The Message That Comes From Everywhere: Exploring the Common Core of the World's Religions and Modern Science

By Gary L. Beckwith

The book focuses on the similarities between the world's religions.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0970112564
• ISBN13: 9780970112569
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Harmony Institute
• Length: 168 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 9 years and up

Customer Reviews

An astounding construction of parallelisms

The Message That Comes From Everywhere: Exploring The Common Core Of The World's Religions And Modern Science by Gary L. Beckwith is a unique and informative work that focuses on the similarites, rather than the differences between religions worldwide. An astounding construction of parallelisms through diverse belief systems, and a fascinating essay to read cover to cover, The Message That Comes From Everywhere is strongly recommended reading for non-specialist general readers with an interest in spirituality, metaphysics, and the intertwined contemporary relationships between religion and science.

Illuminating Embrace

With the illumination from a long-term view of humanity's embrace with the spiritual, Gary channels a spectrum of diverse religions and scientific beliefs through a crystal of common themes to produce a message carried within an incandescent laser of peace and hope. The total energy of terror's darkness from today's headlines and humanity's short-term wars of ignorance, fear and hatred is far less than one-calorie of energy from Gary's common heart-lines of wisdom, courage and compassion. Thank you Gary for the message and clear and concise framework for our religious study group.

Is world peace possible through religion and science?

When I heard about The Message That Comes From Everywhere, my first thought was that someone had finally come up with an easy-to-read book that examines the similarities among the world's religions and science.Growing up in a culturally mixed household that included both Eastern and Western values, I always wondered how God could possibly punish good, non-Christian people, something I learned in church school. The idea that these people--my friends--would go to hell for not embracing Christianity was both perplexing and disturbing. This confusion was reinforced when I watched war films in which Catholic priests blessed both Allied and Axis troops before going into battle. It was even more disturbing to learn that Christians, Moslems, and Jews all worshipped the same God, but killed and maimed each other in His name. Early on I developed a belief that God was much bigger than religion, it was the only way I could rationalize what was happening in the world.This belief was always in the back of my mind, but I never quite had the motivation or time to look into the matter. The need to pore over dozens of archaic, arcane academic and religious books was enough to keep me away. However, my curiosity never waned, especially when I first learned about the physics of energy--the idea that it is everywhere and cannot be created or destroyed. Why is that so? And just what is it? Could it represent God? Could it be God?Beckwith's book is perfect for people wishing to quickly explore the similarities among the world's religions and science. In essence, Beckwith has done the research I've always wanted to do. He painstakingly documents similarities and backs up his findings with quotes from scores of scriptures and texts. He also offers a fascinating examination of modern scientific research and its possible relationship to God. However, the book goes beyond a simple reporting of findings. Beckwith invites readers to clear their minds of preconceived notions and to become receptive to new thoughts and ideas. This is important because the teachings of many religions and political philosophies discourage the consideration of new ideas, or connect ideas with future cataclysmic events. Furthermore, the scientific community often ridicules those questioning the current paradigm. Those with closed minds will not benefit from this book. For example, if you don't believe in God you might conclude that Beckwith's work has no value. This attitude is unfortunate because Beckwith's discussions could open up your thinking to a new perception of the world, one that includes the possibility of God. However, at the same time he does not preach or proselytize--had he done this, I would have put the book down immediately.Beckwith does not have a hidden agenda. He clearly states from the start that his only goal is to increase understanding among the world's people, an understanding that will eventually lead to world peace. In fact, Beckwith cautions readers to be aware of thos

The common teaching of all traditions ancient and modern

Gary Beckwith noticed that, although there were a lot of books that dealt with the underlying thematic unity of the world's religions, there weren't any really good _introductory_ books on the subject. So he wrote one.He did a nice job. His presentation is clear without being oversimplified, and he gets the point across without overstating it.The central theme of the book is that God is One in a deep theological sense -- that, ultimately, reality itself consists of One Mind, omnipresent, all-pervading, describable as both "love" and "light," and present in some special manner in the human soul. This message Beckwith finds not only in all the world's religions but also in modern science.Beckwith himself was raised Jewish and picked up on this theme when he heard the Shema in synagogue one day ("Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad," or "Hear, Israel, Adonai our God, Adonai is one"). Somewhat alienated from his childhood faith, he'd been practicing meditation under the instruction of Lawrence LeShan's 1974 book _How to Meditate_ (an excellent book, by the way) -- and upon hearing the Shema in a new way, he began to wonder whether "God is One" referred to the "oneness" reached via meditation.So he started checking around. And what he found was that, not only did Judaism teach this very "oneness," but so did all the other religions he could find.Perhaps surprisingly, he learned (mostly, it seems, through Fritjof Capra's _The Tao of Physics_) that modern science taught something remarkably similar. So there's a chapter here on science as well. The discoveries of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi library seem to shed some light on the nature of Near Eastern religion during the period when Judaism and Christianity split (and thereby demonstrate that this common message was once less deeply buried than it now is), so he devotes a chapter to these texts as well. A pair of closing chapters suggest that this common teaching can also be found in our everyday lives and that it tells us something about why we're here.The whole presentation is well handled and filled with examples of "parallel" sayings from the various religions and wisdom traditions. And it will probably provide a helpful jolt to the reader who hasn't previously encountered the "message that comes from everywhere."And to his great credit, Beckwith doesn't try to insist that all religions are identical in every respect. First of all, it's only too obvious that they're not; Beckwith limits the commonality to a set of "core" teachings, not to every single aspect of every single religion. Moreover, he's careful to describe the parallels as similarities rather than identities -- and strictly speaking, every similarity that falls short of identity is also a difference. So in Beckwith's hands, the world's religions don't all ooze together into some sort of undifferentiated grey goo; each retains its own character and identity, ringing its own particular changes on the underlying message

A Thoughtful Treatise of Unity

Gary has written a very thought provoking book. Although somewhat controversial in content, he presents a well thought-out treatise on the commonalities of many of the world's religions. His book is exceptionally easy to read, and entices the readers to reexamine their old dogma. The book does not try to force the user in one way or another, but effectively promotes the idea of "unity of kindred". I recommend this book for those who have lost interest in the religions, and as a supplement for those who have embraced one religion or another, and want to further their understanding of how all the various religions have an elemental tie into each other.