Free Be Nobody by Lama Marut Page B

regardless of which (if any) of the world’s faiths they adhere to? Surely the coremessage of any authentic spiritual path is the cultivation of a universal love, leading to a sense of unity among all people, irrespective of differences in culture, race, economic standing, political belief . . . or formal religious affiliation (or the lack thereof). Those who are practicing religion (and this includes those who disavow formal association with any particular religion) are practicing being more expansive and inclusive in their love, compassion, empathy, and sense of interconnectedness with others. And those who aren’t practicing the true intent of religion are in the business of creating more, not less, divisiveness and ill will among people—often very loudly!
    Religion, it has been said, is like a swimming pool. A ll the noise is coming from the shallow end .
    Back in my academic days, I once had the opportunity to join a group of students who were having lunch with one of the eminent scholars of comparative religion at the time, Wilfred Cantwell Smith. At some point in the conversation, Professor Smith was asked whether he was a Christian. The answer was quite memorable: “I can’t really say. You’ll have to ask those who know me—my family and friends.”
    To be a real Christian (or Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, Taoist, and so on) means that you try to live like one. And surely that must include living a life guided by the universally extolled religious principles of kindness and love (not animosity and hatred) for others, and the cultivation of harmony and fraternity with (and not estrangement from and enmity toward) others.
    If we want to claim to be a Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Taoist, and so on, we should try to act like one. And this will not involve trying to be somebody by means of exclusive religious branding, but rather will necessitate cultivating the willingness to be nobody through the practice of humility, universal brother- and sisterhood, and the abandonment of egoistical self-regard—even, or especially, when enveloped in a religious guise.
    If we’re too obsessed with our religious identity, we can lose sight of our responsibilities to our fellow human beings. We become so “heavenly minded” that we’re “no earthly good,” as the Johnny Cash song would have it:
    You’re shinin’ your light, and shine it you should
    But you’re so heavenly minded you’re no earthly good. 2
    Overweening pride of all sorts has disastrous consequences. If someone brags about standing, they surely will fall, as the Man in Black so aptly notes in the song. But there’s no pride like spiritual pride. Taking undue self-satisfaction in our religious affiliation or, even worse, in our supposedly exceptional spiritual realizations, blinds us to the very thing a genuine path is supposed to lead to—the end of the clinging to the little, egoistic self, and the realization of our true universal nature and interconnection with all others. If we’re too heavenly minded and proud, we’re no earthly good at all.
J UDGE N OT , L EST Y E B ECOME A J UDGMENTAL P RIG
    It is easy to forget that learning to be nobody is both the ultimate goal of any authentic spiritual path and the royal road to true happiness. The very institution that throughout history has been responsible for transmitting this redemptive message has also repeatedly been usurped in order to subvert and invert the good news. Pride in one’s religion has too often been used to shun those with beliefs that differ from one’s own—to judge and condemn outsiders in order to extol and congratulate the insiders.
    It is, of course, not just religious people who are proud and judgmental. This is yet another way in which we are alike—weall have the tendency to be forever placing ourselves above and judging others. But it’s sad to say that, when it comes to being