"The Way Of All The Earth" is a book by the christian theologian John Dunne wherein he writes of the the process whereby an individual crosses sympathetically from their own religion to another and returns with increased understanding of their personal faith. A "passing over".
Obviously we can seek to learn of a Faith other than our own purely to refute it, therefore the key word above is "sympathetically."
Speaking autobiographically I "passed over" (as opposed to passing out...
) from a fairly liberal version of Christianity to Buddhism about 25-30 years ago. I did already know quite a bit about Buddhism (and a few other Faiths) but "The Vision of Dhamma" by Nyanaponika Thera was when "sympathy" turned to hearing the heartbeat of the Dharma
I only managed half of Mr Dunne's fine suggestion.....I passed over and never came back.
But being serious (chin in, head up) I think we can have a deep assumed attitude of truth/reality being the "pictures" and thought forms of our own creed (often the one we inherit at birth) and all others remain distinctly "other".....perhaps "exotic"......not quite "it". By analogy, anyone reflecting upon "eurocentrism" will capture the gist of it.
Yet when, as happened to me, the Buddhist thoughts, ways, cosmology became "real" for me - or at least, as real as anything Biblically based - nothing can ever be the same. In effect, the solid ground shakes, there are always at least two words for the same thing.
How else do you explain it?
Linear Mode
