By Dr. Geeta S. Vora
I have been greatly concerned about the direction that the world has been traveling since the 9/11 incidence and the turmoil and the violence that has followed. Then, this summer of 2007, I sensed the turmoil that my daughter was experiencing during our soul searching conversations while scaling the beauty of Alaska. Finally, an incidence occurred, three days after I landed in Mumbai, India. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. My sister and I were on our way to visit a relative at a hospital. We took a cab from the bus stop to the hospital. It was rush hour traffic. Hence, the bumper to bumper traffic had slowed down to a snail crawl. The normal fare of the ride went from 10 rupees to 30 rupees. While we were sitting in the traffic jam, we discussed the effect of the traffic jam on the cabfare. When we arrived at our destination, the cab driver disregarded the fare on the meter and only charged us ten rupees. We did not accept the offer. However, his generosity in face of his low income, hit me in the solar plexus. Suddenly it hit home that the time had come for me to make a stand for these innocent, generous and compassionate people who add value to the world by their simple and small acts of love. It broke the floodgates of the tidal wave that had been slowly simmering behind the closed doors of my subconscious.
The words of my mentor and hero Mahatma Gandhi flashed before my mind’s eye. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi had used non-violence weapon of non-cooperation against the mighty Britain to achieve freedom for India. Violence only begets violence. In following the tradition of non-violence, I have decided to use the power of words and spirituality to see if I can help combat the violence, fear and turmoil that has shook the core of mankind. I plan to write a series of articles on “There’s Got To Be Another Way”.
I want to apologize in advance if I offend anyone’s beliefs. My perception of the cause of the turmoil in this world is due to the misconception of humanity’s understanding of The Will of God. Neal Donald Walsch has written several books on this subject. My intention is to get people to seek to produce a re-created humanity through a greater spiritual understanding. To understand that religious differences are the biggest hurdle to achieving global peace. My aim is to challenge the clergy itself, the very people who are carrying the Word of God to the people the world over. Dr. Bruce Chilton, an Episcopal priest, author, lecturer and professor of theology states my fears precisely: “As I have encountered the clergy and the scholars of religion, I have been increasingly troubled by how narrow their intellectual formation is. We must act decisively to change that opinion.”
In some of my contacts, I found that theology students don’t seem to be asking very many really probing, confrontational or deeply exploratory questions about the material they are studying. It seems they are reluctant to challenge the doctrine at any level. Hence, in order to influence the religious temperament of the world, it is important to broaden the theological horizons of our clergy, the God’s messengers. “Left Behind” best selling evangical thrillers series latest book “Glorious Appearing” writes that Jesus returns to Earth to wipe all non-Christians from the planet. The series are the best-selling novels for adults in the United States and have sold more than 60 million copies world wide. I don’t think that we should ban books that say that. But we should be embarrassed when our best selling books gleefully celebrate religious intolerance and violence against the infidels.
Should we really give intolerance a pass if it’s rooted in religious faith? I doubt that it’s what God stands for. I hope my series of articles will address the nature of our present dilemma. How we can become a solution instead of a problem, by becoming the change we wish to see.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes existing model obsolete.”….R. Buckminster Fuller.
