Beliefs can be dangerous

[air]

We all have so many beliefs and these beliefs are based on what we have been taught. Maybe, somebody told us something and we believed it. We read a book, we heard something, we experienced something or just a random thought came to us in a flash and we believed it to be true.

Now, what is true and what is not true? How can we differentiate a belief that is true from a belief that is not true? There may be some beliefs that are true and there may be some beliefs which are absolutely false.

Well, principally to know whether a belief is true or false, we must use our vivek or our intellect to realize what we are believing in, whether it has grounds for belief or not. First of all, we must be very level headed to not let any belief take root in our mind without endorsing the logicality, practicality and truth of such a belief. Just because we heard something does not make it true, and though we may have read something, it may be absolutely false. Even the information available on any given subject on the internet contradicts itself - we simply cannot believe blindly. Therefore, people go to sites which can be trusted and are authentic.

Now does it mean that we cannot believe in God? Even the presence of a God is a logical conclusion. We have deducted that there must be something who made this universe and that something must be God, but to believe that God looks like this, talks like this and has such personal attributes is misleading for all this originates from mythological stories, which we must learn to disbelieve. Only when we learn to disbelieve what is wrong, will we have the opportunity of believing what is right.

AiR

[gruntal]

Taken to it's ultimate conclusion humans rarely if ever have complete knowledge. That scenario is getting worst as we expand our sum of technical knowledge. And who has the time to investigate everything anyway?

So our definition of right and wrong - true and false - must go hand and hand with who we can trust. Our choice of which prophet to follow can be very telling. A person who advises his followers to go into a corner and be quiet and just accept what feels right is a contradiction in terms to be a leader. But people want to be led even as they resent the loss of freedom.

Still the choice is made. At some level we don't know any better but at another level we seek what is comfortable or gives us the most power and benefit. To experiment this out and experience the errors seems self destructive but I guess that is why are incarnated in the first place. Only looking back can we say: "that sure hurt a lot at the time". "But it was fun trying". "Never again!". "There was a million wrong ways to do everything and I tried most of them!"

[baangus]

Mar 16, 2016 9:58:51 GMT air said:

Now does it mean that we cannot believe in God? Even the presence of a God is a logical conclusion. 

God is a human concept, a belief. Religions like to affirm the "fact of God" by using the logical-conclusion argument. But that's not logic; it's the opposite of logic in fact. Logic would be: We can't see it yet we decide to believe in it... that is the definition of belief, not fact. Now, does that mean there is no God? Who really knows? I'm simply pointing out that using false logic arguments, along with emotionalism-as-rationale (another way religion "proves" God exists), isn't proof of anything. Most important, we can do away altogether with intellectual concepts and belief projections of "God" and so forth, without any effect whatsoever on our individual spiritual self-development journey.