=kit006.txt

KIT 6 - The Sinai Gathering

Some of us have just returned from a really exhilarating and
fascinating meeting of religious leaders culminating on the top of
Mount Sinai, a gesture of good will in a tough, violent world!   
That this historic meeting was not exposed to media publicity
speaks, amongst other considerations, for the non-pretentious
intention motivating it.  Of course, everyone is aware that the
Middle East ranks first among the most vulnerable areas which
ignited beyond control, might be likely to trigger off a nuclear
holocaust.  We also know that issues are so complex and intricate
that governments, with all their expertise, fail to find a
solution acceptable to all.

Consequently, although political feelings, claims and grudges
could not be overlooked or dismissed, there was a consensus that
we were not habilitated or accredited or competent to meddle with
purely political issues.

Why, then, did we meet?  Could you believe that there are still a
few idealists in the world who will leave their jobs and homes,
cancel their busy schedules at their own expense, out of pure
dedication, in the belief that since there is a religious factor
in any war, let alone the Middle East conflict, it is incumbent
upon the more progressive spiritual leaders of various religious
denominations to demonstrate their solidarity in their dedication
to a spiritual ideal while respecting their differences of outlook
and ritual?

Obviously, numerically we represented a negligible fraction of the
pleiades of rabbis, priests, ministers, imams and Bikkhus on the
planet.  Therefore, one might well question what impact our
symbolic action might have upon the conflicting religious masses,
especially since we were deprived of the powerful tool of mass
media.  "Small is beautiful..." and we believed that our gesture
may, however, loosen tensions a little bit in, let us say, the
'software' of the programming of events materializing on the
physical plane.

For the least, it may be said that we had a marvelous time sharing
in the spectacle of the most diverse types of people and cultures
and attires, and discovered the joy of communicating together with
an open heart.  For the Middle Easterners, the American New Age
openheartedness, religious tolerance and optimism must have hit
home as something totally surprising and very reassuring, and
served as the 'glue' that bonded us.  Therefore, we feel grateful
to Maureen Kushman and Joshua and many others for their beautiful
initiative in calling this meeting.  It was a striking expression
of the spirit of the message of unity to which we are dedicated.

We sang Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Sufi songs
at the top of the Mount where presumably Moses discovered the
famous tablets.  A native American lit medicinal herbs at dawn. 
What a privilege to be ushered into the "holy of holies" at the
St.  Catherine's monastery, dating as early as the year 50 A.D. -
a tribute to the fervor of the Hesychasts, the early monks of the
desert whose caves are still to be seen where water flows
generously betwixt the barren desert land.

A remarkable feature of the event, which need not necessarily be
put down to coincidence, was the fact that several Japanese
religious groups had planned a similar event at the very same
time.  One more indication in favor of the synchronicity in the
planning of the "good force!"   These groups added a lot to the
sheerly picturesque - remarkable by their cool and noble
discipline.

President Sadat's project for a peace center including three
buildings, for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, seems to have been
scrapped, but the spirit of Sadat adumbrates the whole area.  It
was his favorite haunt.  We felt that it was his spirit that had
inspired us, and we were doing what we could to keep that ultimate
hope for tolerance and good will, not only in the Middle East but
in the world, alive.

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