22 replies to this topic

[linttrap]

I threw off a lot of beliefs just by asking myself: Why?

Mostly, it was about the rules in my head concerning what I should do, how things should be.

Examples: If you are having fun it can't be "work". That's the Puritan heritage of most Americans. Having fun means you aren't doing something productive and that is BAD.

Once you get those rules about "you" sorted out, you can start on the bigger issues. First the Social.
Why is it more polite, e.g. better, if I lie? To be nice you have to lie? If my best friend is dating a psychopath who is going to kill her, why wouldn't I tell her the truth?
Why are some words unusable, especially the more emotional ones? Golly gee just doesn't convey my emotions adequately. Holy **** does it justice.

Political....Religious...Spiritual....if you are rigorous they will all be scrutinized.

There is truth inside you, but most people lie to themselves about so many things, it takes a long time to get to the reality of your world....not the reality you have been taught. There are things that will stop you dead when you ask: Why? When you back away from that question in horror, that is the very one you should examine.

Is this the life I want to live? Is this the partner I want to spend the rest of my life with? Do I like my children? Where am I really having fun, feeling pleasure?

If you can't get past the most basic questions, you can never get to the larger ones: What will be the last thought I have just before I die?

Personally, I find this question to be the most challenging but also rewarding. My answer keeps changing, and I don't reject whatever the new answer is when it comes.

When the question: Why? doesn't get you where you want to go, try the question: So what?

If I quit my job I won't have an income!! So what? I need X amount of income to support my family. So what? Can you live on less money?

That will take you into dangerous territory---Why do I support a 23 year old who doesn't work? Why do my kids need hundred dollar blue jeans? What's really wrong with clothes from the thrift store?

Ad Nauseam. And you WILL get sick if you pursue this approach.

It never gets you to the answer to the question about Life. the Universe, and Everything (we already know that answer is 42) but at various points you get to rest and think you have made it.

Why?

[Hilander]

I've seen a ghost so I absolutely believe they are real but I still don't believe everything that I read.  People will lie and often do but there are some stories that are true.

[Beany]

Ryu, on 11 November 2012 - 09:39 PM, said:

What? Learning? Sort of. It can be hard if all you hear is one side of any topic and often just hearing another view is enough of an impetus to look into it further.

No, I was thinking about keeping an open mind, I think. For myself, I keep discovering beliefs I've held without even being aware of them. When I become aware, then I re-examine them to see if they serve or have any foundation in fact. I'm just wondering whether you go through a similar process.

[Ryu]

There is a difference between keeping an open mind and being gullible; often the line between the two can be blurred.

However being open minded doesn't mean one must accept anything that comes along as being potentially valid but yes, I have learned to be more aware of what I "believed" especially if it was because a family member believed the same things.

[bLu3 de 3n3rgy]

Anyone who is invested in developing themselves should actively take interest in monitoring and identifying their societal programmed belief systems and breaking down the ones which don't serve them. Only the individual can be the judge of what they think serves them and what doesn't.  And really if everyone did this, and focused on their own paths, instead of trying to convert, argue and berate everything which differs to their beliefs, then maybe just maybe the human race could evolve a little. What if the whole point of having beliefs and learning to monitor/process them, was so we can evolve our perceptions. Our perceptions and interpretations are shaped by our belief systems.

[White Unicorn]

Hilander, on 12 November 2012 - 12:05 AM, said:

I've seen a ghost so I absolutely believe they are real but I still don't believe everything that I read.  People will lie and often do but there are some stories that are true.

I'm with you no matter what the subject is.  

There's some amazing things out there that skeptics say no such thing and some believers believe about any garbage that comes their way then get all disillusioned and become die hard skeps even if a truth is thrown in their face by someone. It's sad in a way.

I try to be an living walking question mark.  Analyze and don't take all things for face value but be open minded. Reflect on your beliefs, was it just an upbringing belief for a religion or what ever?  If you aren't opened minded you won't experience some pretty amazing things that exist that you might just brush off.  Personal experiences are the things that make you believe but even then you should analyze your own perceptions if you want to find the deeper meaning of all your experiences.

[Ryu]

bLu3 de 3n3rgy, on 13 November 2012 - 12:12 AM, said:

Anyone who is invested in developing themselves should actively take interest in monitoring and identifying their societal programmed belief systems and breaking down the ones which don't serve them.

This point can't be stressed enough. If we held the same beliefs all our lives, we simply don't grow, period.
I think the Buddha said it perfectly when he said this:

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

It's true when you take a step back and ponder it, how often do we, as a society, simply swallow what we are told because mommy, daddy, teacher or some other self-proclaimed authority "told us so".
Just because someone says something, no matter how many degrees he claims to have, doesn't mean it is true or valid.

[AwakenAscension]

It is important to find your OWN truths in life and not adapt another's for something to "latch onto". Your very own PERFECT religion and its own set of beliefs are already locked inside. Explore them. It is an adventure. The source of one's longing for "beliefs" comes from a deep need to find the true self. Do not replace or supplement that with someone else's.