Towards Universalism

On the sleeve of the 1971 album Aqualung, Jethro Tull wrote thus:

“In the beginning, man created God in his image and likeness;” that was a rather profane affront on the creation myth of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic belief. In its lyricism, the album featured a central theme on the distinction between organised religion and the search for the face of God, including dour contemplations and speculations on faith and religion.

Blasphemous as the audacious statement and lyrics sounded, more and more people are now realizing that in his knack for anthropomorphism, man superimposed his corporeal attributes on his concept of God; this resulted in a God that is male in one religion and female in another and amorphous in yet another.

A censorious review of the creeds of World Religions with special reference to the attributes of the Divine One presents us with a God that is: bargain-making, egotistic, narcissistic, temperamental, mischievous, sadistically punitive, sometimes unknowing and, on occasions, sufficiently threatened by man’s exploits; and a God that requires to be feared, worshiped and praised. These are attributes of man and therefore portraiture aimed at frightening the daylight out of unsuspecting humanity to submission in the interest of organized religion.

Oneness with the Divine is strictly an individual quest; to this extent, it is harmonious as it requires man to love his neighbor as himself towards global brotherhood of man; this is at the core of the teachings of Christ, Buddha and Mohammed. Conversely, organized religion seeks to maintain and service complex bureaucracies, humongous physical structures and millions of functionaries across the world.

Given the economic reality of this, the flock is kept in line through softly-spoken supernatural spells drawn from ossified creeds and rituals that separate them from adherents of other religions; efforts are made through intensive proselytization to swell the ranks of the congregation to support the rapacious predatory system. This is where division arises in the search for oneness with the Divine.

Tapping into this phenomenon, politicians and venture capitalists expand the resultant religious and social crevices into canyons and the outcome is the current mayhem in Syria, terrorist attacks and resultant panic and paranoia on the streets of Europe and America and the frayed nerves over the precarious situation on the Korean Peninsula.

It is very unfortunate that humanity allows the use of religion as an instrument of division. This is more so when religion and unnecessary manmade divisions degenerate into intolerance, violence and wanton destruction of lives and property.

Christians must jettison the conceited and misguided claim of “the only way” and wake up to the essence and potency of Galatians 6:7, which warns man not to be deceived and states that “God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap;” implicit in this Biblical injunction is the fact that Divine forgiveness of sin as touted by the clergy is permissive philosophy; so also is the knack for violence and senseless destruction of lives and property in anticipation of voluptuous rewards from Allah.

It is in the interest of humanity for man to embrace religious universalism. When this consciousness permeates humanity, then and only then will progress be made towards amity on earth and the realization of the purpose of creation. Governments should, therefore, embark on enlightenment campaign to educate the masses on harmony and the needlessness of religious division.

After all, the sun shines on Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, Moslems, and Traditionalists etc alike; the rain is not selective either while the earth gives her bounties without discrimination; the winds pump human lungs in same vein.

These nondiscriminatory elements are manifestations of Divine love. The tragedy is that universalism does not serve the selfish purpose of politicians, organised religion and venture capitalists that thrive on conflict.

The path to harmony with God is one and the laws are universal; it is within every individual in God’s creation and applies in equal measure to all irrespective of color, creed, station and location; the division in religion is a product of manmade fences.

As implied earlier, Buddha preached universalism; so did Jesus, Mohammed and all the avatars and sages over the ages. If humanity imbibes this higher consciousness, then no person will think or plan evil against another, no lecturer will demand cash and/or horizontal installment from students for grades, no bureaucrat or politician will appropriate public funds to self and no country will wage war against another.

At that point, humanity will have arrived at what the Vedic Scriptures call Nirvana and the Bible and Koran refer to as the Kingdom of Heaven; for Plato, it is the Ideal State while St. Augustine of Hippo called it the City of God, where good triumphs.

And if I may succinctly wrap up this humble submission, I would poetically offer thus:
We can transcend our differences
Tear down manmade fences;
And live in brotherhood
For the good
Of this community
And humanity
You can start
By just saying hello
From your heart
To that fellow
Next door
And what’s more
You can share a warm embrace
With a smiling face

Obviously, we all have ears; however, for some, the ears are ornamental, hence the Bible says “he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matt 11:15)

O. Jason Osai is a professor at the
Institute of Foundation Studies,
Rivers State University, Port Harcourt
jasonosai1@yahoo.com