Since the Seventies, Buddhism has become highly popular in the West.  It's not hard to see why.  It promises a path to inner peace and contentment, a way to deal with the multiple stresses that seem to afflict so many in the West, a doorway to set oneself in harmony with all living things.  Buddhism offers a way to find personal satisfaction and wholeness without having to entangle oneself in various permutations of religious dogma.
     I thought about this, again, as I  attended a talk given by a friend of mine at a Unitarian Universalist service recently.  For her, Buddhism has provided solutions to the angst of her life challenges.  It has improved her life considerably.  She has found her way forward.
     Periodically, I get together with a Buddhist monk.  Born in Sri Lanka, he has been in the U.S. for over twenty years.  He meditates hours each day and radiates peace in his every word.  Although we differ greatly on what constitutes God and truth, we enjoy getting together.
     That's the point.  While I would like for the monk and my friend to take hold of, in a personal way, the tenets of Christianity, I genuinely enjoy them as fellow human beings who are created in the image of God.  God has made a remarkable world and filled it with remarkably diverse human beings.  Each one of us is extraordinary and amazing.  We all can learn from each other, we all can help each other.  And we all can come to understand that, in the big picture, none of us would be here if the universe were not infused with love as well as holiness which, together, constitute the essential ground and nexus of purpose and meaning.
     Indeed, only if God is both will the universe ever make sense.