Dysfunctional beliefs

Religions and spiritual teachings are harmless
as long as you don't take them too seriously.

If you are fully convinced that Christianity is the only belief system that is true
and that those who don't like your interpretation of the Bible will burn in hell,
then you will create problems for yourself and for other people.
You have not secured an eternal life because of this belief.

If you truly believe in ghosts, astrology and evil spirits,
then you are nuts.

If you believe that egotism and greed must have free reign,
that a totally free market is the answer to all problems
and that the super rich should not pay tax
then you are contributing to endless troubles in the world,
climate change, pollution, exploitation.

If you truly believe that life is totally meaningless, then you have a problem.
You have a dysfunctional belief that has nothing to do with the truth.
Etc. etc.

The stronger your dysfunctional beliefs and convictions are,
the more problems they will cause.

However, when you realize that a belief is really just a belief,
a hypothesis, a bunch of thoughts, then you can relax a little
and you will feel better.

And if it should struck you that life may be extremely important
and that all creatures have some kind of incomprehensible purpose
then you will feel a very pleasant kind of relief.

I wish had nicer beliefs

I do not believe that any part of me will live on after death.
This is it. There will not be another show.

I do not believe that there is a future for humankind.
Homo sapiens will die out,
like millions and millions of other species have died out before us
in the biological evolution.

Our time on this earth has been about madness.
We are a mad ape species.
I do not believe that we will change.
I do not believe in spiritual awakening.
A few people here and there may experience a radical change,
they may give up drinking or stop smoking,
they may think that they are born again,
they may feel that they have woken up,
but the majority will not change.
The majority don't care a bit about global warming and pollution.
The majority wants cheap gasoline.
The majority will always follow orders.
The majority will always go to war and commit horrible war crimes
if the superiors tell them to do so.
The inferiors will always believe what their superiors tell them to believe.
(A superior man is also asleep, hypnotized by his beliefs 
If he wakes up he will not be superior to anyone else.
This goes of course also for inferior men. Inferior men are also hypnotized.)

I don't mind if you have found a private belief system
that gives you consolation and reassurance. No problem.
As long as your beliefs don't create to much trouble for me or for other people
you can believe whatever you want.
I don't mind if you believe in angels, ghosts, spirits or Santa Claus.

The organized religions, however, are often extremely harmful.
Followers of religions or different interpretations of the same religion
always seem to go to war to fight each other in horrible wars.
They do not just sing songs or bow down in a certain direction.
Today Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims are fighting each other in Syria and Iraq.
In the seventeenth century Protestants and Catholics were fighting.
Maybe it is our mad ape nature that is the cause of these idiotic wars,
not the religions. Maybe the religions are just excuses. I don't know.
Anyhow, the result will be the same.

Spiritual walls

Religious and spiritual teachers are building walls between people.
If you believe in reincarnation and I don't, you will feel questioned and threatened.

If you believe in an afterlife in heaven together with Jesus and I believe that I shall enjoy myself with 72 virgins when I die, then we will look at each other with deep skepticism here in this world.

If you define yourself as Sunni Muslim and I define myself as Shia Muslim, then we will be bitter enemies.

If you are falling in love with Matt Kahn's teachings and I still have no interest in spiritual teachers, then our friendship will crumble.

etcetera, etcetera

Who are you, without your beliefs, ideas and assumptions?

You will be blessed according to your faith

Not believing in Santa Claus is also a belief. Many of those who don't believe in Santa are like religious fanatics. They try to shove their faith down other people's throats. Neither Pol Pot, Stalin or Hitler believed in Santa. Isn't that telling?  

Beliefs

Some believe they have been saved, others believe they are spiritually awake. Some think they are wonderful, others are convinced they are worthless and that they ought to kill themselves. Some believe they are superior, not because they are stronger or smarter, no,  just because they happened to be born into a family with money; others believe they are inferior. You are not the one you think you are.

Pluralism

We must learn to respect all the different religious faiths. Religious faiths remain extremely important to virtually all people on earth. To question someone's beliefs is to question their soul.

We must learn to respect the IS, al-Shabab, and Boko Haram. We must learn to respect the Hindus' ideas about caste and the right-wing bigotry of the Christian fundamentalists. We must respect the Catholic Church's opposition to condoms. We must understand that if someone loses their faith, they are like a skipper without charts.

Spiritual knowlede

In The Roman Empire, in the second century, there were almost a hundred different Gnostic sects. All these sects were at loggerheads. All were convinced that they had unique knowledge about how the world is designed. Everyone else was wrong. There were also many other competing sects, mystery orders and philosophical schools.

If you're looking for ancient words of wisdom to give weight to your spiritual beliefs, it doesn't matter what spiritual beliefs you have, you can find what you're looking for in the second century Rom.

You can also, of course, find proof that your beliefs are valid in ancient India and China. You can find spiritual wisdom everywhere in the ancient world, but you can't find it here, in your own world.