“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it.”
The Buddha on Belief
from the Kalama Sutta

"But that is the challenge that diversity presents: To honor another without surrendering what is yours. To examine without prejudice. To embrace without avarice. To preserve without arrogance. To listen without ulterior motives. To protect the many faces and languages and cultures is to erect a watchful guard against a homogeny and dilution that -- while it would make the world's lands (and its peoples) much more manageable -- would also destroy much of its power and dignity.

Diversity can chafe us as we scrape up against the challenges of getting along with people whose cultures, religions or beliefs are very different from our own. But on the other hand, the riches inherent in living in a world of dizzying variants provides a hedge against the bleak grayness of a life lived without inquisitiveness, challenge or wonder.

In the end, we are all -- each of us -- different from anyone else. Each life is unique and precious. Each person is a cultural and spiritual treasure that cannot be replaced. Diversity is built into the world and is infused into all of its inhabitants. It is nature's safeguard against complete and utter global extinction.

And, in the end, that may be the tie that ultimately binds us to one another."


Wren Walker
Co-Founder - The Witches' Voice
Monday, January, 13th., 2002

"It's funny when you think about it. I started out believing in fairy tales and superheroes, put them aside when they no longer suited the rapidly darkening world I was forced to live in, and ultimately returned to them in my hour of need. The difference, of course, being that now I am old enough to know the difference between a childhood dream and harsh reality, but smart enough not to care."Russ Sharek, Morpheus Artist