About this website

 

Tree of LifeWe began work on this website as an individual enterprise soon after the events of September 11, 2001. Like many persons around the world, we were quite shaken at seeing extremists attack innocent persons in such a heartless manner. Perhaps most troubling was the fact that the perpetrators of such heinous acts claimed to do so in furtherance of their religious convictions. Many thoughts occurred to us as to what we could actually do to stop or at least discourage such acts in the future. This website was one of those ideas, and we have been working on it ever since.

 

Purpose of This Site

It is not the purpose of this website to try to convert visitors to a specific religion or belief system, or to demonstrate that one set of spiritual beliefs is somehow “better” than another. Quite the contrary; the information on this website is intended to foster religious tolerance between people with different spiritual beliefs. How do we accomplish this? By sharing writings on a variety of religious thoughts and practices with others.

We firmly believe that whatever differing beliefs we may hold, nothing should stop us from being able to communicate with each other, to understand each other, and to treat each other with fairness and respect. 

Your personal conception of what is meant by “good” or “wrong” may be different from someone else’s, especially on the surface. But we feel strongly that we can all agree that living together in harmony is better than being at war with one another. Modern scientific research on human DNA has confirmed that all humans who share this planet are members of one and the same family. The more we focus on the fact that we are all brothers and sisters to each other, the less we need to concern ourselves with those divisions which separate us. Similarly, the more we understand of others’ spiritual beliefs, the easier it will be to peacefully coexist with each other, regardless of faith.

Can We Really Make a Difference?

For the answer to that question, we’d recommend you read Charles Mackay’s poem, Small Beginnings.