Outcalt - Common Ground: Lessons and Legends from the Worlds Great Faiths

Copyright 2015 by Todd Outcalt

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Print ISBN: 978-1-63220-552-0

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-969-6

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

To the Parents

Ed & Pauline Outcalt

Bill & Marilyn Osburn

Honor your father and your mother is written among the most important laws of righteousness

Aeschylus, 450 BCE

The Fable

A man who wrote fables was passing through a secluded forest when he met Fortune. The Fabulist attempted to flee, but Fortune pursued until he captured the Fabulist.

Why did you try to run away? asked Fortune. And why do you regard me with so much animosity?

Well, answered the Fabulist, I dont know what you are.

I will tell you what I am, said Fortune. I am wealth. I am respectability. I am beautiful homes. I am a yacht and a clean shirt each day. I am leisure and I am travel. I am fine wine and a shiny hat and a warm coat. I am enough to eat.

Very well, said the Fabulist in a whisper. But for goodness sake speak softer.

Why? asked Fortune.

So as not to wake me, replied the Fabulist.

Preface

T his book was written during troubled times. Wars, violence, ecological disasters, hunger, the Ebola crisis, and political upheavals: All of these and more dominated the news. But perhaps it has always been so.

And yet one might think that shouting and name calling has become the preferred method of conversationwhile listening (and hearing) is disregarded. People of differing philosophies and religions now seem to regard each other as mortal enemies instead of living by those peaceable precepts that could build a harmonious society. Even the greatest teachings of the past seem to be cast aside in exchange for hateful rhetoric or morphed into philosophies that prefer death to life.

My hope with Common Ground is that people from all walks of life, from divergent faiths and differing perspectives, can discover beauty and pleasure in what they do not yet know, but might learn from the great teachers and sages of the past. Not all faiths and philosophies are the same, of coursebut in fact, each is unique and should be honored as separate and solitary by rights and personal choice.

Nevertheless, one can discover common truths within the diversitywonderful and beautiful parables, teachings, stories, morals, and mysteriesthat can be bridges to understanding and peace. One learns when one encounters the new idea, the different idea. And through learning, through openness, one begins to appreciate the vast trove of teaching literature that exists, and which can eventually create a common ground with others.

A book can be a bridge, too. And this one celebrates the one joy that can be known through a deeper understanding of the many.

Introduction

And so, in all interactions, the superior person carefully considers the beginning .

I Ching

No one begins building a tower without first considering whether he can complete it .

Jesus

T here are many ways people can encounter truththrough wisdom, example, prayer, story. But much truth is conveyed through metaphorthose images that produce a surplus of meaning and cause one to ponder the deeper layers beneath. Metaphors stand at the center of many teaching storiesboth religious and moral and humorousand serve as an invitation to place oneself inside the meaning. As such, metaphors are rarely transparent and more commonly produce questions than answers. This is their intent.

Superior metaphors are also able to cross time and culture. They speak to the human condition and to truth regardless of place or circumstance. These metaphors are ubiquitous, universal, common.

Take the metaphor of a tree.

This image has been used in all cultures, times, and places to address deeper truths, and the tree frequently stands at the center of a revelation or teaching.

Consider, for example, the first chapters of Genesis, where the tree of life and the tree of good and evil appear. The tree is many things: a source of life, an invitation, a temptation, a symbol of that which is lost. And later, in Exodus, the burning bush of Moses hearkens back to these earlier themes of life, invitation, human weakness, and the call of God. Jesus used the metaphor of the tree in numerous parables: a tiny mustard seed that grows into a giant, sheltering bush; a farmer who determines the health of a tree by observing its fruit; vines that are pruned so that they can produce abundant fruit; seeds that fall on various types of soils. And at the end of the Christian scriptures, the book of Revelation contains an image of the tree of paradise, its branches arching and leaves providing healing for the nations.

The Buddha also used the metaphor of the tree to speak of the importance of roots, of fruitfulness, of joy. So did Confucius. And there are thousands of Native American stories that speak of the whispering pines and the towering strength of the sycamore through which the Great Spirit speaks.

St. Francis, who lived in the thirteenth century, sang praises to the sun, moon, and starsbut also reveled in the metaphor of the tree:

Dear mother earth, who day by day unfoldest blessings on our way,

The flowers and fruits that in thee grow, let them Gods glory also show.

In this collection, one will discover marvelous fruits that have been harvested from many voices. This tree is large, and varied, but the reader will certainly find ample shade and encouragement through the stories, tales, and teachings represented in this amazing tree of wisdom.

One doesnt have to bite into every fruit, of course. These teachings will be sweeter to some than to others, not all will taste the same. But that is also the beauty of variety. Metaphors have the power to change flavors and a metaphors impact can be much stronger in certain seasons of life. Even if one is not familiar with a certain fruit, it can be fun to bite into a new variety.

My hope is that Common Ground will contain something for everyoneand that every reader will be able to enjoy some new or exotic fruit every time these pages are opened. Moreover, I trust that readers will appreciate the deep roots and the over-arching branches of truth that these stories contain.

Of course, every reader will have favoritesbut may also gather some low-hanging fruit that may have previously been overlooked. One doesnt have to hate one fruit in order to enjoy another.

Centuries ago, Aesop spoke of this truth in his fable about a hungry fox:

A hungry fox noticed some delicious-looking grapes hanging on the vine. But as he attempted to eat the fruit he discovered that the clusters were beyond his reach. No matter how fast he ran and leaped, he could not attain even a single grape. Walking away from the vine the fox said, The fruit was no good anyway. I dont need these sour grapes.