Interfaith Discovery

Understanding is the way

This week I was invited to a local interfaith event, as part of Scottish Interfaith Week. Not all my friends realise that I am a spiritual person. I am connected to nature and life, and sit within the UK’s native religion of Celtic paganism. However, I see connections between all religions, perceiving them as different, regional interpretations of the same glimpse of the divine that cannot be comprehended, only acknowledged. I don’t even see a disparity between monotheistic and polytheistic religions. Perhaps my perspective is an ideal quality for working with people from different belief backgrounds.

The interfaith movement is an attempt to bridge divides, some of which have historically been bitter, destructive, and against the spirit of peace and compassion. So I attended this event, partly as a representative of the Scottish Pagan Federation.

First I met the organisers, then got invited to join a table. I chatted with the woman who had invited me over. After a while she paused and told me I was “unassuming”, which I take as a compliment!

I didn’t know many of the people, but then one of my friends (who also attends my creative writing sessions) entered and joined our table! Serendipity.

The meeting began with readings and poetry, and then my talented friend got up and read her poem “Green”. I was even more proud, since that had come out of one of my WRITE! sessions! I featured it on my writing site here, because I think it is a lovely meditative poem that instinctively inspires reflection. Also, the theme is close to my heart. Plus, I had given a tiny bit of feedback on an early draft. :-)

Then, even though it was my first time, I offered to stand and give a few of my thoughts on the theme of Discovery. I had been pondering it all week. I didn’t have a prepared speech, just notes, but I’ll try and reconstruct some form of what I said below.

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Discovery

Thank you for inviting me here today. I’ve been thinking a lot about your theme, and for me discovery goes in two directions: inwards, and outwards.

Inwards to ourselves because we alter over time, from birth to death. Our personalities shift, and our beliefs can change throughout our lives. Above the Delphic Oracle in Greece was the proclamation: “Know thyself”. It is important to do so, consciously. To know yourself is to give you the opportunity to improve yourself, to become a better human being. That is a goal for many of us, and part of our struggle.

Outwards is the other direction. Out to the world from a starting point of openness, that nothing can be known absolutely, everything is a belief system, and therefore a matter of faith. And so we explore, we discover, we believe. And, for some of us, that outward journey takes us towards the luminous, the divine, of which we are a part, and to which we may hope to return, and be accepted, and loved. We see our connectedness to everything that exists. And from that understanding we learn to spread love and compassion to all we share this planet, this universe, with.

Thank you for listening.

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For the final part of the meeting we focussed on a candle flame in the dark for five minutes, with music. I remember seeing the similarity between a candle flame and a reed: both know how to bend, not break, when pushed by the wind. And when the wind ends, they resume their vertical position, unbroken. It’s something we must all learn to do when facing adversity. Bend, but do not break.

After that we chatted informally, and a few people wanted to speak to me, and some thanked me for what I had said, because it resonated with their own beliefs.

Lots to think about. I have been considering an official voluntary role within the Scottish Pagan Federation, and it does appeal to me, but I am also already involved with a number of causes I believe in that take up a lot of my time! This week alone I was elected Chair of my local community council, which has already been more work than I expected. That, along with my litter picks (this morning I collected a bag of cans from the beach, and a child’s broken buggy from the river), and social justice activism, means it can be difficult to fit in the work that is meant to pay my bills! But we’ll see. Doing things for others is one of the messages that all good faith systems espouse.

Peace and love, my friends! Always focus on what we share, not on our differences.