The Universal God - by R William Davies (Paperback)

About the Book

This is the first book of a trilogy titled: "The Universal God". It is subtitled: "The Search for God in the Twenty-First Century". It is written as a comparative religion book and focuses on the major modern religions: Hinduism, Confucianism/Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Differing from many other comparative religion books that focus on the differences between these religions; this book seeks to find the commonalities and 'Truths' that these religions share with each other. The difficulty with attempting this search within the modern versions of these religions is that many of those core teachings and principles that they do share with each other have become hidden within the 'exclusiveness' that these religions now want to proclaim: They alone are the 'one true path' and they alone hold the keys to salvation.

To find those commonalities within their shared 'Truths', the search cannot be directed to the present. Instead, these religions must be stripped clean and taken back to their original beginnings, their roots before they became organized religions. In their beginnings, there were only the 'founding sources', 'divine sparks' and 'revelation'. In those 'founding' moments; 'Truths' were revealed that equally apply to all human beings. Those founding 'Truths' are 'Universal' and belong to everyone. This book searches for those 'Truths' by exploring the lives and teachings of the Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Mohammed, Confucius, Lao-tzu, Abraham, Moses and the many other prophets and teachers who provided the initial spiritual inspiration that brought these religions into existence. The book is formatted to discuss each of the religions within separate, self-contained chapters. It then concludes with a 'Commentary' section. This part of the book searches within these religions for those shared principles and teachings. This book can function both as a book for individual study or can be used as a textbook for comparative religion study.

Book Synopsis

The full title of this book is: "The Universal God, The Search for God in the Twenty-First Century". This book is written as a 'spiritual' quest to find God. The emphasis within this search is on the 'spiritual' and not the 'traditional' vision of God. The objective of this book is to allow the reader to independently search, define and better understand God's 'potential' within their own individual lives. There probably are no two readers who will read this book and come away with the exact same set of conclusions at the book's end.

The search begins within the major modern religions: Hinduism, Confucianism/Taoism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each of these religions, in their own ways reveal God to us; sometimes in visions that are 'shared in common' with each other; and sometimes, in very startling and different visions. Within the context of this book, the author will discuss both those shared visions as well as those visions that are different and unique from each other.

This book differs from most of the other comparative religion books that are on the market. The 'dogmas, religious practices and rituals within each of these religions are not discussed in any in-depth detail. The book instead focuses its search on those 'divine sparks' and 'spiritual inspirations' that originally brought each of these religions into existence. The comparisons within this book are focused on the lives, direct spiritual teachings and theologies of those individuals and sources that gave birth and sparked the founding of each of these religions. If we are to find God's 'Spirituality', it must come from going directly back in time to each religions' inspirational origins. The book is written to make direct comparisons between what Jesus said, to what the Buddha said, to what Mohammed said, to what Krishna said, to what Confucius said, to what Moses (and the other Jewish prophets) said, and to what Lao-tzu said. When the founding teachings (which are the direct spiritual source of each of these religions) are compared, they are found to have many teachings that are 'shared in common' with each other.

The book is divided into three major sections. The first section introduces the premise for the book; establishes definitions that will allow the reader to understand the differing terminologies that each of the religions use; and then, provide guidelines for understanding the remainder of the book. The second section introduces and discusses each of the religions within their own individual and self-contained chapters. The third section is titled 'Commentary'. This section discusses the many teachings and beliefs that these religions do have in common with each other, as well as give explanations for those beliefs that are unique and individual to only one of the religions.

This book can equally function as a book for individual study or be used as a textbook for comparative religions study.

About the Author

For most of my life, I have been on a spiritual quest. As a child, questions arose within me that I could not answer. I could not understand why; if Jesus loved all the children of the world, why would Christian children alone be the ones that he would save? If God is our Father, why is He Father to Christians only? He surely had to be everyone's Father. At that time, I had no answers, but my list of questions kept growing within me. By the time that I began my college years, I finally was able to formally begin my personal 'quest' and the search for those answers. This began a lifetime passion. My journey brought me to: Christian Mysticism: Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, Meister Eckhart, St Anthony, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Merton, William Blake, Joseph Campbell, W. Summerset Maugham; Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths, The Eightfold Path, Zen Buddhism, J. T. Suzuki, meditation, walking meditation, Koan meditation, running meditation, Dalai Lama, Tibetan Book of the Dead, more meditation, Pursuit of Bodhisattva, Mind Science; Zoroaster; Kahlil Gibran; Houston Smith; Joseph Gaer; Vedanta Teachings: The Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads, Eknath Easwaran, Mantra meditation, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raj Yoga, reading meditation; Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching, I Ching; more meditations; Sufism, Hafez of Shiraz, Maulana Rumi and still more meditation. On this 'mish-mash' of a 'spiritual journey', many things came together and made sense; but other things continued to be contradictive and confusing. Then Meher Baba entered my life. As I began to read, study and meditate upon his teachings; all my contradictions and confusions disappeared. His teachings fill in the missing blanks and made this journey become whole and fulfilled. He brought coherence and structure to my search.

The conundrum that a 'spiritual journey' requires is that the journey must be made internally, within the seeker's 'mind' and 'soul'. The truths and insights gained are often difficult to articulate outward. Spirituality drives the seeker to focus one's consciousness inward.

Life itself, however, intervenes and requires that it is lived out in the opposite direction. We are of the world and life's journey must be lived 'out there' in that world. In the living of my life: I am married with two grown children and four grandchildren. I graduated from college with an undergraduate degree and a masters' degree in Economics. I spent most of my professional career working in a variety of jobs that required analytical, statistical and writing skills. I am now retired. I have found that my greatest joys in retirement have been found in spending time with my wife and playing with our grandchildren and our dog.

Retirement, however, has also allowed me to reflect upon my 'spiritual journey' and to begin deciphering and organizing the contents of that journey. This late life inspiration has given me the opportunity to bring out that which I had held privately within me for so long. Through the writing of this "Universal God" trilogy, I am hoping to share with you the reader what I have learned from this 'spiritual journey' that has consumed so much of my inner life.