More on talking religion

I've been having ongoing conversations with my brother about religion for the past week or so. He has gotten very involved with his church, and his talking about it to me has brought up all kinds of issues I have with religion and the way we talk about it.

We've talked about what we mean by "God". We've talked about what religion means to us in our lives. We've talked about what it means to "worship". We've had our backs-and-forths over language, and how it's often very touchy business to even talk about religion, because different religions use different metaphors -- different language -- and it can be hard for some of us to get past that to the real message.

We even talked about how God transcends all experience, including our experience of God, and all experience transcends language, so we have very little hope of ever clearly communicating with each other about God in any meaningful way. I mentioned the classic Zen parable of the teacher pointing at the moon (the student could only stare at his finger). My brother did me one better by likening the whole thing to having to try and explain a joke to someone -- it just isn't funny any more.

I believe that, at the core, all religions are like the Zen master's finger, and that the God they all point at is all the same moon. I am a hypocrite, therefore, when I let language -- any language -- get in the way of communing with people of other faiths. So when my brother sends me the lyrics to a Christian Rock song and I can't appreciate it because it triggers my "gag reflex" (sorry again, Steve), I'm not being true to my own principles.

I will endeavor, from now on, that whenever the fog of religious language starts getting between me and the moon, I will remain quiet -- say nothing -- for as long as it takes for the fog to dissapate and I can see clearly. Even if whomever I'm speaking with doesn't see that moon (and I'll never know if they do), I will.