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Early in January of this year, I attended a friend's funeral in Wheaton, Illinois. As I was driving on the highway from Chicago to the suburbs, I saw an electronic billboard proclaiming peace for all human kind, which also noted that the birthdays of Muhammad and Jesus fell during the same week in 2015. I thought that was an interesting message and the sort of interfaith connection I see too rarely during my life.
I continued to reflect on the concept of interfaith as I was at the Catholic funeral. My friend had worked as a banker at an international firm and a lot of his colleagues were there. From meeting some of them that day, and having met others in the past, I knew that there were at least Christians, Atheists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Agnostics in attendance. We all shared our views on what we thought our deceased friend was doing at that time and it was not only cathartic, but also uplifting to me, to see all these people coming together, regardless of religious belief, or non belief, to support our friend's wife and children.
With the funeral having concluded, and being out in the suburbs, I decided to stop by the Theosophical Society in America headquarters to look at a book on Buddhism (Heart Drops of Dharmakaya) a friend had recommended. Beautiful building and very nice staff who made me feel welcome.
After looking through that book and heading back into Chicago, I decided to detour a bit north and stopped at the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette. I'd never been there before and it was quite stunning. I will have to go back in the summer when the gardens are in bloom, but there was a certain stillness with it being cold and snow-covered at the time. The volunteers there were very accepting and accommodating too.
Just thought I'd share this experience with you, since we're all here for interfaith purposes.
I continued to reflect on the concept of interfaith as I was at the Catholic funeral. My friend had worked as a banker at an international firm and a lot of his colleagues were there. From meeting some of them that day, and having met others in the past, I knew that there were at least Christians, Atheists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Agnostics in attendance. We all shared our views on what we thought our deceased friend was doing at that time and it was not only cathartic, but also uplifting to me, to see all these people coming together, regardless of religious belief, or non belief, to support our friend's wife and children.
With the funeral having concluded, and being out in the suburbs, I decided to stop by the Theosophical Society in America headquarters to look at a book on Buddhism (Heart Drops of Dharmakaya) a friend had recommended. Beautiful building and very nice staff who made me feel welcome.
After looking through that book and heading back into Chicago, I decided to detour a bit north and stopped at the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette. I'd never been there before and it was quite stunning. I will have to go back in the summer when the gardens are in bloom, but there was a certain stillness with it being cold and snow-covered at the time. The volunteers there were very accepting and accommodating too.
Just thought I'd share this experience with you, since we're all here for interfaith purposes.
