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When I first heard about Dr. Dahesh, his story evoked in me two feelings: either his followers are crazy, or his legend presents a fascinating real life story, from which one needs to draw certain conclusions. Aside from the miracles that he had performed that defy the imagination and leave us speechless, I retained, mainly, his message about the unity of religions. It is through this huge door that I became a believer in God.
To discover Dr. Dahesh is to take a slow path towards God by opening up to the beauty and diversity of the world’s religions. Until this discovery, my only knowledge of the Bible was about its main characters and the Gospels. I had always found these stories fascinating, but at the same time, I was very far from crossing the bridge that kept me from joining the faithful and believing in God. I come from an atheist background where priests and religions are considered to be synonymous with the world’s misfortunes and suffering and where there is a complete confusion about God and the suffering of mankind through religious wars.
I started to discover God through Islam and its Holy book, the Qu’ran, and by learning the history of Mohamed. I discovered an incredible religion where one could establish a dialogue directly with God without an intermediary—an idea that conflicted with established opinions and customs of that era and provided a liberating religion open to all. The Sufis had showed me the way to religion and to God’s unity. I would discover that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim thinkers each take a different path that leads them to the same God and truth. My search then led me towards Buddhism and Hinduism. To realize that one quarter of mankind believe in reincarnation makes one think about its true meaning—beyond the standard thoughts and scepticism present in the western world. Buddha’s wisdom and the tremendous work of Gandhi on self-sacrifice and discipline are absolutely fascinating and lead us to change our perspective about the concerns and events of our everyday life.
My road continued on to Palestine and the search for Jesus. All the recent historical studies describing the world in which he lived in makes his life even more extraordinary and his influence immense. The added dimension of miracles in the life of Jesus makes it similar to Daheshism. In fact, the Daheshist philosophy and teachings gives us a unique and different perspective of Jesus’ life.
Little by little, and thanks to the diversity of world religions, I came closer to Dahesh. It was through him that my heart opened up to all these diverse and fascinating religions and allowed me to discover them through a new light.
At the same time, I met many of Dr. Dahesh’s disciples. I remember Dr. Farid Abou Suleiman who used a word that I had never heard before: metempsychosis. When I am in Beirut, I spent hours with Zeina Haddad. Her words are just like yellow figs—sweet and wonderful! We also spent many hours with Salim Onbargi discussing his travels with Dr. Dahesh. By reading Salim’s autobiography about his relationship with Dr. Dahesh, I really came closer to understand the fascinating life of Dr. Dahesh. While translating it into French, I tasted the true essence of Daheshism. Dr. Dahesh’s house is a place where memory and life meet, where every square centimetre of the mansion can testify to the incredible miracles that took place there and where every brother and sister in Daheshism keeps in his/her heart unimaginable testimonies of faith and where many of their stories are vertiginous. Do they realize what they have really witnessed? Do they appreciate their incredible good-fortune? And most importantly, do they realize their responsibility? They hold a message that have completely changed their lives and that can change the lives of countless others. This message can once again give hope to disillusioned people who have given up faith due to the conflicts and hypocrisy of organized religion.