Thirty years ago, I saw a Buddhist monk in an orange cassock in the Lenin Library and decided that I was retraining. You never know what you see when you analyze ancient texts from morning till night.
Now we are not surprised to meet a woman in a hijab or a man in a turban on our streets. What can we say about European and American cities. My New York colleague told me that at one time he spoke to taxi drivers in Punjabi, a profession that turns out to be popular among Sikhs.
Globalization has made the world smaller. Our neighbors now not only speak in languages we do not know, but also profess a faith about which we previously had a vague idea. Of course, this is disturbing. Why do they so stubbornly gather in their mosques, prayer houses, synagogues? Probably, they cherish insidious plans. But rejection is caused not only by them, but also by us. Our new neighbors insist on their otherness and do not want to hide it. We affirm our individuality, and they assert theirs, we are devoted to our gods, and they to theirs.
In the past, this has led to religious wars more than once… But let’s take a closer look: globalization not only poses problems, it helps to solve them. When you get to know a person of a different faith closer, you begin to see that there is no less human in him than in you, that he also appreciates mercy, tolerance, friendliness. Faith is different, but is it really that important if it ideally brings similar results?
If we ask the theologian about this, he will insist — of course, it is important. His task is to meticulously study and compare religious dogmas. For example, the Christian God is a person, in Hinduism the impersonal Absolute is in its place, and in Buddhism it is not at all. How to agree here? But when mystics begin to communicate, it turns out that there are more similarities than differences. For example, the Catholic monk Thomas Merton found much in common between the practice of his order of Trappists, who take a vow of silence, and Buddhist meditation. Words separated, but experience united.
Shared experience and a common way of life brings us, modern city dwellers, closer together. Of course, this is not the mystical ecstasy to which the ascetics aspire. We meet at work, at parent meetings and playgrounds, in courts and parks. And we find out that there are many situations that are common for a Buddhist, a Muslim and a Christian. And the values that our religions cultivate — friendliness, mercy and tolerance — help us live together. Yes, the words in these religions are different, but let the theologians worry about that.