I was raised Catholic, but very loosely. I was always drawn to the teachings of goodness but when confronted by, and rebuking immediately, the idea that God would send most of the world to eternal hell for not being Christians my mother assured me that everyone was on their way to heaven, they were just different roads. I scoured all religions for their truths, and found that all of the pieces made sense as part of the whole . And it seemed obvious to that just like everything else we have learned here on Earth, the differences were just like differences in languages and scientific discoveries: the pieces were translated by peoples of different language and environmental context etc. But the single most 'shocking' thing I came across was a couple of years ago, i somehow started reading a book called 'No God but God' by Reza Aslan and in it he said the Mohammad very clearly said that he was speaking of the same God and teaching the same principles that Abraham and Jesus had. I had always known it, but to see how clearly it was stated was mind blowing. How are people STILL fighting, when it is not only obvious but stated by the teachers themselves? Every time a reformation comes, because the messages get warped or commandeered purposefully for political reasons, all spiritual teachers come back to very similar simple premises, and yet we are STILL killing each other in their names. People can recite and reiterate huge passages and prayers, follow strict behavioral guidelines, which are really just the fingers pointing to the moon, and yet they just do not hear what they are saying or really grasp it.