Fingers Pointing to the Moon by Rod Farmer

Fingers Pointing to the Moon
Rod Farmer

When I was in India, a Hindu holy
man told me, a Western skeptic
and agnostic in religion, that each
religion is a different finger pointing
at the moon, yet too many people
see only the one finger before them
and not the moon itself.

I was given this same image by
a Zen Buddhist in Japan
and I appreciate the humility
and tolerance built into the fingers
pointing at the moon idea,
and I like to see the moon
from the perspectives of all
the many pointing fingers;
but some true believers want
only their own fingers to point
at the moon, they want to break
all the other fingers, including
my own nondenominational finger.

When I read in the newspaper of
religious fanatics in America
and abroad, true believers, flying
planes into buildings, setting off
bombs, trying to force their
religions into public school,
reading all this, in fear I want
to hide all of my fingers in my
pockets, but instead I go outside
and point my finger at the moon.