I'm stunned by the audacity and dualism in Tony Blair's nature. What hope is there for bringing people towards unity if the people preaching it are offering such mixed messages?If you haven't heard, former British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, has diverted that other hypocritical politician, Bill Clinton from Hillary's campaign in order to help launch The Tony Blair Faith Foundation - a somewhat megalomaniacal sounding venture, set up to help bring people with extremist religious beliefs towards some kind of respect and understanding.
Surely though the only people who are ever going to really make a difference are those who can teach by example?
I can't think of a worse role model than Tony Blair and his cronies to undertake this task.
Here is a man who sent thousands of young men and women into a war that wouldn't even have involved our country if he hadn't been trying to ingratiate himself into the Bush Administration. In doing so he divided our Nation and taught our young people that it's okay to kill - not a particularly good omen for this type of venture.
Terrorism is now a worldwide problem but it came to our shores from the Middle East as a result of his bad decisions as leader. Extremist factions set out to terrorise innocent civilians in order to make the leadership stand up and make different decisions - not because they hate those innocent people per se. They hate the figureheads of a country because they see in them the same inflexibility that they cannot 'own' in themselves. You can't fight someone who refuses to fight but Tony waded in!
Extremism exists only because of a corresponding polarity. Western leaders refuse to try and understand or accommodate the different religious and cultural viewpoints. They marginalise the people in the East and run roughshod over centuries of cultural beliefs and land ownership (and oil) with their political maneuverings. The West, all so easily blame terrorism on differing religious ideologies when often it is really just a lack of respect for their humanity that 'our enemy' is railing against. Obviously the causes go much deeper than this but in general this is true.
Tony Blair by joining forces, figuratively and literally, with George Bush showed such inflexibility and a lack of understanding towards the beliefs and faith of his own country, yet alone others, that for him to now set up this foundation to promote 'understanding' is , to my mind, breath-takingly hypocritical and two faced.
Tony - Atone. It's got a ring about it. This is what I think he is trying to do. Tony Blair took decisions that with hindsight, he can plainly see were wrong. It's highly likely that he is feeling the need to atone for his actions - to give something back in some way. He gambled with people's lives hoping that if all went well, it would increase his popularity. It didn't and this latest move just smacks of someone who is publicly struggling with their ego and inability to sit with his past choices. Ironically, if he had just had the courage to say 'No, I want to become part of the solution not the problem, we will not go to War under my leadership and if my party or the country don't agree then I will stand down'. He would have made more impact in that one sentence than any 'Foundation' is ever going to do.
As many newspapers headline today - Religion is the New Politics. It's quite obvious that Barack Obama is a man of principle and he's a torch bearer for a new way. Other politicians see this as a trend and want to jump on the bandwagon but they completely miss the point. The thing about inner integrity is that you just can't fake it or spin it. Old school politicians underestimate the public. They can speak to our heads with their clever speeches, but they won't connect with our hearts.
Tony Blair recently converted to Catholicism. That is like putting a flag up a pole saying this is my faith, these are the dogma's and doctrines I ascribe to. Yet surely it is only the mystic, the person who attaches themselves to no religion and is free of needing to label themselves, who is going to be able to mediate - and he or she will do it only by teaching the religion of the heart.
By all means set this Foundation up 'Tone' - but please don't include your name in it or front it yourself. If you are really committed to doing good, do it from behind the scenes not from behind a lectern. If you can't see sense and you do need something to preach at the endless round of your celebrity filled fundraising balls that will now ensue, perhaps you'll let one of the speeches be this:
The unity of religious ideals shall be possible when the altar of All Religions becomes the altar of each. Whether the holy word is spoken in the East or in the West, it is obvious that the Spirit of Guidance springs forth from one and the same source, and this light can be discovered in all representations of the Divine Presence.
Truth was originally crystallised in various ancestral beliefs, in such religions as Hinduism, Buddhism, the religions of Zoroaster and beni-Israel, in Christianity and Islam as well as in other religions, whether known or unknown to humanity at large. In reality however there is only one Truth.
Truth has never been other than one and the same, whatever might be the interpretations with which it has been doctrinized within the limitations of human understanding all down the ages - a process which has resulted in tragic distinctions and differences, dividing mankind in the name of religion.
True religion is the worshipping of God, whose presence is revealed in all of creation. Therefore it doesn't matter in which house one goes to pray, since God is always present in every worshipping heart, whether or not we are conscious of that Divine Presence.
Perhaps we could start by respecting the beliefs and ideals of others, even though they may differ from our own. This spirit of tolerance when developed could bring about the feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood which is the essence of all religions. The idea 'You and I are different' or 'Your religion is different from my religion' will never unite mankind. Even with the excuse of great faith in one's religion.
True religion is that feeling which can be found within the deepest depths of our being.
WISDOM
is the art of being responsive to the opinions of others
and tolerant of their pre-conceived ideas
while preserving one's own understanding
from the limitations of dogma.
RELIGION
is the path of liberation from the captivity of that illusion
which arises when one assumes a duality
in the unity of love, human and divine.
SPIRITUALITY
is the process of clearing away all aspects of self-assertion
while at the same time searching for the divine impulse
within oneself, which is the source and goal of all creation.
MYSTICISM
is the inner awakening to the reality of the undefinable
which is experienced when the voice of the heart cries aloud,
" This is not my body, this is the Temple of God".
is the art of being responsive to the opinions of others
and tolerant of their pre-conceived ideas
while preserving one's own understanding
from the limitations of dogma.
RELIGION
is the path of liberation from the captivity of that illusion
which arises when one assumes a duality
in the unity of love, human and divine.
SPIRITUALITY
is the process of clearing away all aspects of self-assertion
while at the same time searching for the divine impulse
within oneself, which is the source and goal of all creation.
MYSTICISM
is the inner awakening to the reality of the undefinable
which is experienced when the voice of the heart cries aloud,
" This is not my body, this is the Temple of God".
Taken from lectures from Hidayat Inayat Khan











