Interlog

Our Interfaith World

I'm currently reading Jim Wallis's "God's Politics: Why the American right gets it wrong and the left doesn't get it", after reading an article about how Gordon Brown has endorsed the UK edition of the book. Wallis is an evangelic christian and, flicking through the 384 pages, I was wondering what he would make of differing faith communities working together. I came across this passage: "Our world and the United States, in particular, are becoming increasingly pluralistic religiously. How do we navigate the new waters of religious diversity in America and beyond?

Simone Weil

This evening, at The Buddhist House, we had a seminar about Simone Weil (1909-1943), regarded by many as one of the foremost religious thinkers of the 20th century. We were particularly looking at how a person can be simultaneously a genius and a misfit, a much loved figure and an outcast, skilled and inept. Weil came from a secular Jewish backgroud in France and was exceptionally intelligent, yet over shadowed by her brother Andre who was even more intellectually gifted and became one of the great methematicians of the century. When Simone and Andre met they would converse in ancient Greek, just one of many languages she learnt. Simone early developed intense feelings about social oppression and

Myths & Stories

I was having an email discussion with someone who had a more literal interpretation of one of the Buddhist sutras than I did. I was arguing that the story could be seen as a myth but that this did not lessen the “truth” that it spoke of. I was supporting my position with a passage from the introduction to David Loy’s book (co-written with Linda Goodhew) “the dharma Of Dragons And Daemons”. I thought it would be suitable to post here to explore