After getting know better my neighboring Muslims, my concept of Islam was detaching from the “unknown” or “scary” and attaching to peace and joy. Spirituality became the focus rather than religion.
To stereotype a religion is to ignore the underlying forces currently at work. If hate, revenge, and egotism, have the upper hand, religion is destructive. If empathy, respect, and selflessness have the upper hand, religion is constructive.
I visited the Sufi Center again on another day and met up with K. She, and other women, had just finished up having a birthday party for one of the young children.
K gave me a tour of the farm. They raise chickens, sheep, cows, ducks, and other animals. K and I walked up a typical Catskill hill. The view was lovely. At the top was an apple tree. “These best apples,” K told me.
The apples were high in the tree, way out of reach. K picked up a long stick and lifted it up. She used the stick to shake a branch. Apples fell off and landed at our feet. We picked them up and put them in our pockets, except one apple, which we ate.
Three things I learned:
- Whether it’s a stick, a religion, or a science, they are only tools to help us get at ideas that help us understand reality.
- It is within our reach to respect all the tools even if we prefer one over the other.
- We all have to eat.
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