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Take out a coin, doesn’t matter what kind…I like to use the quarter, but even a penny would work.  Now look at it.  One side is called heads, why, because most coins now, at least here in the US has a head of a president on it.  The other side is called “tails”, and it is called this since this sounds better than “the back of heads.”

Many religions would say that, if they were to place themselves on the coin, they would be heads, and others would be tails.  Christians would be heads, Muslims would be tails, Muslims would be heads and Buddhists would be tails, Baptists is heads and Methodists tails, Catholics heads and Protestant tails, we are good and you are evil, we are right and you are wrong, God is with us and He is against you.  Those we think are on “tails” believe that they are actually “heads.”  So who is right?  Someone has to be heads and some one has to be tails, it’s the nature of the universe that there is light and dark, right and wrong, good and evil, right?  Well, sort of, there are those who are good and there are some who could be called evil, but are you right and they are wrong?  The answer is, we are all wrong!

We are all on heads, even those who we would consider the worst of humanity are on heads with us as well.

If we were to imagine that we could fit on the heads side of the coin, all of us on the edge facing inward, grouped together by our religious beliefs, looking to the center of the coin.  When look at our coin, let’s say a quarter, we see the 1st President of the US, George Washington, but when we occupy the edge of the coin and look to the center of it, we can only see a small part of good ol’ George.  The very center of the coin is what we are striving to reach, which in this case is Georges ear lobe.  This is Heaven, Nirvana, our enlightenment, Valhalla, what ever you want to call it and George is God.  OK, so what’s the problem?  The problem is this, being so small and being so focused on that center, that we only see a small part of George.  We may see part of his nose, or maybe it’s his forehead or his pony tail.  We all see some part of him and we think, this is God.  We turn to look at our neighbors on this coin and we say, this is God and he is “this.”  Your neighbor turns to you and says, “Well, that’s sort of what I see, but he is more like “this” instead of “that.”  Well, this annoys us, because, it’s not what we see, but it’s close, so all we do is roll our eyes a little and go back to looking at the center some more.

One day a traveler passes by and talks with you and tells you about himself.  He tells you about God, and after listening to him for a bit, you realize  that, this isn’t the God you know.  You look at him and flat out tell him, he is wrong.  He retorts and tells you the same thing.  Next thing that happens, there are bitter words used, misunderstanding, fights, hatred…war, people killing, people killed.  Why?  God wanted us to live in peace, God wanted us to share in each others lives, but all we can do is hate.  How did this happen?  It’s because we think our view of God is the only one there is, but the truth of it all, is if we took the time and was able to see the whole coin, we would understand that we all see the same God, the same Heaven.  We created the differences we pose on ourselves and we failed to understand that others see the same thing, but from a different side.

We spend so much of our time hating and pushing our point of view to our neighbors, our friends, our enemies that we are right, that we have forgotten what we were supposed to do, and that is to reach the center.  We need to reach that light in the middle and meet each other there, and share with each other what we saw in God so that we all can know God as a whole and not the little piece we saw as we traveled.  We say, we hate and create war, because God would want us to, but all God really wanted you to do was love your neighbor, to love yourself and make your way to heaven without hatred in your heart.  We have all failed in this task and it is why our world is the way it is now.

We can change this, you, me, everyone.  We can change who we are and how we can get to heaven.  The information for this has always been there.  It’s in the Bible, The Torah, The Koran, Dharma, it’s in the sky and in the earth and it’s in you.  Take the words and wisdom that was given to you and do good, with the knowledge that not everyone has the same point of view, but we are all striving to reach the same place.  Help people understand that it is alright to have their point of view and that it can differ from others.  Do this in wanting to see everyone concentrate on getting to heaven, and not the fact that they see God differently than you.  Help them understand that violence and hatred will not get you closer to heaven, that you will never reach it by having hate in your heart, that you will always be on the edge of the coin and never reach the center.

I give you this parable, this wisdom as the start of our journey.  Spread it wisely and spread it with love and I will see you…well, I’ll see you at the center.

With love