We eat different types of food to grow and maintain physical health. Regardless of its type, Chinese, Italian, Mediterranean, Indian etc, all foods we eat are converted to proteins vitamins etc and used up by the body. Each ethnic group has their preferences, likes and dislikes, but no one fights regarding type of food. Man cooks many types of food to satisfy his body’s hunger needs.
Let us view religious faith and activities as efforts to fulfill ’higher’ needs, the spiritual needs of human soul. Spiritual ‘hunger’ is less obvious but not less important than physical hunger.
Spiritual enrichment theories, philosophies, theologies and religions are all the result of the never ending quest of human race to find solutions for ‘spiritual hunger’. This ‘hunger’ to love and to be loved is the inner core of human SELF.
The urge to fulfill spiritual needs of the soul was recognized by all religions, teachers and founders. For example Jesus promises hope for those who are ‘poor in spirit’, those who are thirsty and hungry for justice etc. On another occasion, when His disciples reminded him about taking food, he told them that He has food that they never know of. He was referring to spiritual hunger and food.

Unfortunately, human race is still in spiritual starvation. The soul’s SELF actualization needs are not correctly recognized and fulfilled. If we think of the reasons for this with an open mind it is very possible to identify the problem.

We all have the freedom to decide what kind of food we should eat. We appreciate the fact that different people eat different kind of food and do not fight about it. We sometimes share others’ food and appreciate it and compliment others.
However when it comes to theology, religion and spiritual activities, a mutually conflicting than mutually complimentary approach prevails.

When we study the different teachings in the spiritual world, and understand them as man’s research and exploration of the uncertain, unseen world, which are beyond the five human senses, we can approach them without prejudice
What blocks man’s spiritual journey and blur vision is fixations. The ‘mine is better and final’ attitude added with blind faith in certain dogma, blocks free thinking and chances for further exploration.
Also, it can even be seen that there is no need for conflict between science and religion. There was no such division in prehistoric and ancient history times. God, almighty power and spirituality could be treated as assumptions or hypothesis under exploration. Recent advancements in theoretical and metaphysics, psychology , medicine ( transactional analysis, human need theory,) etc are pointing out that human body is not just a machine and physical health is highly related to mental and spiritual health.
If we come out of fixations, various theologies, different religions and science will all join hands in near future. As we go to an international food fair now and select the food we want, we could, in future explore a ‘spiritual fair’ as part of our search for spiritual food, appreciating contributions from various religions and science , and fulfill the higher needs of our souls. While keeping our traditions and faith, like keeping our traditional food habits, we will be able to appreciate other faiths and traditions and jointly work for an enlightened world. We will realize that all are mutually complimentary than conflicting. Satisfaction of needs of our emancipated SELF, this way, would lead to lasting peace.