Faith

Inspired:
My Visit To A Gurdwara

JUDY MARCUS

About a dozen years ago, I pitched a story to a now-defunct magazine, a story which mostly involved asking religious leaders one question:

Why do you believe in God?

Shockingly, the editor gave me the green light, and I suddenly had the privilege of interviewing a variety of Christian (including the now late Cardinal George), Muslim and Jewish leaders. I couldn't believe my luck!

I thought by writing the story I would gain some insight from these leaders, whom I saw as the most direct line to God I was ever going to find. While every one of the leaders was gracious and kind, in the end, the following is what I came away with:

1   None of the leaders actually heard the voice of God talking to them in their ears. (Naively, I thought some of them would tell me they did, and boy, did I want to know what God had to say.)

2   It wasn’t easy, but the leaders did finally reveal to me the reason they believed in God. The answer: It was all about having faith.

I came away appreciative and somewhat enlightened but also slightly disappointed. As someone who was (and is still) searching for spiritual meaning, I expected the experience would result in some deep, profound, aha! moment for me.

It didn't happen. Still, I moved forward with my life, continuing on my trek, seeking my own personal truth wherever I could find it.

Fast forward to last week, when I attended an interfaith event at a Gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship, sponsored by the Palatine Public Library.

The gurdwara where the event was held is beautiful, and if you haven't been to one, you need to go and see one for yourself. (The Sikhs I met were very open to outsiders visiting.)

Leaders from many faith communities were represented -- -Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh. They spoke briefly about their scriptures to a crowd of about 100 people.

There was one central theme I heard from these religious leaders:

We should live in peace and harmony.

The Sikh leader put it another way, a way I found very meaningful:

Don’t say my way is the only way. There’s wisdom on the other side.

While all the leaders' speeches were interesting, I found myself on the verge of tears (of joy as well as sadness) throughout much of the event, not so much because of what they said, but because of what was left unsaid.

That this event was a lovely idea and lovely experience. That as I looked around, I saw the gathering as representative of what America is really all about: a wondrous, intriguing, marvellous melting pot.

The Sikhs couldn't have been more open and welcoming. After the speeches, they hosted a delicious vegetarian meal, during which I had the opportunity to learn more about Sikhism from a couple of young adult Sikhs.

One of them was from North Carolina, an executive of a pharmaceutical company. Even with a turban on his head, he was as American as apple pie.

I asked, and he politely answered some difficult questions such as: Was it hard growing up as a Sikh in America, especially in the South? He told me that he couldn't deny that he encountered racism. But for every racist he came across, he had met a thousand decent people.

I can’t say I walked away from the event with more religious faith. But in spite of some of the awful goings-on in the world today, I left the gurdwara with much more faith in mankind. For now, that's enough.


[Courtesy: Chicago Now. Edited for sikhchic.com]
June 2, 2016
 

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