions. If a
Zoroastrian believes that the Sun is God, how can he be united to other
religions? While idolaters believe in their various idols, how can they
understand the oneness of God?
It is, therefore, clear that in order to make any progress in the search
after truth we must relinquish superstition. If all seekers would follow
this principle they would obtain a clear vision of the truth.
If five people meet together to seek for truth, they must begin by cutting
themselves free from all their own special conditions and renouncing all
preconceived ideas. In order to find truth we must give up our prejudices,
our own small trivial notions; an open receptive mind is essential. If our
chalice is full of self, there is no room in it for the water of life. The
fact that we imagine ourselves to be right and everybody else wrong is the
greatest of all obstacles in the path towards unity, and unity is
necessary if we would reach truth, for truth is one.
Therefore it is imperative that we should renounce our own particular
prejudices and superstitions if we earnestly desire to seek the truth.
Unless we make a distinction in our minds between dogma, superstition and
prejudice on the one hand, and truth on the other, we cannot succeed. When
we are in earnest in our search for anything we look for it everywhere.
This principle we must carry out in our search for truth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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