A Constitutional Necessity of the Human Mind

 Many thought the case hopeless and the cause of religion lost once and forever. But the tide has turned and to the rescue has come what? The study of comparative religions. By the study of different religions we find that in essence they are one.... I studied,   the Christian religion, the Mohammed, the Buddhistic, and others, and  what was my surprise to find that the same foundation principles taught by my religion were taught by all religions...What is the truth? ...We know that man has a body, eyes, ears, and he has a spiritual nature which we cannot see. And with his spiritual faculties he can study these different religions and find that whether a religion is taught in the forests and jungles of India or in a Christian land, in essentials all religions are one. This only shows us that religion is a constitutional necessity of the human mind. 

Vivekananda 

These words were taken down way back in 1898. How many of us have opened our minds to do what this great sage has done. 

I often tell people that I am in the process of discovering the unifying truth in all religion.  Like Vivekananda, I do believe there is one. Doing so opens my mind and my heart and it helps me to see so much more clearly. 

I wasn't always this open. I was raised with this ideation that the only real religion was Christianity and the only real Christian church  was the Roman Catholic church.  After highschool I went to a university that was considered "Catholic". We were required to take at least one religious studies course...with the intention that all Catholics would take courses related to Catholic theology.  There was one course on the agenda, however,  that was different from all the potentially boring courses taught by the priests.  It was called "Religious Experiences: East and West." I took that.  Not because I wanted to study comparative religion like Vivekananda had done....I just thought it would be different.  So I sat in class throughout that term to simply escape boredom.  I brought my conditioning, my closed mind into the lecture hall with me.  I got very little out of  the class even though the professor, who was like the Ram Dass of the university-probably even hung out with him at one time-  was excellent and the material was so interesting.  My conditioning closed my mind.  Part of me, even thought that it was a sin that I was studying other religions.  I couldn't even tell my father about it. Imagine! 

Wind forward 40 years and here I am just totally immersed in the process of understanding these religious experiences east and west. I have done some serious deconditioning and have opened up to see things much more clearly.

Hmm! I am reminded of a line I read in a translation of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras by Swami Satchidananda: "Truth is One, Paths are many." 

The messages that are coming down to us from the prophets and holy men and women for all sects and nations are joining their forces and speaking to us with the trumpet of the past.  And the first message it brings us is: Peace be unto you and to all religions.

Vivekananda Loc 6446

All is well!

Swami Vivekananda ( n.d. 1889??) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: Volumes 1-9. Kindle Edition.1.4 Lectures and Discourses.

When they say "Complete Works"...they are not kidding lol.  I have been reading from this book every night for close to six months now and I have yet to get past 10% of the reading, less than halfway through Volume 1.