Our beliefs are not true.

I love metaphors.

In the early days of Christianity, people would intentionally sacrifice themselves in the name of God in order to gain entrance to heaven. A martyr is pretty fanatical if I don't mind saying so myself. It's a shocking word in our culture. Fanatic. It is the perfect word to cause fear in the masses to incite a war, much like using the word terrorist. Having certain emotions prompted obviously disrupts clear thinking. Invoking fear actually stifles critical thinking. But realizing this certainly helps bring back some of the critical thinking needed to see it more clearly.

This is the point though where the most empathy will be required. Think about what it would take internally, that is emotionally and intellectually, to cause one’s own death? One would have to believe very strongly about something wouldn't they? Try to imagine having that belief too, if you even can. What would you kill yourself for? What would you have to believe in so strongly that you would actually carry through with it? Can you even do it? I myself cannot imagine it because it goes so far from what I believe. I think this is also where we can see mostly clearly the inseparableness of our beliefs and actions. For an action to occur belief must be right there with it. If we didn't believe we were really going to go to heaven there is no way we would actually sacrifice ourselves. I realize this is a dramatic metaphor, but some people actually believe this.

What I am talking about though also applies to the seemingly smallest of beliefs. Even the way one drinks out of a water fountain is based on a belief. We can only act on what we believe. The fanatic believes she is gaining something for her martyrdom, eternal heaven, but really she has been brainwashed because we all know her belief is not true.

What's that? People can have beliefs that are not true?

That means you and I!

Our beliefs are not true!

There are beliefs that do not have directly measurable consequences. There are beliefs which cannot scientifically be proven true or untrue at the time in which we have to have them. For instance, the belief of whether or not going to college will actually provide an education. We won't know until it is over. But to get through college we must surely believe it is true. Here the terms must also be defined and clearly too; to know if a belief is true or not. There is not a practical way to do such a test. Everyone will be different. There is no absolute universal answer. Kind of makes it seem like it is not that important of a belief doesn't it? But it is. If you think about how much four years of college changes a person, whether one perceives it as good or bad, the amount of change remains fairly constant. I mean to say it changes a person regardless. So in the end, whether true or not, the belief carries a lot of change. From this perspective it becomes incredibly important; belief.

Here lies one of the illusions. When a person does not see the contradiction in what they 'think' they believe, or should I say, what they 'want' to believe, and what they actually do believe, which is their actions; then their beliefs are not true in their own terms. This means that they are not truly thinking about what they are actually doing. And let me tell you, this is everywhere in abundance. Consider the Christian who signs up for the military. She clearly does not believe Jesus when he supposedly said to not kill, to turn the cheek. Her beliefs and actions do not match, she 'wants' to believe in Christ but does not actually believe it, else she would never assist in murder. All these supposed Christians calling for war in our country; hypocrites, each and every one.

I do not wish to make this technical, about how the mind forms its beliefs, but the actions are the truth of the person. We are what we do. This is where the word hypocrite comes in handy. If a person truly believed they were going to burn in hell for eternity, they wouldn't murder; period. It is pretty common sense in these terms. It is proof the person has not fully considered what it is they actually believe. I mean burning in hell for eternity would stop me from doing anything, if I really believed it was true. It is not difficult to not sign up for the US armed forces. At this time in history no one is making us do it.

Some people hold beliefs just because they are afraid to think about what the implications would mean if they actually said what their actions say about them. This is a demon many people never want to face; truth. Change can be scary stuff. The best example I know of is promiscuity. Raised in a Christian culture women are scandalized for being promiscuous, but any woman seeking the truth of her self will eventually have to come to terms with the fact that she is quite promiscuous and there is nothing wrong with being so. The wrong comes from a religion telling a human being they must be some certain way; that is the true wrong. Any woman who has learned this lesson in life can tell you, holding a wrong belief is terribly damaging, whether one knows it or not. Ignorance is not bliss.

We all know we have beliefs and we all know it is the summation of experience that defines a person. We simply are the summation of our past experience. Some beliefs, we simply have because it was what was done before us, and we uphold them unquestioningly. Some beliefs we have, we think we learned on our own but really we didn't, we got them from some authority. This is one of the hardest concepts to realize in life, that one really doesn't know anything. It is hardest to debate with someone who cannot see this point, that what they believe is only what they were taught.

Like the person who thinks they have a good self-esteem, when those of us that are a little healthier can clearly tell they do not. They cannot see out of the box even when you point out their contradictions. Some beliefs come about from all variations of all kinds of things, so technically the list of reasons that humans have the beliefs they do is endless. But it is most important to see the part about the action; it cannot be separated from belief. Regardless of what a person says. When the words of belief don't match their actions, the person is either lying or isn't critically thinking about what they are doing.

If that fanatic did not really believe she was going to get those rewards, whatever they are, in heaven, she would not kill herself. I am not saying there couldn't be another reason a person is doing such things. Maybe they were afraid because their life was threatened or their families were in danger if they did not do it. I do not know. They would still be acting on a belief though. The belief that those threats would be made good on would still have to be there. This is proof that what a person believes directly affects how they act in the world. This does not make the belief true, we all know this, but we rarely apply it to ourselves.

Our actions in the world matter this much though, the same as the fanatic. Just because you are not about to kill yourself does not mean your actions are not harming all of those around you. We all know we are better alive than dead. But people do not have to die to have their lives ruined. A child never beaten can still be scarred for life by emotional neglect, where is the measure of that? Do they have to die for it to count? Sometimes belief blinds people just as much as it makes them see something else quite clearly. Even if what they are looking at is an illusion, belief makes it seem more tangible. Like the belief that as long as people are not directly dieing as a result of, then their actions do not matter so much. This belief is just as false as believing dieing in the name of some god will get you into heaven.

It is a terribly difficult task to undo all of one’s beliefs.

Hell, it is hard just to see how many beliefs one person can have. There are so many beliefs, about so many things, and virtually all of them were given to us through the environment. We have so many beliefs that were not maturely and consciously considered. It requires years of work to become aware of them all. Solid dedication.

I read something on FaceBook the other day about a guy. He was talking about how when he was a kid a school teacher commented to him about making a kissing noise when he drank from a water fountain. Saying he sure must love water to kiss it like that. He remarked on how still to this day he makes sure he is quiet when he drinks from a fountain. His point was that it was only one comment, one time, that still to this day affects his actions. Realizing this makes it difficult to wrap one’s mind around all of those incidences that caused us to be who we are today. It is so profound.

We have beliefs we do not even know we have and we act on them every day.

Think again about the person who believes they will go to heaven if they martyr themselves. They believe if they knowingly commit suicide essentially, they believe it so strongly, they will go to heaven. Seriously think of what it would take to believe in something that strongly. That they would die for it. Then consider what it would take to convince them otherwise. To tell them what they believe must be thrown out and something all together different must be put in its place.

Now go look in the mirror. Can you see that you have the same indoctrination? It may not have been that you go to heaven if you martyr yourself, you may not believe in any religion at all. But you were still completely indoctrinated. Just like we know that martyring oneself is suicide, those who have stepped out of society realize that the way things are culturally in America is not good at all.

Over the years I have talked to more than a few Christians who do not give up their "faith" simply because they don't want to have to change their entire worldview. Non-Christians are no different in terms of giving up a worldview. They don't want to have to restructure the way in which they see the world, the way in which they live their lives. It is a difficult task and they are simply not up for it. I should say that is what they believe; they believe it is not worth the effort. They always say they care, but you never see their actions reflect it.

You see, if we believed it mattered, we would be doing it already. But we are not. Our beliefs are all messed up and it shows in our actions. I have lived long enough now to know it is quite possible to live a good life and still do what is required. I was raised horribly and still managed to figure it out. To simply not harm others. It should be expected between us and it is not. We all think we believe that we don't harm others, but our actions don't reflect it. We are in fact harming others. This means we are not thinking about what we are doing.

If we believed it mattered to be educated, many more of us would actually be educated. These are precise correlations, it is not some abstract idea, a probability or statistic. If we collectively believed children shouldn't be abused it wouldn't be happening, at least, not as much as it is happening here and now in America.

Can you see it in yourself? Can you think backwards so to speak, look at your actions, then re-assess your beliefs? Maybe it will change how you word what you actually believe. You will have to be prepared to give yourself negative labels and come to terms with not being so great as you thought you were.

If a person is raised and only ever sees it one way for a majority of their life it is terribly difficult to move them from their spot. It usually requires a deep crisis and a lot of work no matter which way it goes.

The other way is through social movement; that is, holding each other accountable.

Can you see that when those in your community are suffering and nothing is really done about it, can you see what that says about your beliefs?

I do not mean this as a personal attack. I can see certain people getting way up in their feelings reading this. Oh well, get up in there. If your thinking about it at all I have done what I meant to do. If you are having an emotional response, that warrants a deeper look on your part. It has nothing to do with me. I was raised horribly and ignorantly. I can judge. I can see clearly now why it happened and why it is still happening. I have spent my entire life overcoming. Society stood by while I was thrown under the bus. Yet I am a human being and now I know what's up.

It is ethnocentric to believe the way it was done in your country, state, town, or family is the way that is best. It is ethnocentric to believe how you were raised is the way to be raised. Same as being racist or sexist. It is a shallow way of believing. Beliefs stack on top of each other. So many of our beliefs follow from flawed beliefs, it greatly complicates the matter. Yet, there is no real excuse. If we have the ability to overcome shallow ways of believing individually then we also have that ability collectively.

We were raised a certain way collectively as Americans. Regardless of the individual way our parents raised us, we are still constantly shaped by the overall culture in which we all share and live. It has already shaped us; the affects are already upon us. It was our environment. It is our environment. We are directly subject to it, so we must pay close attention to it. The way in which these things affect us are important if we are to ever live a good life, to live free. Being raised in America does not mean it was right, it does not mean it was the best.

It has actually been quite wrong and far from the best.

Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.

Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not affecting you.

They say perception is everything. But it is not everything. Sometimes things happen to us, that we are not necessarily aware of, and it affects us all the same. There are things in which it barely matters what we 'think’ we still have emotional and physiological responses all the same. There is so much more to being human than what we 'think.' This is a profound idea to someone who has never thought of it before. More to 'me' than what 'I' am 'thinking.' Indeed, a great deal more.

Being aware is always growing, it is always fluid.

Being aware of one's beliefs is a job that never ends.

I hope I somewhat made the point.  Just like the fanatic is wrong in her belief.  Thinking one can believe whatever they wish, that they have that right, is just as wrong.  It is just as fanatical.  Just as selfish.  If our actions and beliefs cannot be separated then it very much matters what we believe.  Because our actions effect everyone around us whether we know it or not.  It matters what we do.  It matters what we believe.  They are the same thing.