A Spiritual Question

I have always had a strong interest in comparative religion and have had a daily practice of spiritual reading for over forty years.  At the end of 2011, I decided to spend a full year focusing on the essential works of each of the major spiritual disciplines.  I started with Buddhism in 2012 and moved on to Chinese philosophies the following year, followed by Islam, Hinduism and Judaism.  I designated this year, 2017 for the study of indigenous religions. 

I noticed that each of the major religions and spiritual disciplines had an underlying thread of unity and noted evidence of this theme in my early reading of indigenous religions.  However, after reading Diarmuid O’Murchu’s “In the Beginning was the Spirit” and “Wise Women of the Dreamtime” by K. Langloh Parker and Johanna Lambert, I realized there may be another common thread in the major spiritual traditions:  They all focus on the spiritual development of the individual while the earlier traditions described by O’Murchu and Lambert appear to emphasize a spirituality of community.   

The religions and philosophies I had studied until this year seem to contain common threads of both unity and individuality.  Individuality indicates separateness while unity means coming together.  Is there an inherent contradiction here?

I found this to be an interesting question with  potentially wide reaching implications.  What if spiritual development is, in fact, a collective effort?  What if my personal spiritual progress is dependent, not only on my own growth, but on how well we all learn to work together?  That would make each one of us responsible for, not only ourselves, but the development of the whole.

If God is love (another common thread I saw the writing in all major religions), and the purpose of life is to unite with God, then the purpose of life is learn to love.  Seeing this as a collective rather than a solo effort shifts the emphasis from intent to outcome, from personal to interactive.  Wanting to love and trying to be loving may not be enough.  We may need to succeed in love - ultimately to bring all of humanity and all of life together in unity.

Interesting.