A great writer of fiction and philosophy, Nikos Kazantzakis wrote in his classic novel, “”Zorba the Greek,”” the meditation, “”The highest point a man can attain is not Knowledge, or Virtue, or Goodness, or Victory, but something even greater, more heroic, and more despairing: Sacred Awe!””

To say it differently, the highest level we can attain as human beings is humility before the creator, whoever or whatever that may be.

This means understanding that the truth about God is utterly impossible for humans to comprehend, and that the best we can do is to humble ourselves before the majesty of the universe.

I try to keep this quote in mind whenever I enter into religious or philosophical discussion.

I am not always successful because, unfortunately, I cling to the idea that I am somehow on the right path to knowing those universal truths which all great thinkers strive to know.

In the end, I am always reminded that I am not a great thinker, and that even if I was, I would not be much closer to understanding the secrets of divine creation.

However, I fear that too few people in this world, especially here on campus, take heed of the necessity for humility in religious life.

I see this tragic phenomenon rearing its ugly head in the interaction between the various religious organizations on campus, and this is a fact that needs to be changed if we are to truly be a successful community of religiously diverse inhabitants.

Of particular interest to me is a seminar that took place recently on campus hosted by the Campus Crusade for Christ.

The leaders of major religious organizations on campus held a panel in which they discussed the differences between their respective religions.

I did not attend this event, but I must say that everything I thought would happen at the discussion actually did.

According to the Guardian article that covered the panel, the speakers came away disappointed.

Each of them recalled that the whole discussion centered around polite ways of not talking about the serious issues facing each and all of the major religions, while ignoring or refusing to talk about the similarities.

That was the point of the event. Each and every organization focused on pressing its particular point of view, on attaining victory and supposed virtue over their rivals, without offending them, of course. Such discussion is obviously lacking in “”sacred awe.””

Rather than engaging in petty talk about how all religions are different, we should engage in serious talk about how we are all ultimately searching for the same thing.

In a future seminar, the audience should be allowed to ask questions of any of the speakers on the panel that would include speakers from every religious organization on campus.

For example, the Campus Crusade for Christ should not be the only organization representing all of Christianity, seeing as there are almost 30 Christian organizations on campus, many of which I am sure have vastly different views than the CCC.

Interfaith discussion should be something we embrace wholeheartedly, not something that we shy away from because controversial ideas may be uttered.

This is a university, a place where ideas are supposed to be exchanged freely and questions are supposed to be asked freely. Religion at a university should be no different.

I would participate in this event, and I think many others would too.

Imagine all of the organizations working in communion with one another to find common ground and seek out ways to utilize their strength in unity to make the campus a better place for worship and prayer.

Above all, in searching for sacred awe of the God we all worship in our own way, we would transcend the petty searches for victory and come to understand our own faith more completely.

I challenge myself and the members of each and every religious organization on campus to work toward attaining great humility with our approach to religion, and to work together for a greater understanding of each other.

Let us all seek to attain a sacred awe of creation together.