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CPG: A Pakistani Muslim: Child of God and Citizen of the Earth |
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Monday, 16 January 2006 |
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Page 2 of 2
Soon I knew a little about his life. He had recently lost the sales job he had held for several years. He was driving a cab to help him survive until the economy turned around. It wasn’t all bad, he said. He could take an extended vacation to Pakistan to be with his wife, daughter and two sons. He missed them, but it was easier for them as Muslims to live in Pakistan; and he could find work here to support them.
When he asked me what I did, I told him about my work with the United Religions Initiative promoting interfaith cooperation all over the world. He expressed his support for URI’s effort to bring people of different faiths together to work for peace, justice and healing.
Then he shared an insight. “Since I was a child,” he said, “I’ve felt that more than a Pakistani, I was ultimately a citizen of the Earth. And more than a Muslim, I was ultimately a child of God.”
I responded by telling him that I had often said the same thing, replacing Pakistani with American and Muslim with Christian.
Since that experience, I have come to believe that the cultivation of this consciousness is critical for humanity’s future. Certainly, we must continue to value and celebrate our unique identity Christian, Muslim; Pakistani, American. But we must learn to experience and claim our common identity as children of the Source of Life and citizens of the Earth. On a practical level, we must reach a consciousness where what happens to another regardless of their religion or nationality matters as much to us as what happens to us.
We are privileged to live at a moment in history when this shift is possible if we will embrace the experience of difference all around us with open arms, open minds and open hearts; if, as we celebrate our uniqueness, we participate in an experience of our fundamental unity.
We can begin with a conversation with a cab driver. Or, perhaps, the person next door.
Charles Gibbs
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Last Updated ( Monday, 27 February 2006 )
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