PILGRIMS
Many of my readers don't care too much for religion, and others don't care too much for religions they view as opposed to Christianity.
Allow me to offer a different perspective: religion taps into an awesome well of human potential for personal growth, community renewal and transcedence of the barriers to same...or for depersonalization, fragmentation and a whole host of divisive and destructive 'isms'.
Consider the awesome potential of the hajj for Muslims who embark upon this spiritual quest, one of the 'five pillars of Islam'. It is a task that requires a significant commitment of real-world time and resources, rich in symbolism:
SEE!
It is stunning to consider that perhaps three million of my fellow human beings are in the midst of this quest, and that this aerial view of worshippers at Mount Mercy is but a small fraction of this convergence:
Now, where there are that many people in one place there is opportunity for mischief, and so we see that some want to politicize the event, using it as a backdrop to draw attention to their concerns about the world. But, as news accounts show, the vast majority resist this tendency and appear to be focused on the pilgrimage. May the messengers of peace attend them.
1 comment:
3 million people get together to be programmed into accepting another year of stoning women for adultery and dropping acid into the eyes of criminals for punishment, and we are to impressed that they gather peacefully?
To be fair, you should note that dissent is rife, and being strictly controlled by this Saudis, who promise their very creative forms of punishment for the slightest indiscretion.
This group does not include, in any quantity, the enlightened of the Islamic faith who reside in Western Europe, the U.S. and other parts of the world, and should not be confused with such.
Did I mention the public hangings and the cutting off hands and heads?
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