On a mission to know God

Jan. 26, 2006

Dear Pat,

A remarkable newspaper story appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle soon after I moved to California in the 1970s. It was about a boy of 5 or 6 who had died of leukemia. During his illness he had insisted to his parents that he wanted to die peacefully instead of fighting death in a hospital. They honored his wish.

Those parents' deference to the wishes of a child wasn't the only thing unusual about the story. The boy had spent much of his brief life studying the Vedas, the ancient Hindu scriptures written between 1,500 and 500 B.C.

It was as if he was born to accomplish this mission and then was off again to the great Unknown.

Most of us flail about wondering what our mission is. We look to religion to provide a blueprint for understanding the unknowable. We all want to know God.

My own heart has never been won by traditional religions. The fault is mine and not theirs, I'm sure. So I have explored alternatives like Eckankar, Urantia and Baha'i, all of which have certain charms.

Eckankar is led by a Wisconsin native named Sri Harold Kemp, aka the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master. Kemp wears the earnest look and outdated clothing of an eighth-grade social studies teacher. Believers seek his guidance through dreams, which they view as a primary source of inner truth.

"The Urantia Book" is a huge tome that mysteriously appeared in 1955. The authors were said to be celestial beings. The best case for "The Urantia Book" being written by celestial beings is its awkwardness with the English language.

"God-knowing creatures have only one supreme ambition, just one consuming desire, and that is to become, as they are in their spheres, like him as he is in his Paradise perfection of personality and in his universal sphere of righteous supremacy."

If it's poetry you want, read the Bible.

Baha'is believe the different religions of the world represent "successive interventions by God, aimed at the gradual civilizing of human nature." They believe God has sent Messengers named Moses, Buddha, Christ and Muhammad to provide the necessary guidance. The faith's founder, Bah‡'u'll‡h, claimed God is forming a universal civilization by dissolving the traditional walls of class, nation, creed and race.

Ultimately it seems to me that all religions are talking about the same God and that the differences between religions are due to our differences.

Lately an obituary for a cook at one of our elementary schools has provided my favorite words to live by:

"In lieu of flowers, Jean would hope you choose someone you love and give them all your love now while you are both here to enjoy. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And leave the rest to God."

All paths to God pass this way.

Love, Sam

Sam Blackwell is managing editor of the Southeast Missourian.