Hand = Image of Divine

Bede would hold up his hand. Imagine that that the 5 world religions were the fingers of your hand. If you look at your fingertips, they are so different. If your thumb represents Christianity and your little finger represents Buddhism, these 2 religions appear to be 180 degrees apart.

But as you follow your fingers down to your palm, they draw closer together. And so do the different religions. When you reach the palm, the fingers merge into one space. As do the religions, all converge onto the same sacred concept of the Divine.

Go to Bede Griffiths, Spirituality for Today for lovely and profound thoughts about this mystic.

Bede Griffiths OSB Cam^[1] (17 December 1906 – 13 May 1993), born Alan Richard Griffiths and also known by the end of his life as Swami Dayananda ("bliss of compassion"), was a British-born Indian Benedictine monk who lived in ashrams in South India and became a noted yogi. He has become a leading thinker in the development of the dialogue between Christianity and Hinduism. Griffiths was a part of the Christian Ashram Movement.