the NATURE of REALITY
Today someone said hi to me in the hallway here at work. It was nice and I felt good about being noticed. Then I got into the elevator and the door closed. I was struck with the feeling that what I perceive is what my reality is.Follow me here: Your eyes show you the world, images of people around you. Your ears hear things. Your brain processes it all and your thoughts and emotions about everything around you and yourself. Your brain does this. YOUR brain. This is YOUR reality. Reading this is YOUR reality. How you experience what I write at this moment, at the moment you read it, is YOUR reality.
Now understand that everyone in the world, regardless of station, creed, race, whatever. Everyone. Everyone in the world has a different way of experiencing everything. Separate realities. 7 billion separate realities.
There is no way to completely understand anyone else's reality.
COEXIST
HISTORY of the IMAGE
The current coexist bumper sticker is a redesign of the original.
It uses the peace sign, stylized male/female symbol, a pagan symbol and the Yin Yang symbol as well as the Islamic crescent, Jewish star of David and Christian cross. The original COEXIST image was designed by Piotr Mlodozeniec in 2001 for Museum on the Seam. It was "...intended it to be used to promote religious tolerance..." (link)
The symbol was then used by U2 for a world tour, and used to promote the Coexist Foundation, a non-profit organization.
There is a crisis of understanding that tears at the social fabric of societies around the world. Globalization has outpaced understanding, creating divisions that plague societies with prejudice, misinformation, hate, and violence.
The Coexist Foundation is a non-profit organization creating understanding across divides.
Since 2006, the Coexist Foundation has forged a range of inspiring initiatives to create understanding through education and innovation.
the BUMPER STICKER
I am not personally offended by these stickers but I feel that they are insulting religions. What religion wants their icon used as a letter in an English word? Wouldn't it be better to write in some normal font, "World religions should coexist" instead of using sacred icons improperly? In some cases, it is against the beliefs of said 'coexisting' religions for their icons to be used by non-believers. Isn't that the nature of religions, after-all? ...an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views... according to Wikipedia.Their sacred beliefs. Their reality. Not everyone else's reality. Or as this blogger puts it,
Despite the desire to overcome modernistic fights to truth claims in the co-exist camp, they have fallen guilty of their own command. In a desire to co-exist, they claim the upper hand, which is the very thing they are trying not to do.More and more, later.
