Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Beliefs

Some people truly believe that they are saved and that they will go to heaven when they die, some believe that they are not awakened and that they have to do something about it, some believe that selfishness and competitiveness is in our biology and that we should encourage such behavior. Some believe that they are stupid, some believe that they are ugly and some believe that the skin color of other people is important.

What are we, really, without our beliefs about the world and ourselves? Is it possible to live without beliefs? I don't think so.

Most of our beliefs are not our own. We have mindlessly adopted them from our family and friends, from books and from our education. Our family and friends have in turn adopted their beliefs from others.

Sometimes we hold on strongly to beliefs that we don’t like; sometimes we hold on strongly to conflicting beliefs and sometimes we lie and say that we believe in something but secretly we believe something else.

Mostly we are not aware of what we believe. I think that it is very important to find out everything we can about our beliefs and then we should question them.

Moreover, we should question all beliefs, not only our own, because other people try all they can to force their beliefs down our throat. Sometimes they use cunning tricks, like mothers who coax a stubborn baby to eat another spoon of mashed banana. The advertising industry and the political campaign makers knows all about this. Beliefs should not be ignored. They affect our lives to an enormous extent.

Well, some beliefs are pretty harmless, I suppose, if you believe in UFO’s or astrology for example. Other beliefs are more important and some beliefs extremely important. Some people have to kill themselves because they believe that their life has no meaning and some people have to kill others because they believe that they have to kill infidels.