WE TEND TO BELIEVE ANYTHING that ensures our continuation as the living entity we think we are. Organized religion jumped on this band wagon a long time ago: “If you believe and do what we tell you, then we will ease your basic fear of death.”

Religion gives us the answers we want to hear, whether it be a promise of heaven, of eternal life, of 72 waiting virgins… or even of an existence in hell, whatever mainstream religions promise, it is all playing on our fear of non-existing… for even in hell with all its purported heat and hostility, we would continue to exist.

We are fearful of not being here anymore. We want a promise of eternity, for we believe we are too special to die. Fundamentally, we fear the unknown. We want to continue to live in the known… in other words, the safety of the past.

Our belief system was created when we were born and is mainly made up of the beliefs of others, our parents especially. Aunties, uncles, close friends, school teachers etc have also contributed to our basic belief system.

In adulthood, we may vary those beliefs somewhat as we experience life, but in the main, they remain the same basic set of beliefs formed in early childhood.

This original set of beliefs is then continually added to… gathered from newly judged life events. So as we grow, the old beliefs become ever more encrusted around each particular incident or individual that appears in our life.

What we believe determines to a great extent what we think and do in our life… the way we respond and react to other people and situations. How we think of ourselves, plus how we approach and tackle problems of society, finance etc, and how we see the world in general.

These beliefs become ever more rigid and unmovable as we get older and more of the past is piled on top until those beliefs become so caked in the mud of the past that they then become resistance to any sort of change.

Usually it takes a major shock, loss or extreme life trial and tribulation to shake us loose from our ingrained beliefs…

Dan’s Quote: “To believe in anything is to block your mind from inquiry.
_____________To be open to possibilities frees your mind to question life.” 

This post was inspired by ‘The Passionate Mind’ by Joel Kramer

Header picture: ‘Burleigh Heads’ Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.