On the Matter of Belief

From the first moment of our entry into this world, there are so very many things that need to be learned. We become consciously aware in the body of a child in an ongoing story with more history than we could ever hope to discover, moving into a future that is largely unknown.  All of the guidance and instruction provided to us (we find out later) has been developed by persons who don't really have the great mystery all figured out either.  

With all this conceptual wiggle room, it is little wonder that humans have developed the capacity and even an inclination to fill in all these vague, confused, and missing pieces with things that we believe.  Believing is a process whereby someone can call on the immense power of their mind to speculate, imagine, or otherwise conjure up explanations for these many mysteries.

Each individual is in complete control of what they choose to believe and how they choose to believe it.  Some people challenge their beliefs in an attempt to determine their veracity thus improving their overall understanding.  These people see belief as a forward moving process.  Others find so much comfort in their beliefs that they simply cling to them and defend them whenever they are challenged.  These people are complacently content considering their belief as a finished product.

Believing seems harmless enough, but it is actually quite a risky venture that should not be taken lightly.  Beliefs that are correctly assumed and properly vetted become the key to expanding our understanding of the world and our situation, and these correct beliefs are the key to our liberation.  Incorrectly assumed beliefs that are never questioned will inevitably become the very illusions that can impede our progress and generate bondage.

An illusion is the sensation of experiencing something but by virtue of things believed incorrectly,  being convinced the experience was something quite different.  Much of what we know about our everything including ourselves is a mix of ‘I know’ and ‘I believe’.   For example, if someone see something in the air, they might interpret it to be an airplane which is certainly very plausible (i.e. high on the ‘I know’ and low on the ‘I believe’).  Alternately, they might interpret it to be a vehicle from another planet which is a lot less likely to be true (i.e. low on the ‘I know’ and high on the ‘I believe’).  The higher a belief is on the 'I believe' side, the more likely it is to be an illusion and possibly very dangerous.

Illusions are created in this area of 'I know' and 'I believe' when some of the beliefs we hold are incorrect.  Most illusions are not apparently obvious, and many of them can result in a condition of unreasonable attachment called bondage.  Magicians exploit these illusions to entertain, but con-men, false prophets, and disingenuous others use these illusions to manipulate and exploit.  We are particularly susceptible to the illusions we create to fool ourselves.  

Since these beliefs are a critical part of our personal truth and understanding of the surrounding reality, illusions create a very critical vulnerability for us.  To minimize this vulnerability, the belief creation process must be effective and executed correctly.  Effective belief creation  begins with an understanding of the three ways we garner information about our surroundings and situation.

The Senses (i.e. sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch):  As reliable as we would like to think our senses are, they are frequently prone to error or misinterpretation because anything experienced through the senses is followed up by an analysis in the mind where it is embellished into what we believe we experienced through that particular sense. This interpretation occurs immediately after the sense is engaged, but it can go on indefinitely afterward with interpretations occurring way after the fact being much more interpreted belief than truth.

Rational Mind:  This sensory interpretation is but one of many and varied forms of input that our mind is able to rationally analyze.  Another common source of input our rational minds are the many ideas that are shared with us by others. Information shared by others might not be correct.  For one thing, the source might not be well informed, but more importantly, they may have a deliberate intent to deceive. All information from external sources needs to be considered suspect until it can be verified.

Intuitive Mind:  The rational mind is good at building layers onto an existing conceptual structure, but when the existing conceptual structure needs to be replaced, it is the intuitive mind that can step outside the current misconception to pursue radical, new solutions.   Intuition can be the internal insight that solves otherwise unsolvable problems, but all too frequently, wishful thinking is misinterpreted to be intuitive insight. It is all to common that vividly imagined delusions are confused for intuitive knowledge. There is a difference. True intuitively derived knowledge has substance that can stand the scrutiny of our rational mind and can be verified through our senses. Imagined delusions cannot.

Neither the intuitive mind or rational mind alone is sufficient to the task of solving this great life mystery, but together, they are a formidable team for shaping credible beliefs that can ultimately be molded into knowledge.

Belief is not a frivolous matter to be taken lightly.  It is the key to understanding our reality and ourselves, and it is the heart of the very serious matter of our ultimate liberation.  It must be done with great attention to detail, or we will continue to be trapped in our mundane rather than celestial existence.

Believe great and wonderful things, but don't be foolish.

Understanding Religion

Historically, religion is the venerated source for answers to the great mystery of life questions that hauntingly preoccupy humanity and are considered too difficult to be answered otherwise.  The advantage religion has in answering these unanswerable questions is that it is not limited to what is known.  It has the advantage of being able to exploit the incredible human capacity to fill in the vague and missing pieces in what is known with things that have simply been accepted as belief.  

This heavy reliance on belief can ultimately become a problem.  This problem is compounded by the extreme diversity of religious perspectives that shapes their many beliefs.  The world is home to a multitude of religions, and each of these religions has multiple sects each with their somewhat different religious interpretations.  All these many groups think the things they hold as beliefs are correct, and everyone else is wrong.  

With all these different beliefs about so many things that matter, how does one choose the correct religion?  Reviewing the merit of all these individual religions and their many sects might seem like an impossible task, but at a high level, most of these religions and their many sects can be reduced down into either of the two very broad categories that have historically been designated as Western and Eastern.  

The terms Western and Eastern in this context simply refers to the general geographic points of origin of these various religious tradition which has made them historically, culturally, and theologically distinct.  After centuries of intermingling and sharing of ideas between cultures, both Western and Eastern religious traditions can be found in all parts of the world today, but the fundamental difference between the two different religious approaches is still very apparent.  

The fundamental difference between eastern and western religions is the clear distinction between how the religions in each category advocate spiritual progress.   

Western religions are based on faith. Followers are expected to believe on blind faith what they are told to believe by religious leaders who have assumed the responsibility for sorting out all the spiritual details to be spoon fed to the masses of followers.  On close examination however, many of these religious answers are filled with inconsistencies, missing big pieces of the story, and things that just don't ring true.    

Instead of faith, eastern religions are more focused on spiritual growth through introspection, practice, and study.  Eastern religion rituals and personal practices (e.g. meditation and asanas postures) promote personal spiritual growth on the path to spiritual enlightenment. In these eastern religions, the aspirant is more focused on seeking and finding salvation rather than simply holding some belief of faith and expecting salvation to find them.

These high level, specific ideological differences between western and eastern religions has a significant impact on each religion's ability to support the search for the Ultimate Truth. 
Those who are about discovering the truth will be drawn to the Eastern religions.  Those who want to believe what someone else has told them to believe is the truth will be drawn to Western religions.

In reality, life is a spiritual journey of self discovery that spans many lifetimes to complete.  As such, it must be lived actively questioning all things, rather than being slavishly bound to blind faith obedience and stale outdated dogma.  In the context of discovering the Ultimate Truth, the eastern religious approach is superior and will ultimately as one's spiritual journey advances become the approach of choice.

As it turns out though, you really don't need affiliation with any religion.  All you need is the correct and relevant knowledge that a religion might be able to offer because ultimately you alone are responsible for validating the things that you believe.  You alone are responsible for your own salvation.

 

The Power of Past Impressions

Many times we find ourselves faced with decisions that though difficult could be reasoned through to sensible solutions, but somehow, something inside us, compels us to make the wrong choice. Repeatedly in spite of a clear understanding of the consequences based on our personal experience, some mysterious force misguides our decisions. These miscues are the price we pay for not having a good understanding of who we are.

The real mystery here is to understand these internal forces that compel us to consistently move in the wrong direction. Some of these internal forces are coming from thoughts and feelings that we don’t even necessarily understand, perhaps do not even realize we are having. They just make us react in certain ways. These internal forces and the frequently confusing external circumstance we encounter make it critically important for us to understand who we are so that we can better deal with our lives. 

The reality is that these internal forces are largely (perhaps exclusively) driven by the impressions from past experiences. Our past experiences leave us cluttered inside with these impressions that range all the way from traumatic to comfort and peace, but by far, the most compelling are these impressions resulting from traumatic or painful past events. These trauma induced impressions are also most likely to result in decisions that lead to some sort of bondage related situation.

Substance abuse is one such example of internal bondage: Substance abuse is the result of a person’s belief that ingestion of a particular substance is necessary for their happiness. Typically, the root cause is physical or psychological pain relief. Perhaps, the origin of this addiction was real pain, but over time, it becomes a convoluted tangle of cause and effect in one’s personal truth that is not easy to understand and thus is very difficult to overcome.

Another internal bondage example is the existence of unresolved childhood traumas. Children are very impressionable, and certain issues that happen in early life can have a long lasting effect on one’s person truth creating learned responses that extend way into adult life. 

Traumatic past experience live on into our present in the form of these impressions created in the endless cycle of desire, action, and impression (illustrated in figure below). In this cycle, we desire something and act to that end. The result is an impression that takes root inside us shaping our next desire to act. 

 
There are two level of understanding the endless cycle of action. At the simplest level, it can be understood intellectually. Understanding the existence of the mechanism that drive us to action is helpful in developing strategy to remediate the possible negative impacts, but there is a deeper understanding that actually helps us rise above this cycle of action.

Coming to know this cycle from the direct experience of consciousness can actually create a situation where our in present actions are not dictated by past impressions because over time the practice of direct experience of consciousness actually minimizes the significance all these past impressions.

Overcoming without the advantage of these regular direct experiences of consciousness will inevitably take a long time with any one of these internal bondage experiences could easily span a single lifetime. With the regular direct experiences of consciousness, all past impression will be neutralized and the capacity to create new impressions will be suppressed.