Are you looking for beliefs or truth?

Pleasuredome

here's an interesting quote i found on the net about why we need truth rather than beliefs.

Belief has nothing to do with Truth. There is danger in Belief: it makes you feel that you know the TRUTH. And because you feel that you know the Truth, this becomes the greatest barrier in the search. Believe or disbelieve and you are blocked.

The Catholic believes in GOD, the communist believes in No-GOD. both are believers, it is all the same. Both have settled, without taking the trouble to go and discover it, the deeper is their belief, the stronger, the greater the barrier. They will live surrounded by their own illusion, self created, self sustained.

The society would like you to believe, because believers are good people, obedient, law abiding. They simply follow the crowd , like sheep.

The believer tries to adjust truth to himself, the seeker adjusts himself to TRUTH.

Even when truth is told to you, don't believe it! Explore, inquire, search, experiment, experience.

But how to attain to truth? It is not a question of belief, but a question of meditativeness. And what is mediation? Meditation is emptying your mind completly of all belief, ideology, concept, and thought.

the highlighted part reminds me of the WTS

what do you think of about this? i think sometimes we can all be guilty of ignoring truth in favour of our own beliefs.

Gig

I agree, ever heard the expression "that's true for him"? Truth isn't something that can be molded and shaped, it just is. Unfortunately it's altogether common for people to confuse what they believe with what is ultimately true.

Introspection

I would take that a step farther and point to the fact that concepts and abstractions are only pointers. Belief is basically mistaking the pointer for the real thing, it's like thinking someone's finger is the thing it's pointing to. The mistake is essentially confusing the mind for the thing that it is thinking of.

peacefulpete

The real question that then begs answer is why are these tendencies to believe without complete information universal? Evolutionary psychologists have after extensive study concluded that this behavior is to be expected in an animal that eolved in a dangerous environment. Put simply if we had reanalysed all available information each time we neede to make a quick decision we would have been eaten by the time we arrived at the choice to flee. The ability to draw quick generalizations and detect patterns of danger(that big animal looks alot like the one that ate my brother) favored our ancestors in a world where the slow were dead. We have both the ability to contemplate a best course and the tendancy to rashness. In different situations each works to the advantage of the organism. What is needed then is to convince people that the lion is not at the door so they can calmly apply more critical thinking skills.

artful

Pleasuredome: great thread!

peacefulpete: VERY insightful comments about the psychology behind this tendency...particularly - "What is needed then is to convince people that the lion is not at the door so they can calmly apply more critical thinking skills."

This is of course exactly the opposite of the kind of environment that the WT promotes - rather, they issue urgent reminders that we are in the "dangerous world of Satan", where we must "be alert" and stay part of "the herd". Very interesting that when raised in this "dangerous" environment the natural outcome is that time is not allowed to "apply more critical thinking skills", but rather it fosters the quick development of "life-saving beliefs" which can of course blind us from the truth. This thinking also promotes reliance on the "herd".

Since many of us have come out of that environment, I think that we may be prone to slip back in to the same mentality as we develop new ideas. Personally, this something that I really try to be aware of. I find that in a search for "truth" in the scriptures, there are many different viewpoints and interpretations to consider. Due to the ambiguity of scriptures in many areas, I am learning that it is not always possible to clearly define a true "belief" system for each specific topic. Having grown up in an environment where you are "in the Truth" and have every topic of scripture explained (with insistence on its correctness) it can be difficult to resign oneself to not having an explanation for everything. However, I think that taking the time to be "search" mode is much more satisfying than being frightened into "belief" mode.

Artful

SixofNine

lol @ peacefulpetes post. (no, I'm not laughing at your dick!

An evolutionary explaination for stupidity (and it's grimier twin, insanity). I like that!

Introspection

So what is it that the believer is trying to secure? Isn't it the sense of self based on belief itself? Of course, the reality is that everything changes, including our minds - so to deny that by changing the content (what you believe in rather than relying on beliefs) really isn't changing a whole lot - that is to say the mindset behind it is still one of sticking to something in a world that constantly changes.

Obviously you will want to go by your best judgement in many situations, but both the belief that you are safe and unsafe are only that, beliefs. If you want the truth it's simply a matter of seeing them as beliefs and nothing more. 'He that seeks to save his soul will lose it' - the continuous cycle of adaptation is ultimately futile, because ultimately, in the bigger picture change is a matter of transformation. You will find no security in that which is only conditional, that of course has to be found in a belief - which is itself dependent on some conditional factor.

RevMalk

I'm looking for my lighter, anyone seen it?

It's a brass Zippo, just got it for Christmas.....

Ginosko

I'm looking for truth, since child.

Interesting is the point that some months ago, talking with one old friend about the UN affairs, the one who gave me Bible study, said as one of his last arguments: But you talk a lot about seeking the truth, is it so important the truth ? ... my reply, but this isn't the point of being a JW ? ... he didn't reply anything.

Introspection

some months ago, talking with one old friend about the UN affairs, the one who gave me Bible study, said as one of his last arguments: But you talk a lot about seeking the truth, is it so important the truth ? ... my reply, but this isn't the point of being a JW ? ... he didn't reply anything.

Ahhh, but the truth came out didn't it?

Are you looking for beliefs or truth?

Share this