Well the parliament is truly underway and the colours, clothes and the variety of religious practices are truly an appetizing morsel for one starved of spiritual enlightenment.
Despite whatever faith one belongs to, being able to listen to some of these global spiritual leaders in whatever panel discussions they have been involved in has been for me akin to attending a banquet of some of the most richest foods. From this, I have taken concepts of meditation, diet, patience, non violence and how to truly understand the other person.
What has been refreshing has been to sit down and engage openly with people of different faiths in an attempt to find out more about our ignorance of each other. This has been one of the highlights of the event so far.
There are many questions people have of Islam for example which people have been coming to me about and some of them are genuinely due to a lack of knowledge. Hence it has been good to be able to sit down with them and talk to them about some of their fears.
Walking within the conference halls, it is not surprising to bump into Dr Hans Kung, Anwar Ibrhaim, Shri Ravi Shankar or a native American leader. These chance meetings and 5 minute conversations definitely make up for the time and cost of coming all the way to Melbourne.
Amjad Saleem
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