AMDG
RS 447 - World's Wisdom Traditions-Mr. Haardt
Ultimate Questions
All Wisdom Traditions are Responses to these Ultimate Questions
- What is the human condition, describe human nature? In other words, what does it mean to be human, according to the tradition?
2. What is the nature of the world/universe (cosmology)?
3. What is Ultimate Reality and how is it revealed & experienced ?
4. What is the path of life according to the tradition?
What happens when we follow that path? What is salvation? What is transcendence? What is our destiny? In other words, what conduct leads to peace, liberation, salvation, union with "G-D"? (Almost always understood in the context of how an action helps/hinders you on the path towards wholeness, towards "G-D/ Ultimate Reality)
Monks of New Skete (Christian Community in up-state New York )
"I've learned that the whole world's asleep-myself included."
All traditions can be understood in the sense of moving beyond the self (little "s") to the SELF (big "S"), from ego-centered/self-centered to God-centered, from human to divine, from bondage to liberation, from darkness to light, from sleep to awake, from ignorance to nirvana, from suffering to enlightenment, from "me" to Christ living in me, from the personal "I" to the cosmic "I", Atman is Brahman, Brahman is Atman.
As Huston Smith states, you can tell this is taking place and is authentic and true "by the fruits" ("by the fruits, ye shall know them"). That is to say, that the more one sees our inseparable nature & inherent interconnectedness and thus, the more one is truly compassionate & loving towards others and all creation and the more authentic the path is!! The more exclusive, divisive, and judgmental one is, then the more one is operating from a sense of disconnectedness and a false view that we are actually separate from each other. This is why all of the great sages, saints, mystics, & countless ordinary men, women and children remind us of our need to love what is essentially ourselves, which includes all people, all creation, no matter what.