Mr. Hair
Renegade Cavalcade
Wandering across a moonlit blog, I came across this prayer and pondered:
Does this prayer convey a universal theme that runs through all religions and spiritualities, and their prescribed lifestyles; or not? Indeed, can any religion be simplified into something approximating the search for and attainment of "free[dom] from all attachments"?
I for one was certainly struck by the similarity to this prayer of not only Buddhist and Taoist writings, but also many Muslim and Jewish religious works.
*Particularly relevant bits boldedThe person who desires friendship with God must strive to be free from all attachments and from all commitments that are exclusively human or in relation to earthly realities.* This does not mean that we are to give up our friends or sacrifice our desire for a better job or position. Rather, we may understand attachment here as possessiveness. We are called to be dispossessed of earthly things so as to possess God. To possess means to "cling to", to hold on to something so tightly that other possibilities are "squeezed out". Each of us is called to be poor, to empty ourselves of all that we cling to so that we may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Does this prayer convey a universal theme that runs through all religions and spiritualities, and their prescribed lifestyles; or not? Indeed, can any religion be simplified into something approximating the search for and attainment of "free[dom] from all attachments"?
I for one was certainly struck by the similarity to this prayer of not only Buddhist and Taoist writings, but also many Muslim and Jewish religious works.