(This article was originally published in July 2000)

Ah perception—that filter we use to view our being. It shapes and controls how we interact with reality. It defines what we feel, and forms our opinions. It is this ethereal thing that makes one person see love while another sees hate, one person see beauty while another sees devastation. Perception is the sum total of our knowledge and experience, and everything we do, see, touch, say and hear every day is filtered through it.

How many times have you heard it? "Well, my perception of the situation is..." Differences in perception can be fatal. Wars have been fought over perceived insults. How many divorces occur because people can't see eye to eye? Their perceptions of things are too different. We as humans treasure our perspective, often more than our lives. We will fight to the death for the freedom to have our own opinion. We will kill those who differ in views. Probably the most volatile of these perceptions is our understanding of God. This perception has divided more people since the beginning of time than any other.

Now, perception would not be such a great divider if we as humans did not value it so much. Hmmm...perhaps value is not the right word. We are unable to accept that our perspective may not be correct or complete. I have heard many people speaking on volatile issues such as abortion or homosexuality say something like "of course I'm right! Anyone could see, it's just fact! Why don't they get it? Doesn't EVERYBODY know this?" It is so easy simply to close our minds to what we "know" and refuse to accept that maybe, just maybe, we are incomplete humans, floundering in the darkness for the answers to our existence. What gives us the right? Who died and made us boss, that we can walk around trumpeting our absolute knowledge on a subject or issue? More to the point, what gives us the right to tell someone else they are wrong?

One of the reasons I was never able to find a sense of fulfillment in one of the world's three major religions (Islam, Judaism, Christianity) is because I cannot accept that any one person is so absolute as to hold the undeniable truth of a supreme consciousness to himself, to lord over others, crying out that he holds the truth, and that all others are doomed. These three religions, when stripped of all their myths and trappings, are remarkably similar in teachings and laws. Yet they preach that each is the only true path. They have all viewed God through the filters of their own perception, and yet none can accept that maybe somebody else saw God too. Just maybe they all see the same God. Just maybe all of the wars fought over religion have been completely, ridiculously wrong because THEY ALL BELIEVE IN THE SAME GOD.

This will not be a popular opinion, I know. As I already said, people value their perceptions too much to change them overnight. But I'm begging you: open your mind to the perception of another. We are all on this planet together. We are not so different as you might think. We are humans, brothers and sisters in our race. We come in many flavors and varieties, but we are all souls, all creations of God in God's image. Think about that. If we are created in God's image, then God is black, white, Asian, Indian, Hispanic. God is male and female, all knowing and ignorant. God is however we have defined him/her/it through the filters of our perception and how others have defined through theirs. We all believe roughly the same things: don't kill, don't steal, leave your neighbor's wife alone. We simply have been taught to view God as Yahweh or Allah or Holy Father. Someone actually said to me the other day, "Well, I don't believe in Islam because they don't worship God, they worship Allah!" He refused to accept it when I explained to him that "Allah" is simply the Arabic word for "God."

In the 21st century, we have the ability to come together as a people in ways not thought of a hundred years ago. We truly have the ability to be a planet of people, united. But as we are exposed to more and more people from different societies and cultures, different mores, different names for God, we will only succeed as a race if we are able to do away with our fixed perspectives and allow ourselves to be open to the wisdom of the universe. It is time for us to let go of our divisive natures, and recognize that we are all human, and that there is no right and wrong when it comes to opinions or spiritual speculation. There is only right and wrong action. Which will you take?

Copyright © 2000 Chris Jenkins All Rights Reserved

Chris Jenkins is a writer, IT professional and gadfly. He lives in St. Petersburg (Florida, not Russia).