Religious Tolerance
The Circle of Light
A story I read once, moved me profoundly, and I wish I could remember who wrote it
called the Circle of Light, if I recall correctly
( if anyone knows who wrote this please email me and tell me )
It went something like this
I had a vision, I was walking
down a winding path. Then it started getting dark and I felt scared, then
I noticed a light ahead
and I started running towards
it, but it always seemed just out of my reach. I got frustrated and tired,
I lay down, fell asleep and dreamed.
In my vision dreams, I opened
my eyes and saw a path to a great circle of light.
I walked towards it ,no
longer afraid of the darkness.
Once there within the light
I looked around and I could see that many paths ended at this circle, besides
the one I just had just used.
Standing in the light, I
noticed that each path had a sign over it.
Curious I decided to see
what the signs said, but from inside the light where I stood, all the signs
were blank,
so I had go back out of
the light to read them... the sign for the path I had been on said,
" Welcome Home, You Have
Found ME ". Which I had not noticed going in.
I decided walk around the
circle of light, to read some others.
Some of them where in languages
I didn't understand,
While others, I could read
and here's what a few of them said
" Welcome back, You have
found the SOURCE."
" Welcome My child you have
found GOD."
" Welcome traveler, you
have found the GREAT SPIRIT."
" Blessed be, you have found
the GODDESS "
There were many many names
used, more than I could easily count,
but I realized, all the
signs really said the same thing.
" Welcome Home, you have
found ME."
Blessings on the unknown
hand who wrote this
I read this story at a time in my life when I was asking the question of myself of ,
what is the right path to travel ? This story, was the first of many signs to me
that all Gods are one God, and all names are one name.
I have had many other signs
since then and know that anyone of Faith, is my brother
no matter what Faith they
hold. If they walk the way of light paths, that's close enough for me.
Yet the question of whose
religion is best, or worse whose is right
is still of major importance
to many people. This story illustrates wonderfully
that the whole idea of any
Faith being right and another wrong, is a fallacy.
Faith in the Divine is Faith
in the Divine..The Divine hears us no matter what name we call upon.
Only we humans make an issue
of what name we call on, or what rites we use to do it.
The time for tolerance and
freedom is now.