Bases for our belief

Beauty, they say is in the eyes of the beholder. So is “Truth”.

Everybody sees the same thing but in a different light. Some see it and surprisingly, some don’t.

Two people can look exactly at the same thing and see something totally different, agree?

Indeed, no one is quite the same.

Have you ever asked yourself why do you believe in the things that you believe in?

Is there such a thing as blind faith?

What then are the bases for your beliefs?

Buckminster Fuller (an American architect and a 21st century thinker) has this to say, “Belief is when someone else does the thinking.” And we don’t want to be like that, do we?

This brings to my mind what the Buddha said a long time ago, which is this. He had said:

“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.”

There maybe a lot of truths in that but as I have said earlier truth much like beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

The Buddha is of course entitled to his opinion but so are we.

“This is how humans are: we question all our beliefs, except for the ones we really believe, and those we never think to question.” ~So said one Orson Scott Card. Isn’t that paradoxical but true?

In the God-thing, Miguel de Unamuno puts it this way, “Those who believe that they believe in God, but without passion in their hearts, without anguish in mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, without an element of despair even in their consolation, believe in the God idea, not God himself.”

Consider what Catherine Marshall said in Christy (1967), which is this: “Those who never rebelled against God or at some point in their lives shaken their fists in the face of heaven, have never encountered God at all.” Really?

Well, what other people say or write especially those in authority have a lot of influence on us, don’t they? So my advice is to be careful in what you read or hear. Don’t just follow blindly as blind following could have disastrous consequences.

Keep an open mind and always digest what you have read or heard.

Don’t be afraid to ask our God for wisdom, a discerning mind and a righteous heart. Who knows Almighty God may well give you this like he did long time ago to King Solomon when the latter asked for wisdom above anything else.

If we take in everything that people write or say as the Gospel truth like for instance the way people generally follow from the reading of health books even respectable ones, we could die of a miss-print!

In the end, believe it or not (anything for that matter) is really up to us. Yes as Shakespeare had put it a long time ago, “To be or not to be, that’s the question,” isn’t it?

I think we cannot do away with decisions and beliefs in our everyday life. They are important like breathing and exercises but so are the bases for our beliefs. One justifies the other and vice versa and together they make us whole.

I guess in life, we have to apply our hearts and minds all the time and then choose wisely.

Take it this way life is interesting but not necessarily easy. It is fragile yet intricate, tenacious and challenging. To keep that in mind is to hold the key to survival. To me, indeed it is.

God bless.

Let's listen to Jim Reeves sing the beautiful song entitled "The Flowers, The Sunset, The Trees" brought to us courtesy of "164will".