Ndoro Tuan, Saya membaca bukunya Karen Armstrong kira-kira tahun 1990, saat itu mantan girl friend saya yang dari Amerika yang mengenalkan pemikiran - pemikiran Karen kepada saya. Saat itu saya baca bukunya Karen, faham agama Hindu masih mendominasi pemikiran-pemikirannya, mungkin dia barusan selesai kursus yoga di India : ). Sekarang pemikirannya sudah universal, bagus sekali, and respect sekali kepada Islam, mungkin Ndoro Tuan perlu menjelaskan kepada Karen kalau yang namanya Rumi itu adalah salah satu dari sekian banyak Master Tasawuf-nya Islam (sebagian besar orang Amerika memandang Tasawuf-nya Rumi bukan merupakan bagian dari Islam) Inilah yang terjadi di dunia dimana kita berada sekarang, orang Barat yang cerdas itu pada menghormati Islam tapi orang-orang Indonesia yang memble pada "melecehkan" Islam, mungkin orang-orang Indonesia evolusi akalnya kalah cepat dengan orang-orang Barat sehingga akalnya sulit banget menggapai keindahan Islam, engga semua orang Islam sich, hanya beberapa oknum saja. Sedikit saran untuk karen, metode meditasi Yoga sangat lain sekali dengan metode meditasi yang ada pada Islam. Seorang Yogi (pelaku yoga) meditasi dengan cara mengosongkan pikiran, sedangkan meditasi Islam justru menyibukkan pikiran dengan dzikir. Efek yang akan didapat akan sangat berbeda sekali. Efek jangka panjang daripada meditasi yang mengosongkan pikiran adalah "halusinasi" sedangkan efek meditasi dalam Islam ( tentunya juga dilandasi ibadah-ibadah yang wajib ) adalah "cahaya", bisa berujud hidayah, karunia etc sesuai dengan kehendak Allah. Sekali lagi faham pemikiran altruisme mendominasi jiwa Karen, saya kira Karen telah mendapatkan pencerahan atau hidayah, karena dia telah bersatu dengan kebenaran yang mutlak, yaitu hilangnya rasa ego diri ( sebenarnya yang tepat adalah terkontrolnya rasa "id" diri ), dalam bahasa psikoanalisanya Sigmund Freud adalah ectazy atau dalam bahasa sufinya adalah fana. Sedikit kritikan untuk Karen, didunia dimana kita hidup ini tidak semua orang baik, ada orang-orang yang percaya "serigala yang kuat makan yang lemah", jadi harus ada ilmu yang harus dipelajari untuk menghadapi serigala-serigala buas ini, kita mungkin bisa altruisme karena kita telah fana atau ectazy, tapi bagaimana dengan anak-anak kita yang masih kecil yang masih lemah yang masih membutuhkan perlindungan dari kita? Serigala buas itu tidak hanya berujud senjata nuklir, bom atom, senjata biologi tapi juga pemikiran-pemikiran yang menyesatkan. Demikian ndoro tuan . salam. radityo djadjoeri <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Lecture Karen Armstrong - 7 December 2005 - Amsterdam
We're seeing a lot of bad religion at the moment, not only violent but also lazy religion. Religion cannot stand still. It has to develop, keep reinventing itself according to circumstances it faces. We learn about God at an age around which we also learn about Santa Claus. In the course of the years our knowledge about Santa develops, evolves itself, but somehow our knowledge about God remains at the same level. Very often we tend to think of God as a personality, someone much like our selves. It is all too easy to make this God justify our beliefs, the things we stand for. The crusaders were projecting on their imaginary God all their loathing and hatred for other people, being convinced their actions were according to the will of God. "God wills it!" God transcends personality as He transcends any other human quality. Rabbis of the Jews and the Talmud said that each of the Prophets of Israel experienced God in a different way therefore none of them could have encompassed God entirely. You don't have to be a terrorist to put God on your side. How often do we hear a preacher tell what God wills us to do and most of the times "God's will" is not too far from the personal beliefs of the person speaking. We use God to support our own personality, to support our ego, the very thing we are supposed to get rid off. When I was little I very much enjoyed children's songs but in the course of the years I have educated my ears to enjoy classical music and other master pieces. However with our concept of God we somehow fail to develop ourselves and transcend our initial beliefs. This is very important since otherwise we risk the chance of creating idolatry images of God in our minds. The Koran is extremely skeptical about theology, claiming that theorizing God makes people quarrelsome. People will always disagree on their concept of God which will eventually lead to separation and arguments. While the purpose of religion is to unite people, theology creates wars between groups. So many theologians said "God does not exist" because our notion of existence is so limited that it cannot be applied to God. To say to yourself "God exists" and let it resonate within yourself makes you understand the narrowness of the statement (will He cease to exist? When did He begin to exist? Where does He exist?). To say "God does not exist" is clearly not right neither, since His existence is your belief. So one can say "God does not not exist." The difficulty of discussing the Devine is evident… Greek theologians said any comment about God should be paradoxical (like the concept of Trinity: God is three and He is one at the same time) and it should be apathetical (it should lead you to a state of deep silence, like just after a beautiful concert). Theology should not be an orthodox chanting of definitions, it should be like poetry, like great art, it should lead us to a state of wonder, to a state of epiphany. Silence is the key. We are not very good at silence, with our mobile phones, music, internet etc. But we need it to remind ourselves about our own limitations. As we think how we can approach the idea of God in our violent times we will have a look at the Axial Age when all major religions flourished. We have never gone beyond the insights developed during this period. It is called the Axial Age because it is the axe/spirit around which all the religions turn, up until today. We now live in a pluralistic world. We have discovered the unanimity of all the religions and this is impacting our view of religion in general. People more easily reach to other religions for spiritual nourishment. No one is abandoning their own religion but people are acknowledging the wisdoms to be found elsewhere. So many Christians reach to Buddhism, Rumi or other sources for spiritual insights. In the Axial Age there was, as there is today, a lot of violence. The religious change came when people turned their backs on violence. They were beginning to discover the reasons for this violence, being egotism, greed etc. and realizing the importance of retrospect. In India non-violence became so essential that even killing an ant or speaking of violence was unacceptable. Originally man was designed to dismantle his ego. In the pre-axial period the term yoga means binding (binding horses). Men of yoga were warriors, conquerors. But in the axial period a man of yoga became one who would stand still in a position for days in order to root out his ego. Before one was allowed to do even the simplest yoga exercise one needed to master certain rules of conduct. For example one was to speak the truth at all times, refrain from intoxicants or sex, and above all refrain from any acts of violence. To master this fully meant becoming a truly serene, patient and friendly person. Until your guru was satisfied that you had mastered these characteristics you could not do even one yoga exercise. None of these people were theologians You don't hear the prophets of Israel philosophy on God. They were commenting current affairs, trying to guide people in their day to day lives. One man once asked Buddha about the creator of the universe. Buddha replied that his question was like that of a man shot with an arrow who would not accept treatment before knowing who the man was that shot him and in which village he was born. It was an irrelevant matter. Chinese thinkers also said that when discoursing about such absolute matters like God one is always putting too much of his own ego into his belief, identifying oneself with what one preaches. People look too much for certainty in religion, when they should really seek to submit. When in the Axial Age people start defining God they start departing from that spiritual way. When people start concentrating on what they transcend to, they depart and lose their way. But if we focus on what we are departing from, our selfishness greed ego etc, we are growing. The first person to make absolutely clear that religion was absolute altruism was, according to me, Confuscius. He said: "Do not do to others what you won't have others do to you." The way of experiencing the Devine was a continual practice of this golden rule. The golden rule required you to look into your own heart, discover that which hurts you, and refrain from causing this pain to others. Practicing this rule we start making others important instead of only focusing on our needs and in this way we are slowly dismantling our ego. So one has to start with practical compassion for the ones around you. As human beings we seek ecstasy. Ecstasy comes from the Greek word Extasis meaning "stepping outside". We yearn to step outside our dreary ego's and liberate ourselves. By constantly practicing the golden rule you go beyond yourself, expanding your heart towards others and reaching the whole world. Jesus also preached this golden rule even though he gave a somewhat more positive version of it. He said: "Do to others as you would like others to do to you." If one reads in the Bible about the discourses Jesus had, one sees that he spent very little time discussing the paradox of Trinity, the Genesis, the Virgin Mary etc. Instead he went out and discoursed with people who had strayed from observing the Law of Moses and talking with disbelievers. His doctrines are not just abstract statements, they are programs for (practical) behavior. Koran has made it clear that God has revealed itself at every corner of the earth and that He deliberately created tribes so that we may know one another. It does not say anything about oppressing, ruling, conquering, or controlling other people. We are supposed to know one another. By creating compassion within our own community we can approach other communities and offer it to them as well. Ibn Arabi said that one should not praise one's own religion just to feel better in respect to others – to feel superior. It does not bring out the best of you so one should refrain from it. "Do not praise your own belief that you see others lower than yourself. Because God The Omniscience The Omnipotent cannot be described by anyone's words. Each one praising God is in reality praising his own creature." That is the spirit of Islam. It does not make any distinction between all the Prophets. Prophet Muhammad is often seen as the prophet with the sword. He lived in violent times, in midst of tribal warfare and the moment he had to conduct war it was in self defense. Finally he went on Hajj, into enemy territory, wearing no arms and dressed in white robes, Ghandi like, and accepted terms which appalled his followers. And two years later he got Mecca without any bloodshed. Once he entered Mecca he offered the Quraish to accept Islam and there was no force in that, since the Koran says that there is no compulsion in religion. This is what we need now. We need compassion. There is no need for certainty. We have enough certainty, we need practical, day to day, compassion. People often find compassion a vague concept, not knowing what is truly meant by it when it is really to feel for others, to care and understand their pain. Jesus made this clear with the sermon on the Mountain when he said that the people to enter the gates of Paradise on the Last Day were not simply the ones with the correct belief but those who had fed the hungry, given water to the thirsty etc. These are practical things (programs for conduct). A lot of things in our religion is actually self-assertion. To hold on to ourselves by believing we are right, we are better than others. People have a natural will to live, to survive, to defend themselves, and this is how we practice belief as well. We use it for our self preservation. Religion seems to be more about being right than about having compassion, when I believe that being compassionate lies at the core of any religion. In response to questions posed by the audience: I enjoy pluralism and what I see in the world, while others are struck in fear of differences. Fear is the root of every single one fundamentalist group I have studied. They are afraid that the society wants to wipe religion out. So displays of arms and power will just encourage this feeling, not make it disappear. Compassion means to feel with people, to practice the golden rule. If we don't like to be bombed let us not bomb others. (question about the seeming difference between God in the Old and the New testament) This difference is to be seen in the New Testament as well. The Revelations are filled with violence, destruction and terror that will befall the people in the last days. What we have in the Bible is not a single text but a textbook. Sometimes the people are on the right track and than they fall back and deviate again. You see the struggle of humanity. There is nothing monolithic about the Bible. In one chapter you can have three different traditions often contradicting themselves. So you see the compassionate God and the God of war and destruction. It is absolutely necessary for us to try and practice the golden rule and try to dismantle our ego. It is not to say that we will reach the level at which we are completely ego-less. Not everyone that studies music becomes a great pianist, and not everyone that studies art becomes a great painter, but at least we will develop some of these characteristics. It is true that nowadays we are living in a society that is very ego-oriented. 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