I had the magnificent opportunity to listen to the CBC's Tapestry segment on Radio One yesterday. The host was interviewing a man by the name of Bo Lozoff. He is a modern mystic doing incredible spiritual work with prisoners through the Prison Ashram Project.
His project aims to transform a prisoner's time served into time to reflect and grow spiritually. As he explains, 70% of prisoners are non-violent. They're thrust into an unforgiving environment where more often than not they are subject to horrible abuse at the hands of their inmates. He was compelled to extend his spiritual teachings and lessons to prisoners when his own brother was incarcerated. Imagine the possibilities, though, if a man or woman could enter prison confused, alone, without hope and leave with a sense of the mystery of the universe, a sense of the Sacred. Imagine if the prison system churned out mystics, rather than monsters hardened by years of abuse. I think it's great work. I find myself inspired.
But Bo also just talked about the truths he knew and the more he talked, the more I gawked.
I can't believe how often I find myself to be surprised when I hear of others whose beliefs so closely match my own. It's not a vanity thing, that I believe myself to be the only person to draw the conclusions I have. Perhaps it's exactly the opposite in fact. Perhaps there is an insecurity there, just a sliver of doubt. And to hear my own beliefs repeated back to me by strangers I've never spoken to is magical. It validates me on such a deep level.
One thing I highly envy about my religious friends is their sense of community, of belonging. They have a built-in support group, people who share their view of the world. For myself it's always been a much lonelier path. Any truths I have found have been through literature, audio lectures or the few conversations I've had with like-minded souls. But for the most part, it's just been me, assembling piecemeal truths as they occur to me. Which brings me back to my complete sense of elation when I turn on the radio and listen to someone like Bo talk about the truths that he has found - and that they ring so true to me.
At one part of the program he mentioned Hinduism’s Sanatana Dhanna, which states:
1. Something sacred, truly holy, and incomprehensible does exist.
2. This sacred reality can be touched directly by each of us, in our depths.
3. The quest to touch that reality is the primary purpose of life. If we do not touch the sacred, we will "have done nothing."
I just thought it was clear, succinct and exact in its explanation of what I have come to know as well. I believe it to be no coincidence that all the religions would find truth in these three statements. And I believe that it is in the overlap where we will all find the real, fundamental truths. If only we could all see that we believe in the same core thoughts, and stop focusing on names and dates and characters... there is a place for common beliefs across religion and spirituality.
But since I'm a spiritualist, I'm mostly just alone with my thoughts. But I suppose that was my initial hope in creating this blog, that I could do for someone what Bo Lozoff has done for me; that by putting my thoughts out there, a few lone travelers might stumble upon it and feel a little less alone too.
Please visit Bo Lozoff's Human Kindness Foundation for more information on his books and projects.
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