Sheikh Ossama, the Imam at ICM, spoke today at UU. What a pleasure! My first time meeting him. He spoke on Ramadan and did questions and answers on all topics. I found the entire experience so interesting and enlivening. He seems like a knowledgeable, compassionate man with great integrity and strong opinions. I am fascinated to hear other peoples perspectives, I feel it really helps me grow as a person. Two things that especially resonated with me, if one loves the Creator, then one must love all His creations. Love of God/Divinity precludes hate of others. Another thing he said, which echoed exactly what I was talking about yesterday with some church folk, was that we emphasize our differences too much. We are so much more the same than we are different. We are only different in the details. We all want the same things in life: to be free, to be safe, to love, our children to be safe, healthy, and happy, shelter, home, food, water. In these respects, we are all very much the same. It seems like it should be so easy for all the world to meet on common ground and resolve conflict. It seems to me that peace has to be a much easier path to walk. I am so grateful that UUFM brings in these wonderful speakers. Each speaker may not resonate with every person but I think it gives us a rainbow of diversity of perspectives to challenge us, make us think, and polish our rough edges. Thank you Jill for arranging today.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 20:15:33 +0000