History shows people as seekers of God, of absolute, and of transcendence, but much more it shows them as people who long for home, for certainty; people who fear the alien and want to dispose of it, even at the price of violence. But the more one tries to escape that which is alien, the more radically the alien manifests itself. In this time of globalization, religions suddenly stand face to face with each other, without the possibility of escaping the challenge of the alien, as it used to be in the past. Interreligious dialogue is a difficult test for us. If we stand the proof, surely a new spiritual culture, a culture of the wishing of otherness, a culture of love will arise. 10 Distinguishing positive and negative aspect of religion Is ambiguity intrinsic to the nature of religion? Or in other words: Do the religions in which many people find supreme spiritual truth at the same time necessarily encourage violence? Is there no way to avoid this fate? In order to try to solve this question, we must distinguish a twofold understanding of religion: as a real phenomenon, a set of cultural facts, and as an ideal reality that is expressed by facts only insufficiently. In the first understanding, facts confirm the ambiguity. But in the second understanding religion is not necessarily connected to violence. Edward Schillebeeckx explains it on the basis of the mediational character of a religious relationship. “The difficulty is that this relationship to the Absolute is never given in a ‘detached’ way,” it is always ‘wordly’ intermediated. And these intermediaries can be elevated above their own status and promoted to the status of the will of God. “In that case false alliances can spur on religious people to religious violence in the name of their relationship to the Absolute.” (Schillebeeckx 1997, 132) There are also other spheres of life in which we have some ideal notions, yet it is very difficult to draw the bounds between the ideal reality and its false imitations. This is true, for example, for art. Another example is Plato’s dialogue, the Sophist, which deals with the problem of how to distinguish between a wise philosopher and a selfish sophist who only appears to be wise. This dialogue is considered as one of Plato’s deepest. 11 New way of life Is it possible to avoid these dangers? An already increasingawareness of them can help. We can confine the social control in religions to the lowest, most necessary measure. Religious people should try to revive religious experiences and to bring spirit into religious institutions. Also a balance between keeping tradition and facing new challenges is needed. In relationships to others we should avoid generalization. Large communities often have a complicated inner structure. Official attitudes or the attitudes of majorities do not represent automatically the attitudes of all individuals or groups. Spirituality Studies 1 (1) Spring 2015 119 (7)
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