I am no scholar or theologian but I have a great interest in cultures, which throughout the history of mankind have been influenced by religion. The more I learn about other religions, whether practiced today or lost to the ages, the more I am blown away by all the connections one can make. An ancient religion from one side of the world has resemblances of religions in other parts of the world it likely never encountered. This begs the question of whether religion or aspects of it are innately human. 

During quarantine, I took some online classes just for the hell of it, including several religion courses from Harvard and Columbia (on EdX and Coursera). In these classes, I not only learned about other religions, but I learned quite a bit more about my own family’s religion too. The class I took started from the founding of Christianity and how it was eventually documented and spread throughout the world. I learned about the vast differences across the many denominations that I never knew. I also learned about sects of Christianity that were never influenced by the Catholic Church because it spread to these areas much earlier than it did to Europe. The most remarkable example in my opinion is the history of the Christian community in Ethiopia. 

These new revelations about Christianity piqued my interest in learning more about other religions as well. While I was interested in Christianity’s sisters, Islam and Judaism, I wanted to step out of this trinity of dominant religions and challenge myself to learn about religions I knew the very least about. I was always curious about Buddhism due to my childhood fascination with the ancient history of Asia, so I decided to start there. 

While I grew up with the Christian faith, I would say my personal spiritual journey began after moving away for graduate school when I began to yearn for a spiritual community again. I attended several services at an Episcopal church, which was quite different from the denomination I grew up with. I remember hearing someone refer to it as “Catholic Lite.” But despite not understanding the rituals and costumes etc., I was shocked to hear the sermons mentioning climate change and social justice and other so-called political topics. It was refreshing. It felt good to go to church again and take a little time in my week to reflect and meditate in good company. However, after some time, I realized that while I like the sermons, the ceremonial nature and structure of the Episcopal church just wasn’t for me. I stopped bothering for a while, especially as life got busier, but when my fiancé and I put down roots in the area with the purchase of our first house, I began to search for other churches I could potentially feel comfortable with. But each time I felt like I was trying to convince myself that it could be a good fit while pushing back a sense of hesitancy. 

What I’ve seen among many major religions are two points that I struggle to accept: their religion is the truth, therefore, everything else must be a lie; and the emphasis on living our lives with the sole objective of obtaining admission into the afterlife or preparing for a good afterlife. In my opinion, no matter how strong your faith may be, it is important to keep an open mind. It isn’t always the case that there is one truth. To the second point, I love the Earth and I love being human, so I strongly believe in focusing on making our lives here on Earth and the lives of those around us as good as possible. Heaven on Earth, so to say. 

With this in mind, during that first lecture in the class on Buddhism, I felt like I wsa hearing my own true beliefs spoken back to me. It blew my mind that a religion this ancient was so advanced. Nothing about the fundamental ideas of Buddhism seemed archaic at all, but rather very much applicable to modern times. After this I wanted to learn more about Buddhism and other religions out there in the world. I signed up for more courses and newsletters from Buddhist Temples, I read the Dalai Lama’s books, and listened to podcasts and talks featuring various religious leaders. While there is much about Buddhism that I still don’t understand, such as the various deities, ceremonies, and so on, the basic message I take away from what I’ve learned is something that in my heart I can agree with rather than trying to mold myself to fit the box some religious leader tells me I need to fit into in order to be accepted. 

I recently watched the Netflix series The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, in which he traveled to various areas of the world to learn about the world’s religions and compare their similarities and differences. When taking an objective look at various religions, we can see that the skeletons are the same. Just as our human skeletons are the same despite our individual uniqueness, religions at their core seem to embody a universal moral code. It’s hard to imagine that this could exist without some connection among all people. I started listening when hearing about what I would normally consider “wackadoo” New Age beliefs and things actually started to seem less crazy. When you stop focusing on the outer layers such as ceremonies or practice, and you focus instead on the main message of things, they start to make sense. The more I learned about energy and our connection to the Earth and to each other, the more connections I drew to other experiences and knowledge I gained in my life. 

Whether you believe in a particular religion, consider yourself one of the “wackadoos,” or are just keeping an open mind without dedicating yourself to any particular practice, I think this connection is something undeniable. It’s something that deserves greater attention from people of all religions and beliefs. It’s time to step out of that “I’m right, you’re wrong” mindset and listen to others with an open mind. I think we’d find that we have much more in common than we thought.