Everything about Universalism totally explained
Universalism is a
religion and
theology that generally holds all persons and creatures are related to God or the divine and will be reconciled to God. A church that calls itself Universalist may emphasize the universal principles of most religions and accept other religions in an inclusive manner, believing in a universal reconciliation between humanity and the divine. Other religions may have Universalist theology as one of their
tenets and principles, including Christianity, Hinduism, and some of the
New Age religions. Universalist beliefs exist within many faiths, and many Universalists practice in a variety of traditions, drawing upon the same universal principles.
The most common principle drawn upon is love.
(
Sai Baba/Baba Speech): "The spirit present in all of the beings is varily seen as that of
mind. They are all full of the essential love. Without love, it's all just a pun,
without love you can not be happy !"
Truth is also an important principle to be drawn upon. The living truth is more far-reaching than national, cultural, even faith boundaries.
Christianity
In
Christianity, Universalism refers to the belief that all humans will be saved through
Jesus Christ and eventually come to a harmony in God's kingdom. A related doctrine,
apokatastasis, is the belief that all mortal beings will be reconciled to God, including Satan and his fallen angels. Universalism was a fairly commonly held view among theologians in early Christianity: In the first five or six centuries of Christianity there were six known theological schools, of which four (Alexandria, Antioch, Cesarea, and Edessa or Nisibis) were Universalist, one (Ephesus) accepted conditional immortality, and one (Carthage or Rome) taught the endless punishment of the lost.. The two major theologians opposing it were
Tertullian and
Augustine. In later centuries, Universalism has become very much a minority position in the major branches of Christianity, though it has a long history of prominent adherents.
See also
Hinduism
Hindu Universalism denotes the ideology that all religions are true and therefore worthy of toleration and respect. Veneration for all other religions was articulated by
Gandhi:
"After long study and experience, I've come to the
conclusion that [1] all religions are true; [2] all
religions have some error in them; [3] all religions
are almost as dear to me as my own Hinduism, in as
much as all human beings should be as dear to one as
one's own close relatives. My own veneration for
other faiths is the same as that for my own faith;
therefore no thought of conversion is possible." (M. K. Gandhi, All Men Are Brothers: Life and Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi as told in his own words, Paris, UNESCO 1958, p 60.)
In
Ananda Marga a branch of Hinduism, Universalism refers to the idea that energy and matter are evolved from
cosmic consciousness. Thus, all created beings are of one universal family. This is an expansion of
humanism to include everything as family, based on the fundamental truth that the universe is a thought projection from the Supreme.
Judaism
Judaism teaches that
God chose the Jewish people to be in a
unique covenant with God, and one of their beliefs is that Jewish people were charged by the
Torah with a specific mission — to be a light unto the nations, and to exemplify the covenant with God as described in the Torah to other nations. Not explicitly a Universal theology, this view, however, did
not preclude others nations from a belief that
God also has a relationship with other peoples — rather, Judaism held that God had entered into a covenant with all mankind as
Noachides, and that Jews and non-Jews alike have a relationship with God.
Islam
Muslims believe that
God sent the
Holy Qur'an to bring peace and harmony to humanity through
Islam (submission to God).
Muhammad's worldwide mission was to establish universal peace under the
Khilafat. The Khilafat was intended to ensure security of the lives and property of non-Muslims under the
dhimmi system, as well as according them certain rights of worship.
Although that system was initially for what Islam defines as the "
people of the book" (for example
Jews and
Christians), some Muslims extend this to include
Mandeans,
Zoroastrians, and
Hindus. Other Muslims disagree, and hold that adherents of these faiths can't be dhimmi.
The Muslim ideal of universal
brotherhood is the
Hajj (pilgrimage to
Mecca) prescribed by Islam. Each year close to three million people from every corner of the globe assemble in Mecca to perform Hajj and worship God. No individual can be identified as a king or pauper because every man is dressed in
ihram clothing.
Forms of God
Jesus Christ is said to be the son of God the Father and Mary, who isn't considered to be God the Mother but the Mother of God. In Christianity there's no being thought to be female and divine. Allah is thought to be without form, but some think Allah to be male like jewish and christian God the Father. Hinduism knows divine motherly beings as well as
Great Mother.
Girindrasekhar Bose, the founder of Indian Psychoanalytic Society, in his correspondence with
Sigmund Freud "pointed to the importance of the maternal deities in his culture. Other Indian psychoanalysts even criticized classical Freudian psychoanalysis for being a product of a 'Father religion or Son religion'."
Quotation
Further Information
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