We in the West should take investigating divinity more seriously. Religious texts and mystical traditions are making deep existential claims about our lives that we shouldn’t ignore. For example, the Abrahamic faiths believe good and evil will one day be judged by God, and some non-Abrahamic faiths believe in reincarnation.

To start, I think it is important to consider what each text says within its cultural, historical and social contexts. If we fail to read with honesty and try to discern the intent of the authors, we would be poor literary and divine investigators.

When we investigate, we should be careful not to fall into the trap of religious sameness. I have heard the claim before that all religions say the same thing. They simply do not. This is a message that sounds nice and peaceful but is harmful when trying to find what someone might believe to be the existential truth.

Religions are often contradictory to one another when we break down their finer details. Christianity posits that Jesus of Nazareth is God. Islam believes that Jesus, or Isa, was not God but a great prophet. Many non-Abrahamic religions believe in multiple gods or ancestor veneration. It becomes clear, then, that it is incoherent to say all religions say the same thing. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that, across the board, religions offer callings to a higher way of living. They invite us to seek the higher self.

In light of this, someone has to be correct in the conversation of divinity if there are contradictory truth claims. Finding that Ultimate Truth is down to the individual; they should be left alone to search. There is an Ultimate Truth, and it can be found.

I think we should be tolerant, loving, kind and open to different ideas from our own that do not include practices of moral depravity. I also think we should investigate earnestly, each one of us for ourselves, in the search for divinity.