Marbaniang, Domenic

For peace and harmony to exist in any pluralistic society, it is important to have respect for all religions. Those who wish to be respected must also show the same respect for others. In the past, religion has acted as a great dividing line and has spurred and continues to provoke among some incidents of violence and hatred. We must learn to respect other religions, but what does this respect involve? 1. It means to respect fellow humans as humans, first of all, as our neighbors. It means to show ourselves as good neighbors to them. 2. It means to respect the religiosity in humans, their quest, their pursuit for spirituality, for purity, for a good life, for a transcendent ideal that lifts us above the world of mere brutes. 3. It means to respect the confessions of saints, of communities, regarding their longing to know the unknown, to be delivered from darkness to light. 4. It means to respect their literature of wisdom and deep meditation on serious life truths. 5. It means to respe...

At the core of one’s epistemic identity lies the metaphysical awareness of one’s humanness, as distinct from the animal world. But, being human is a given fact, the essential identity. However, being human alone doesn’t satisfy the human longing for self-identity. Essential identity (being human) doesn’t establish existential identity (being for…). Essential identity is naked without existential identity. Existential identity is not a given, but a choice. One chooses to be what one considers is meaningful to be. What lies at the core of existential identity determines what one is and how he relates to the rest of the world. While it is not plausible to identify every instance of an infinite possibility of existentials that are assumed as individually meaningful by different individuals, we can at least attempt to identify few polarized cores, that can be distinguished from the other in the way that one distinguishes the merging colors of the rainbow. CORE 1: EXISTENTIAL FAITH In its is...