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   %LOVE ACCEPTANCE RECONCILIATION ISOMORPHISM MATH 961228
                                                          
     Many  religious traditions have much in  common,   if
only  those  who are followers of the traditions  seek  to
recognize  what  they  have  in common  in  spite  of  the
differences  between  how they express what they  have  in
common.                                                   
                                                          
     We  do  not all express what we have in common  in  a
common  way.   Often we express what we have in common  in
different  ways---and  fail to seek to recognize that  our
different  ways  of saying what is important to  us  often
conceals  how  similar  we  are in our views  of  what  is
important to us.                                          
                                                          
     Many people are preoccupied with identifying how they
are  better  than other people are.   Often people  regard
themselves  as  better than other people because  of  what
they  regard is most important and how they say what  they
regard  as most important.    Because they say  what  they
regard  as  most important in a ways which  are  different
than  how other people say what is most important---people
often  regard themselves as better than each other;   even
though  what  they regard as most important is similar  or
identical.    What  is different is the language in  which
they say what is most important to them.   Because they do
not  seek to see beyond that difference in expressions  of
what   is   most  important---people  with  very   similar
religious beliefs  as  regards what  is most important are
often in conflict with each other; if not at war with each
other.                                                    
                                                          
     We need to focus more attention upon what we hold  in
common;  and less attention upon our differences.  What we
hold  in  common serves as the basis for  cooperation  and
conflict  resolution.   Our differences are often used  as
excuses for attacks upon each other.                      
                                                          
     When  we are seeking to cooperate with each other  on
the  basis  of what we hold in common we do from  time  to
time   need  to  deal  with  our  differences  openly  and
honestly;   doing so in terms of what we have found to  be
what  we  hold in common.   This is possible once  a  firm
foundation has been laid in terms of mutual understandings
of what we hold in common.                                
                                                          
     It  is  rare  for  people who  are  preoccupied  with
differences and grounds for excluding each other from open
and  honest  dialogue---to  call a  halt  to  hostilities,
conflicts  and violence in order to seek to identify  what
they have in common.  Hostilities,  conflicts and violence
do  not  lay firm foundations for any effort  to  identify
what people have in common in terms of ideals,  values and
principles which they regard as most important.           
                                                          
     In  light  of  the  above it is prudent  to  work  to
identify  what we hold in common as most  important---even
though we express our attitudes, assumptions, convictions,
beliefs, and ideals in contrasting language.              
                                                          
     We  need to learn from mathematicians and  physicists
who have found that in many situations great truths can be
presented in greatly contrasting ways which are said to be
"isomorphic"   with each other.   Rules can be found which
show   that  statements  in  one  manner   of   expression
correspond  exactly  to  statements in another  manner  of
expression.  This is the essence of Einstein's Theories of
Relativity;   the  theories say how  measurements  in  one
system of measurements can be shown to correspond  exactly
to apparently contradictory measurements in another system
of  measurements.    Similarly  the early  theory  of wave
mechanics  was  shown  to be isomorphic  with  the  matrix
theory of quantum mechanics.  Newton's Theory of Mechanics
was  shown  to  be  isomorphic  with  the  Lagrangian  and
Hamiltonian   formulations   of  Mechanics.     Yet   each
formulation  has its one circumstances in which it is more
advantageous than another formulation.   They say the same
things in different ways which turn out to be advantageous
in  different  circumstances.   Perhaps religious  leaders
could  be  successful  in  efforts  to  work  together  to
discover  the  isomorphisms between what  their  religions
affirm and thus lay firm foundations for the transcendence
of religious conflicts and wars.                          
                                                          
                         (c) 1997 by Paul A. Smith in     
                      "Search for Integrity and Honesty"  
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)

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