by Ken Wear, Feb. '04, July '07

What ought we to believe. By what principles ought our behavior be guided? Religions and philosophy alike arrive at principles by which we judge what is moral or ethical. Isn't is curious that there is such a diversity in the collections of principles (or religions) by which men live, yet the uniformity of ethics growing from those principles. I have often wondered what sort of core beliefs truly resides in humankind.

Your religion commands your internal dialogue. While its social organization may make demands on your time and resources, it also forms the basis of your notions of right and wrong and how you will expresss your core beliefs in your behavior toward others. I see the only common denominator as the quest for and pursuit of self with the rewards and satisfactions that brings.

I marvel at the apparent degree of devotion of each group to its own expression of those core beliefs, that is to say, to its religion. For each individual, what is the origin of beliefs so rigidly held; how were they instilled so firmly that all contrary views are anathema and sufficient cause for strife? It is obvious that the foundation well precedes maturing to the point reason dominates, since the human brain is not fully developed until about age 25 and the bases for belief are firmly established long before adolescence. In reviewing the annals of history, can we assert that the operation of reason is capable of overcoming or altering the outgrowth of those beliefs from our early life? That we can refine our belief systems through exercising our mental faculties in seeking a common goal? Or that all religions are outgrowths of the same common quest?

The phrase House of Man has intrigued me since first I stumbled onto it in pursuing religious thought. I am convinced there is a single Reality, that continuum of spirit and physical realms that includes the universe entire in which each of us currently participates in his personal drama of daily events. You may agree or you may be convinced I am mistaken.

There is the overwhelmingly extensive, complicated and massive universe that astronomers are describing, consisting of a plethora of, among other things, bodies large and small, perhaps many capable of sustaining life as we know it. And here are you and I, each an independent bit of this grand scheme, carrying on our daily activities in satisfaction of our personal needs and goals, all the while wondering at our role in this enormity of the cosmos and our little Earth. Are we only one of a multitude of civilizations orbiting various stars in our galaxy? Is there purpose? How did our kind arise? Have I a past or a future beyond this life with its daily round of activities? Is there a Guiding Intelligence? If so, what is His role and what is or ought to be my relationship with Him?

Whether we are plagued by it or blessed by it, there are hundreds of competing descriptions of our role in this magnificent cosmos and our share of it. And each description is fervently held and defended by equally devout and sincere individuals who each would proclaim to the rest of us the rightness of his views (and perhaps the wrongness of ours). How did such a diversity of views originate? Can they all be accommodated within a single House of Man?

I like the corollary of a large and bustling courtyard with a variety of peoples and activities scattered here and there; and the courtyard is bounded by a structure with many windows. The courtyard is Reality and the structure with many windows is the House of Man. Some of us stand close to a window and have a good view of the courtyard, but the scope of that view is limited and no one can see it all; even so each person focuses his attention on a specific portion of the panorama before him. Others, farther back, have only a partial view; and the rest of us must depend on descriptions furnished by those privileged to peer directly through a window.

Evidently the view perceived by each observer will be different and the best we can hope of any observer is an honest and accurate description of what he perceives. And we who are farther back must depend on what is relayed to us despite limitations of language or incomplete or distorted understanding by those relaying a description to us. We accept as our prophets those who offer us the most credible descriptions; at the same time we recognize that descriptions by other prophets of what fell within their field of view are equally perceptive and honest.

There you have a suggestion of the origin of the variety of religious views: One Reality, with myriad prophets each describing a view of that Reality that is a more or less accurate portrayal of what that prophet beheld. But the view of no one prophet embraces the entirety of Reality, and each has looked from a different vantage point and focused on a portion of what lay within his view. Thus the House of Man shelters conflicting religious views.

It is sometimes tempting to try to compare the rightness or wrongness of those various views from the House of Man. Whether all can be accommodated in tranquility is a matter each of us must address for himself. Perhaps the best measure of the worth of any view lies in its effect on mankind as each person strives to find a Light adequate for his own path.

I have been tempted to contend that the Christian faith of my heritage, with its emphasis on a God Who loves all equally and implores us to do likewise, is superior to other faiths such as Atheism, Hebrew, Wicca, Hindu, Muslim, or . . . The description suggested by Rational Theism seems to me a more believable portrayal of Reality. But I consent that my view is from one particular window as I gaze at a small region of the courtyard that is Reality; my description embraces what I see.

It is not truly important to you what view I hold. But it is important what effect my view or yours has on our relationships with others and the treatment we accord them. I have come to accept that religions have all sprung from, and been propagated because of, a conscious need by each of us to subordinate himself to something larger than himself, to be part of a grand march. Yet each of us yearns to experience the inner warmth of certain knowledge that his life is significant and of value.

By their fruits you shall know them.