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.
