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How Drinking from Alien Spiritual Wells Has Enriched My Life

How Drinking from Alien Spiritual Wells Has Enriched My Life

Last updated on: February 22, 2017 at 1:13 pm by Guest Contributor

How Drinking from Alien Spiritual Wells Has Enriched My Life 2017-02-22T13:13:22-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

By Dr. Rob Sellers

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Dr. Rob Sellers

For almost two decades, my life has been enriched and my commitment to the Christ Way deepened through study of the world’s great religions and relationships with many of their followers. To use a biblical metaphor, there have been times when my soul was parched and I drew water—satisfying and invigorating—from these “alien wells.”

Someone might ask why a Christian would seek spiritual refreshment from “foreign” sources. The biblical passage that convicts me comes from John 4, the story of Jesus’s journey through Samaria, where he stopped to rest at the ancient well Jacob had built in Canaanite territory. It astonished his disciples that he would drink from a Samaritan well and talk with a woman, especially a non-Jew. But Jesus did not hesitate to stop beside that well, to quench his thirst from it, and to engage one who regularly drank its water. I believe this story provides a model for us as his disciples.

Of course, talking about literal wells and actual water, we could easily agree that if we are thirsty, it doesn’t matter where in the world we might be. When we can find a well in a foreign place and the water won’t make us sick, we will readily quench our thirst. But speaking figuratively, the issues become more complex, for whether or not we drink from this alien well does not simply depend upon access to it or the purity of its water.

Jesus uses metaphor to speak of “living water” that “springs up to eternal life.” He takes the literal well and actual water and applies those concepts to shift the conversation to spiritual thirst. The question thus can be asked if “life-giving resources” can be drawn from other spiritual wells.

Here are some reasons offered by several Christian scholars and ministers who argue that other religions can produce spiritually enlivening, nourishing water.

Benedictine abbess and prolific writer Joan Chittister, for example, suggests that our common humanity justifies our drawing from other wells. She writes:

Whatever the distinctions of . . . culture, whatever the time and place in which we have lived, we are all human beings—just human beings. . . . We have at our fingertips . . . a reservoir of wisdom as broad as the sky, as deep as history. [For e]ach great spiritual tradition, in its own way, suggests a model of what it means to be a holy person (Chittister, xi, xiv).

A second reason comes from a prominent ecotheologian, Jay McDaniel, who maintains that we should drink from other wells because our own water may be less than pure. He says, “Many people in different religions are realizing that the water is polluted, and that in order to cease polluting it, they need not only to dig within their own heritages for help but also to learn from other religions” (McDaniel, 140). It is not surprising that one committed to environmental sustainability recommends searching for new sources of “water.” Even a layperson’s more limited awareness of Christian history would reveal that our own spiritual water is not always healthy.

Methodist professor and parish minister, Martin Forward, has an observation that, while not original, certainly deserves repeating. He says that our fractured world desperately yearns for religious people to share with one another, noting:

Although people of distinct religions have lived alongside each other for centuries, the modern world has . . . a special urgency to [be in community], since we now possess the means of destroying the whole created order. [Accordingly,] one hopes that respect for and knowledge of the “other” will lead humankind away from the abyss (Forward, 1).

Another rationale for drawing water from alien spiritual wells comes from Matthew Fox, Dominican priest and author “silenced” by the Vatican for his Creation Spirituality. In his book, One River, Many Wells, Fox argues that the source of water in all the wells is the very same Divine River. James 1:17 calls this common “River” the “Father of Lights,” who—according to John 1:9—“gives light to everyone.” To resource this common groundwater, Fox proposes that we practice “Deep Ecumenism.” He explains:

There is one underground river—but there are many wells into that river: an African well, a Taoist well, a Buddhist well, a Jewish well, a Muslim well, a goddess well, a Christian well, and aboriginal wells. . . . To go down a well is to practice a tradition, but we would make a grave mistake (an idolatrous one) if we confused the well itself with the flowing waters of the underground river. Many wells, one river. That is Deep Ecumenism (Fox, 4-5).

Finally, I mention the provocative premise of retired Presbyterian professor, W. Eugene March, who believes that the multiplicity of wells may actually be God’s good idea. He writes:

There are [some] fifty million species of plants and animal life currently to be found, and it is estimated that perhaps as many as fifty billion have existed at one time or another across the long lifespan of our world. . . . So why should . . . we be surprised or troubled by the reality of different ways to express spirituality? Since diversity seems to be the norm in creation, by analogy a pluralism of religious responses among the people of the world is reasonable to expect (March, 18-19).

Now, what has so profoundly touched my own life in these recent years has not just been recognizing good reasons to draw from alien wells and develop relationships with those who drink from them, but actually practicing that interfaith engagement. No place has been more fulfilling—or thirst-quenching—than the Parliament of the World’s Religions, which I am privileged to serve as Chair. I close by citing only a few spiritual wells and their beneficiaries that have made me a better Christian.

First, I celebrate my friend Andras Corban Arthen, a Spanish-born immigrant American who directs the EarthSpirit Community and leads the organization of European indigenous, pre-Christian traditions. Friendship with Andras, who believes that the Sacred is manifest through the natural world, has deepened my gratitude for the earth and strengthened my resolve to protect it as its caretaker.

I am grateful, also, for Kusumita Pedersen, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at St. Francis College and a follower of Sanatana Dharma, especially of her spiritual master Sri Chinmoy. Embodying her understanding of “sanatana dharma,” that eternal set of duties and practices incumbent upon all Hindus, Kusumita advocates for human rights through the UN and relevant NGOs and engages deeply in the global interfaith movement. This trusted friend and advisor inspires me to seek justice for all.

Then, I have been touched by Kirit Daftary, a Jain businessman and colleague. Kirit begins each very busy day with hours of meditation and prayer, joyfully traveling to India to serve his religious teacher whenever he can. Kirit’s desire for connecting with the Divine and for being with his beloved guru challenge my own perceived busyness whenever I have opportunity to pray or retreat with my Lord.

Alien Wells and those who draw from them—these are important resources for our own growth. Yes, we too have vibrant, living water to share from our own well with our friends. And we must certainly do that if appropriate or invited. But why shouldn’t we also be willing to pause at their wells? Perhaps when we are especially dry and thirsting for righteousness their cup of cold water will refresh our souls!

Chittister, Joan. Welcome to the Wisdom of the World and its Meaning for You: Universal Spiritual Insights Distilled from Five Religious Traditions. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007.
Forward, Martin. Inter-religious Dialogue: A Short Introduction. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2001.
Fox, Matthew. One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths. New York: Penguin Group, inc., 2004.
March, W. Eugene. The Wide, Wide Circle of Divine Love: A Biblical Case for Religious Diversity. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2005.
McDaniel, Jay B. With Roots and Wings: Christianity in an Age of Ecology and Dialogue. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1995.

Dr. Rob Sellers is professor of theology and Connally Professor of Missions at Logsdon Seminary at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas.

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