The essence of all the religions is one and the same Options

[dattaswami]

The essence of all the religions is one and the same

The essence of all the religions is one and the same since the Universal God gives it. The religions are different from each other because the religious leaders who are the human beings create the material that surrounds the essence. The skeleton is one and the same and there is no difference in the skeletons of the human beings. The difference lies only in the external materials covering the skeletons, which are flesh, skin etc., in these external materials differences arose due to deficiencies. Suppose there are two students. One is weak in physics and the other is weak in chemistry.

Each student mocks the other for the deficiency. Therefore, the deficiency is the root of difference and quarrels in the religions. The reason for the deficiency is the human brain that developed the external body of the spiritual knowledge. Therefore, the spiritual knowledge is the skeleton and the religion is its body. The deficiency in a religion can be removed by taking the merits of the other religions. Every religion has deficiency and the rectification of that deficiency should be from other religion without any ego and jealousy. Do not think that you are without defects. Do not think that your parents have no defects. Do not think that your teachers and preachers do not have defects. Therefore, observe others and take the merits from anybody without prejudice.

[Joesus]

No the answers are not the same because the essence of religion has led to determinism and idealism in the trailing interpretations of origin.

Tell a story to 100 people and each remembers something but not always the same thing. Extend that process through several thousand years and the stories get twisted in interpretation and in practice.
The essence of God permeates itself in the manifestation of life and its diversity.
God is becoming, God is not or cannot be captured in one idea, experience or book or religion.
If you have a mountain and you place a person at north, south, east and west of the mountain, it's not likely they will have the same experience or the same view, but to them their view of the mountain is real.

There is a story about three blind men who would get together once a week when their families would travel into town to shop for their supplies. The families would gather in the center of town where they would leave their blind relatives to visit with each other as they went about their business.
The three would be busy chatting about whatever was relevant for them during the course of the week sharing their experiences and catching up on the latest gossip.
One day a traveler passed through town on an elephant. The event was something to speak of since not many elephants passed through their part of the country.
The town instantly came alive with the excitement of the event. The three old men were wondering what all the excitement was about and asked some boys who were passing by what was making everyone excited.
“There’s an elephant passing thru the town,� one of the boys replied.
“I’ve never seen an elephant nor do I know what it might look like,� said the blind man. “Neither have I said the other two together.�
The boys somewhat amused that the three blind men didn’t know what an elephant looked like immediately offered to take them to the elephant, to let them experience for themselves what an elephant might look like.
The boys being somewhat mischievous thought it might be fun to play a trick on the three men when they arrived, so when they came to the elephant they took them each to a different part of the elephant to feel the elephant and experience it.
The first was led to the Leg where he felt around the rough skin, and upward to what seemed a gigantic immovable object firmly planted in the ground.
He was then led back to his friends who listened to his description of a beast, “so big and solid it was like a Tree standing firmly in the ground.�
The second man was then led up to the front of the elephant where he began exploring the long trunk of the beast, the elephant being uncomfortable with the grasping hands of the man twitched his trunk sending the man flying to the ground. When the boy led him back to his friend he gasped in exasperation, “This elephant is a wild snake, most unpredictable and dangerous.� The first man said to them, “this cannot be, you cannot have touched the same beast as I.�
Finally the third man was led to climb upon some stacked crates at the side of the elephant and his hands guided to the ear. As he explored the huge ear he exclaimed, “Finally, I have solved this mystery, neither of my two friends have accurately described this elephant for it is like a giant living carpet.�
The boys thoroughly amused with themselves led the men back to the square where they argued over which description and experience was the correct one.

For the next few weeks the men relentlessly argued over the differences in their experience of the elephant.
Then one day, a man who had a reputation of being a wise sage and a great healer happened to be passing thru town and caught wind of the arguing blind men.
He listened to their arguments of the elephant, each describing the different experiences and refusing to acknowledge any truth in either of their friend’s experience.
The sage then stepped into the conversation and introduced himself. The three friends having heard of the sage asked if he could settle this dispute once and for all.
He then said to them, �your blindness far exceeds your physical senses, it is not your eyes that do not see but your beliefs in the separation of your experiences. If you were to work together to discover the truth of the elephant I would heal your eyes that you may truly see this elephant for yourselves.�
The sage promised to return the following month to see if they could come to an agreement about what they had felt with their experiences of the elephant.

For the next few weeks to the irritation of their respective families they talked incessantly about their experiences of the elephant trying to solve the mystery of their differences.
Finally one of the three men remembering the snickering boys as they were each led to the elephant suggested that maybe they had been misled to experience different parts of the elephant and neither had quite grasped the entirety of the elephant at all.
This started the men to thinking about incorporating their experiences, and to piece together the mystery of this beast.
The first man said, “Perhaps this tree that I had wrapped myself around was only a leg of this huge beast and the snake one of many tentacles of this hideous creature, and the huge living carpet, a wing or some other appendage.� And so the contemplation continued until the sage would arrive.

At the end of the month the sage returned with an elephant to see if the three blind men had come to a conclusion in their quest for truth about their differing experiences.
He went to the square where the men were waiting anxiously for his return and greeted them on his approach.
“Have you come to a conclusion regarding the argument of what the elephant looks like?� he asked.
We have come to the conclusion that each of our experiences is valid. Even though our experiences and descriptions are different we have come to think that we have each a piece of the puzzle. We think we were misled by the boys who led us to different parts of this huge beast to deliberately set us apart in our experiences of the elephant. Together we think we can get closer to the truth rather than separately, but unfortunately we have only had one brief experience of the beast and without further examination would not be able to accurately solve the puzzle.�

“Very good,� said the sage, “If you would please follow me I think we can put an end to this mystery.� He then led the three blind me to the elephant. There he stopped and produced a salve which he administered to the eyes of each of the three blind men.
Within a few short minutes they each exclaimed that they were beginning to see shadow and light. Following that, the vision of the elephant became clear to each of them and they saw for the first time the huge leg that the first man had described as a tree, the long twisting trunk which was first thought to be a snake, and the third man exclaimed, “Look, look, the carpet is the beasts ear!�
The sage turned to each of them and said, “Each man is born with the senses to experience life, yet we each will experience it as we wish to experience it. God and his creation are not set in any stone or single experience but lives in all experiences. To fully understand Gods creation one must not exclude any part, or the experience of someone who does not see or experience the same as another, one must integrate all of the experiences or parts of the whole in everyone’s experience to see the whole more clearly.

Then go beyond the external senses addictions to see even more.

[Cassox]

Ok, so basically what your saying is that any religious structure is irrelevant. They all say absolutely different things. They are all at this point so far from any truth that absolutely nothing worthwhile can be gleaned, right? While I can appreciate the story, your eliminating any form of absolutism. So their isn't one god, or many gods, instead theres some other option that we are to stupid to understand. God doesn't want you to kill, but sometimes he does. Were just to blind to know when? This doesn't really do anything to further anyone. It gives absolutely no guidance towards what behaviors are appropriate, what the consequences of any actions are. It gives absolutely no indication as to the nature of anything. So overall, nothing has been said.

This is like walking into a U.N. summit and saying, "gee I'm sure your all right." Do you really think this will solve the political issues of the day? In the end, any connection is arbitrary and irrelevant if one can't draw any conclusions.

Integration of religion? Experientially I understand what your saying, but this reads as ridiculously as "the secret" or "what the bleep." It's nice to pretend that Jesus Christ and Buddha sat around thinking happy thoughts, and that string theory means all our wishes come true, but whats been said here is absolutely unsupported, and in fact unsupportable at all. We lack the historical knowledge to say that all religions stem from the same original belief. Furthermore, the idea is absolutely meaningless because even if it is true, it provides no suggestions as to how one should act differently.

But, its ok. I'm sure your all right.