The 2013 Fulbright-Hays India Group: From Coexistence to Pluralism

In my head I keep playing with terms such as diversity, coexistence, and plurality. Just what does religious pluralism look like? Depending on what you read, the terms are used interchangeably.

After some extensive reading, I discover that diversity is just a fact of life. We have for example ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity.

Yesterday the 12 members of our FH cohort met for the first time here in Berkeley California.

We are a diverse group. We come from all around the US. Some are teachers, some are principals, and one is a superintendent. Many of us have extensive experiences abroad. I think the only common threads are that we all teach, and  we all have a desire to learn more of India. 

Diversity is just diversity. A diverse group can be a mixture of people who, on one end of the spectrum merely tolerate each other, to the other end of the spectrum where we appreciate each other's differences.

Let me repeat: Diversity is just diversity. When I think of diversity, I think of the animals that live on the Serengeti plains of Africa. You have diverse species living alongside each other on the Serengeti.  Lions live alongside the antelope.

But lions also eat antelope.  

I think the next thing is coexistence.  What does it mean to coexist?

According to the freedictionary.com, coexistence is defined as "a condition or policy in which nations coexist peacefully while remaining economic or political rivals." 

Rivals?

That makes me think of  the Lion and the Antelope problem.

So what is pluralism? What does it look like?

This is a loaded question I hope to articulate soon.

I hope in the next 40 days our FH cohort will evolve from a diverse group merely coexisting (think Lion + Antelope) into a diverse group working in the spirit of pluralism. 

Please excuse typos, as I'm working on the iPad. 

Thanks for visiting.

Namaste!

What is the Wheel of Life?

     Have you ever wondered about the wheel in the center of the flag of India? It's called the dharma chakra, the Buddhist wheel of life.  It's one of the oldest symbols you will find in Indian art. If you know a thing or two about India, you know the history goes way back. The 24 spokes represent the 24 hours in a day. Dharma is the Buddha's teaching of the path of enlightenment.

     While in India, I'll look for the dharma chakra symbol. Pics will be posted.

Namaste!

A Parable of Religious Pluralism

Ludwig, Patti. dscn0863.jpg. August 2011. Pics4Learning. 4 Jun 2013

In Several Indian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism), there is a parable that compares religions to six blind men wanting to figure out what an elephant is like. This parable will help younger students see the moral of the story: Each blind man could only report what he had felt and understood, depending on the elephant body part. If one man felt only the elephant's leg, he would say, "An elephant is like a tree trunk". He was not wrong, but didn't know the full picture. This is the same with the ultimate truth---we may not know the whole truth. When we see that other religions appear to say something different, they may just be describing a different part of it. This is the essence of religious pluralism: Every form of religion is right, just different.

"There are many paths up the Mountain, but the view of the moon from the top is the same."  

-Japanese proverb