Yet, embarrassing questions come to mind. How come Eternon ideals have been so unsuccessful at bringing peace and harmony upon Earth? How come messages of love, tolerance, and respect for life have become sources of hatred, discrimination, and death?

One reason is that prophets have always been ahead of their time. The average human mind was and remains too small for what they have taught.

Another reason is that the founders of the great religions spoke instead of writing. The Buddhist canon and sutras were passed on by oral transmission for at least 500 years. The first Christian Gospel, that of Mark, was not put down until 30 years after the death of Christ. Humans, unfortunately, make mistakes when memorizing, copying, or translating.

Then, schisms have plagued almost every faith. Following the death of their founder, both Buddhism and Islam split into two branches. In Christianity, two thousand years of interpretation have produced a disconcerting diversity. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and over three hundred Protestant denominations dispute Christ’s legacy.

With all the theological squabbling going on, how can we believe that someone is right and someone is wrong?  Take suicide, for instance. A Catholic will regard suicide as an odious crime against God. A Buddhist will say it is the noble gift of one’s more precious possession. For Eternons who never die, both views are mere human preconceptions: suicide simply does not exist. We should not be so blind as to not see that spiritual Truth is above our petty human disagreements.

Most churches have become as flawed as the secular organizations they imitate. Sober rituals have been replaced by ostentatious pomp. Outstanding doctrines have degenerated into shallow dogmas. Letter and spirit have been twisted to justify oppression and destruction. But today’s most unacceptable aspect of religions is their total lack of integration within the modern world. How can we expect millennia-old propositions to be forever valid in their most minute details? In light of our intellectual maturity, religious accounts often seem puerile legends.

Any metaphysical reflection should, like Eternism, enfold all forms of knowledge. Religions ought to interpret scientific findings to develop more rational doctrines. If Buddha or Christ had known organ transplants, super computers, space probes, and atomic energy, the essence of their messages would still be the same, but not their dialectic.

The various religions are merely beacons placed by Eternons on our path to enlightenment. Our aim is enlightenment, not this or that type of beacon. Some will observe that all efforts to establish a universal religion have failed. But is there a need for one? It is not uniformity that the world longs for, it is solidarity. We all are separate structures. We all may choose our creed, even forge our personal one. But our individual convictions should bring us together; like threads tying us to the same Absolute.

This is the great lesson of Eternism: we must accept Isis and Krishna, Buddha and Lao Tzu, Zoroaster and Christ, Moses and Mohammed. We must accept them all. We must discount the cultural divergences of their messages and embrace instead their common faith.
A faith in infinity, eternity, purpose, and oneness.
A faith in enlightenment and love.
A faith in the Eternons we are.