Hinduism, Buddhism, and Beyond

Alongside discovering the world of Islam for the first time, I decided to embrace other Eastern religions for the very first time. I originally discovered the religion when I was 13, discovering the music of George Harrison as it was influenced by the Hindu world and the sitar playing taught by Ravi Shankar. He eventually retreated to Sri Lanka where he spent much of his time playing sitar and learning classical Indian music. Needless to say, I was hooked on the concept of Hinduism then and there, and the peace that is stood for, but I still ate red meat at that point in time. I Revisited the religion years later, alongside Buddhism, when I was about 20.

I started my journey in these worlds by visiting a Buddhist house in Harrisburg, meditating and chanting sutras underneath the statue of Siddhartha Gautama. We were taught by an ordained Monk, and it was all inspiring 2 listen to her lessons. A couple weeks later, a Buddhist group opened up in my Unitarian Universalist Church, and I soon found myself going and meditating every Sunday.

After that, I found myself going to a Hindu church for the first time. It was a Christian Church that was converted into a Hari Krishna Meetup Group, and one that had at least 50 devotees then that every Sunday from 2 until 6. There were a lot of traditions and Rites of Passage that were performed by everybody at the service, and a lot of Hindi scripture is being chanted and recited buy kids of all ages. Most of them came from Pakistan and Northern India, with a few exceptions, including one European American who went to the group. It was very interesting to see everything that went on there, and we even got some free food out of the deal there was traditional home-cooked Indian food

Although going to a Hindu Church in Harrisburg a couple of times was very exciting, I know I still needed something more to supplement me spiritually. A Buddhist Meetup Group started at my church one day, being a new installation of a Sangha (community) they had already been established. I started going on and off for a couple of months, which turned into a couple of years, and I learned a lot in the process as well. It is important, regardless of religious affiliation, so always have time and a method for which to clear your head.

Having grown up in a Catholic and Lutheran household, I never really realized until later in life how important it was to acknowledge and participate in faith ceremonies of other religions. There really is no way to learn that this problem it's then to experience it first-hand. Anthony list to say, I felt very welcome and very at home in all of the effort mention settings. This is more proof that it is important to experience other religious backgrounds firsthand to find truth for yourself. After all, and Unitarian universalism, that is the biggest principle that we preach, is the responsible and free search for truth and meeting.

So that being said, if you really want to experience a different world view, and dispelling myths from the media and learning the information for yourself, go check out a service rub a different religion. I even went so far as to visit a synagogue, a Quaker Meeting House, and a Presbyterian Church, just to see how they stacked up against. And I have come to conclude, that in spite of everything, we are more alike than we are unalike.

Tour De Deutschland

We awoke very early our second day in Germany, as we had places to go, people to see, and things to do. On our second day, we would be getting a tour of the area and the local city. And, who should be giving us the tour, but a couple of 11 and 12 year old children who are required to do this tour as part of their Elementary School graduation?

One we got to the gymnasium (their word for high school), I was blown away by the modernity of it in the middle of the city. We got there, and the teacher himself actually prepared a full buffet for all of us. I don't know why we were getting so many buffets in Europe and ‘all you can eat’ type deals, but as hungry high schoolers, we were very thankful every step of the way. Not to mention the fact that all their food is fresh, usually organic, and doesn't contain all of the nasty preservatives and chemicals that food in the states does.

The different varieties of juice, the different breakfast foods… all of it, fantastic.

And so, we met our tour guides, Anna and Lena, told ourselves a bit about ourselves and vice versa for them, and then we loaded onto a bus for the hillside just outside the city of Freiburg. When our tour guides were confused about something, they would ask somebody in German or talk German amongst themselves, which I found absolutely adorable. But the rest of the time, we noted that they had actually put together an extremely thought out walking tour of the area that comprised of a good 3 km. We climbed a tower of rust and saw the surrounding area of the city, went to a couple thrift shops, got some food at the Open Air Market, and saw the Munster, the biggest church in town, and the Heart of the Lutheran Reformation.

After spending a day gallivanting around and learning about the culture, it was time to go into the heart of the Black Forest itself and perform. At this point in time, word was getting around Europe about us and our travel route. So, a reporter from you June German newspaper actually caught a picture of the Drumline and myself playing our bucket solo called "recycled", and put us in the newspaper. I still have a copy of the article saved on my computer to this day. We got severely discounted (and sometimes free) food as a result of our performance, as the lady running the stands was so impressed with us that she wanted to keep us well fed.

Here we are. (I am second from the right.)

The hospitality I experienced in Germany was like none other in the world, and we still had another day to go. We've already seen and done so much, but yet, I have no idea what lied in store for me in the depths of the black forest.