Parakalein

I sat in a group and one member began to talk about how uncomfortable she is with talking about religion.  She declared that buddhism is not a religion but a way of being mindful.  I had a part that thought this was a  reaction to my saying earlier, at another time, in the same group, that I was triggered when people use Buddhism as an illustration of "embodying self"without also stating that other figures in other religious traditions also "embody self" in similar ways.

In reflection I notice that religious dialogue trigger a "parts war" as many people find the same sense of self in many different ways.  I began to realize that religious wars between religious groups whether argued out in cognitive wars in conference rooms or battled out in military wars in battlefields, the end result is to miss the common ground of all ways to "Self".  There is a multiplicity of ways to "Self" and a multiplicity of ways to be in "Self".  The way of parts wars is to unintentionally but clearly to step out of being "in self" while protecting "a way to self" as "the way".

When I was in the evangelical church, I often heard people say and preach that they knew the truth, that they were "in the spirit" at first this intrigued me and incited me.  Over time I realized that this was no Spirit, but human spirit. I began to say, "not so much".  Today in another parallel universe I hear people say, "I am in Self" or teaching how to "embody self".  This intrigued me and incited me.  Over time I have learned that there are a multiplicity of ways to "embody Self" and when I think I am in Self I am probably not.

All religious ways or teachings are religious parts, protective parts, some managers some firefighters but all of them blur our seeing and block our experiencing the True Self.

I started the parts war and only I can end that war.  Being in Self, ends all wars as wars have to do with agendas.  Self has no agenda except to be loving.  Love ends all war.