A lot of people live to perpetuate their beliefs, for their beliefs are all they have. So much has been invested in them that there is no option for a determination of their validity, their source, and the intent behind those beliefs. “What if my beliefs are wrong?” “What if I’ve wasted my time?” “What do I have if not my beliefs?”
What do you have without beliefs? You have a clean slate and an opportunity to be Real!
Beliefs don’t come from experience; they are handed down like malevolent heirlooms from one person to the next. Beliefs are malleable. They can be (and usually are) molded and changed over Time by the beliefs of others. What, then, is the alternative to belief?
The alternative is Knowing.
Knowing comes by the acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge comes by questioning everything. Knowing comes in the living. Knowing comes through experience. If you find the Knowing slow in coming, that’s to be expected. Be patient. Better to know nothing than to believe something. Don’t fake it; pretending to know is as bad as believing. Knowing is unassailable. What you believe can be refuted; what you know is beyond reproach.
How much blood has been shed because of beliefs? How many have died in defense of their beliefs and how many have slaughtered others to satisfy their beliefs? We humans bestow a perverse honor on the concept of dying for our beliefs. If you must die, die for what you know, not for what you believe. Few things can exceed the tragedy and absolute stupidity of dying for your beliefs.
Adherence to belief is adherence to ignorance. There may be no sin greater than the willful clinging to one’s own ignorance. In the words of my teacher’s teacher, “Belief is your enemy.”
Lesson learned?
©Billy Red Horse