WHY BELIEFS ARE BAD FOR YOU

First, let’s make it clear what we mean by the word ‘belief’.

A belief is a mental construct together with an emotional acceptance that something exists or is true where the matter believed is one without proof. In many cases, no proof of the truth or otherwise of the matter believed is possible. Ordinarily, that which is believed is in the nature of something that is hoped for or expected or simply promised by others.

All that I have just said is certainly the case with almost all religious beliefs---where rigorous proof is impossible---but I am not restricting myself to only religious beliefs. Many other types of beliefs are incapable of proof, such as beliefs based purely on racial, cultural, political, tribal and nationalistic grounds. Etymologically, the word ‘believe’ means to hold dear, valuable, or satisfactory’ and ‘to approve of’. Yes, we tend to believe that which we hold dear and value, and that of which we approve. Funny, that. It’s so very true, isn’t it?

Now, there is nothing wrong with affirmations and convictions that are supported by and grounded in facts that are sufficiently probative to support the affirmation or conviction in question, but to believe something without proof … now that is downright silly and even dangerous!

Yes, beliefs are bad things. Very bad things. Here’s why:

1.    Beliefs divide and separate people. They never unite. More than any other thing (eg race, skin colour, ethnicity, nationality) beliefs create deep divisions and separate people one from the other, creating conflict and antagonism in their wake. Catholics are separated from Baptists. Muslims are separated from Jews and Buddhists. Communists are separated from believers in capitalism. With separation and division comes conflict, turmoil, strife and fear (itself the foundation of belief). Beliefs can never unite because one person or group of persons believes one thing, and another person or group of persons some other thing. We can never be one family of humanity while there are different belief-systems that divide us so hopelessly.

2.  Beliefs prevent knowledge and understanding. We believe when we don’t know or understand something. If we know something to be true there is no need to believe it. So, the important thing for us is to know and understand, and when we do not know something it is inappropriate to accept it on faith.

3.    Beliefs fetter and cage the mind. Beliefs, by their very nature, take the form of second or third-hand prejudices, or biases, of various kinds. Beliefs stifle original thought and critical thinking. They prevent freedom of thought and encourage mental laziness. Beliefs, being largely impervious to reason and facts, are a form of collective thinking and conditioning, and in such a conditioned state of mind, there is no ability to think freely. Eventually, even the desire to think freely is lost. Any 'true' (ha!) believer is constantly exhorted by those in authority to believe more deeply and fully, to have more faith. The result? You build a bigger cage---or prison---for your brain and thus for yourself.

4.   Beliefs make us sick—spiritually sick, and perhaps in other ways as well. Since every belief is some other person or group’s collective thinking and conditioning, when we believe we take onboard that other person or group’s thinking and conditioning. This is a pernicious form of mind control. The result? An infected mind. Beliefs are almost always based on fear---for example, fear of loneliness and isolation, fear of emptiness and insecurity, fear of existential annihilation, or fear of eternal damnation.

5.    Beliefs lock us into the past. Beliefs are conditioning, and conditioning is a product of the past. Beliefs are also the result of memory. They are inherently reactionary, as are the narrative and worldview created by beliefs. There is a happening or an occurrence, and belief immediately sets to work to formulate our reaction to that happening or occurrence. When we take on a belief system, we cease to be choicelessly aware of life as it unfolds from one moment to the next. We remain locked into the past, and other people’s ways of thinking.

6.   Beliefs distort our understanding of reality. When we believe something about some aspect of reality, a thought covering or veil is placed between us and reality, blocking off the latter. Using a different metaphor, beliefs are like distorting lenses which filter and distort reality as it tries to pass through the lens.

‘There is hope for whoever does not know what to believe. Human belief is a combination of superstition, gullibility and mental laziness. We need not believe anything; we need to find, to see, to know.’ 

     Those words come from the American spiritual teacher Vernon Howard [pictured left]. Got that. We need to find, see, and know. And I might add to that three—understand. When you know and understand, there is absolutely no need to believe.

In my own search for truth---actually, there is no need to search for truth, for truth is all that is---I came to a point where I gave up all my beliefs. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, and it took place over time. When I gave up all beliefs—religious, political, and all the rest---I experienced a great joy and a sense of freedom that I have never experienced before. I affirm the truth of certain propositions, most of which are in the nature of self-evident truths. There is no need to believe that which is true, for that which is true is true whether or not I believe it to be true, and the truth would not become any truer if I were to believe it to be true. I now live with reason and also with what Bertrand Russell called 'liberating doubt,' and it is so much better than living with beliefs.

So, as I say, why believe?

 

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IS THERE A BRICK WALL IN YOUR MIND?

Many years ago I was lucky enough to attend a couple of classes taught by a most exceptional man. He was a writer, a teacher, and a philosopher of sorts. 

One thing this man was damn good at was shattering the illusions of his listeners, removing their psychological props, and puncturing holes in their pomposity. His sole concern was to set those people unconditionally free, but first they had to acknowledge that that their best thinking and endeavors had failed them miserably. Ego deflation at great depth was the man's modus operandi.

The man was Vernon Howard [pictured right], and his psychological and spiritual teachings literally saved the lives of a number of famous people including the actor and musician Desi Arnaz Jr, his late wife Amy, who was an acclaimed ballerina and ballet school owner, and the self-help writer and philosopher Guy Finley, not to mention the lives of thousands of other persons as well from all walks of life. 

Vernon Howard's ideas and teachings have had a big impact on my own life, and on my approach to helping others. 

Here’s a wonderful piece of wisdom from Vernon Howard. It’s from his book Esoteric Mind Power:

If two of your friends are on the other side of a thick wall, you may not be able to recognize them by their voices. The wall prevents clear hearing. If you wish to recognize them, the wall must not remain between you and them. This is what we are now doing. In order to recognize the voice of truth, we are removing our psychological wall. For example, by removing traditional but false beliefs, we are able to hear the pure messages of our original nature.

It’s a great analogy, isn’t it? Beliefs distort truth (that is, reality). How do they do that, you may ask? I will tell you. Beliefs, which tend to set like concrete over time, are a brick wall between you and reality. Surely you can understand that? Everything ends up getting filtered through your belief-system such that you can no longer see and experience things-as-they-really-are. And where there is filtering, there is inevitably distortion. It’s as simple as that.

I held onto a number of belief-systems for many decades in the mistaken belief (ha!) that I needed them---that without them I could not survive. When I came to realize that none of those belief-systems had actually helped me---and, worse still, that that they had actually held me in bondage---I made a decision to chuck the lot of them out the window, so to speak. I have never looked back.

The Buddha is quoted as having said, ‘Do not believe, for if you believe, you will never know. If you really want to know, don’t believe.’ Beliefs fetter and cage the mind. They prevent us from knowing and understanding reality as it unfolds from one moment to the next. Beliefs, by their very nature, take the form of second or third-hand prejudices, or biases, of various kinds. Buddha referred to beliefs as being in the nature of thought coverings or veils.

You see, each one of us is in direct and immediate contact with reality, both internal and external, unless we choose to put a barrier---a thick wall or veil---between ourselves and reality. When we believe something about some aspect of reality, a wall or veil is placed between us and reality, effectively blocking off the latter. Using a different metaphor, beliefs are like distorting lenses which filter and distort reality as it tries to pass through the lens. 

So, if you want to see, know and understand things-as-they-really-are, discard your beliefs. One excellent way of discarding your beliefs is to practise mindfulness, for when we practise mindfulness we gain insight into ourselves, other people, and our world. Insight is a wonderful thing. It is like a chisel, serving to chip, carve, and cut into our beliefs. To quote Vernon Howard again (from the above mentioned book of his):

As insight chips away our hardened opinions and beliefs, we begin to see things as they are, not as we are.

Nor as we would like things to be.

Are you brave enough to discard your beliefs? All of them? I dare you.

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TO GET BETTER, AND BE HAPPY, GIVE UP ALL BELIEFS!

TO GET BETTER, AND BE HAPPY, GIVE UP ALL BELIEFS!

Forgive me, but I wish to return to a familiar theme of mine. Why? Because I think it is the most important thing I have to say. It is this---if you want to get better, if you want to be truly happy, if you want to know and understand life, give up all your beliefs. Yes, all of them.

There are many things wrong with beliefs and belief-systems. Here a just a few of them.

First, beliefs fetter and cage the mind. They prevent us from knowing and understanding reality as it unfolds from one moment to the next. Beliefs, by their very nature, take the form of second or third-hand prejudices, or biases, of various kinds. The Buddha referred to beliefs as being in the nature of thought coverings or veils (āvarnas). You see, each one of us is in direct and immediate contact with reality---both internal and external---unless we choose to put a barrier between ourselves and reality. When we believe something about some aspect of reality, a thought covering or veil is placed between us and reality, blocking off the latter. Using a different metaphor, beliefs are like distorting lenses which filter and distort reality as it tries to pass through the lens. If you want to see, know and understand things-as-they-really-are, discard your beliefs. You don’t need any of them.

Secondly---and this follows on directly from what I’ve just said---beliefs, being entirely a product of the past, are a substitute (and a very bad one at that) for reality. When you take on a belief system, you cease to be choicelessly aware of life. Beliefs are not real. Reality is. Beliefs are crystallized or hardened thoughts---a form of ‘psychosclerosis’ (a term I heard Norman Vincent Peale use in a talk many decades ago). You see, every belief is some other person or group’s collective thinking and conditioning, and when you believe you take onboard that other person or group’s thinking and conditioning---a pernicious form of mind control (whether internal or external or both). The result? An 'infected' mind. You stop thinking for yourself and experiencing life in all its directness and immediacy. Vernon Howard has written of the miserable person who, not knowing things 'from their own essence,' must endlessly switch their beliefs ‘from one authority to another.’ That's a terrible way to 'live'! Now, remember this---whether or not something is the case does not depend upon belief or disbelief. That is why the Buddha said, 'Do not believe, for if you believe, you will never know. If you really want to know, don't believe.' Beliefs are the most powerful, and the most dangerous, form of conditioning known to humanity.

Thirdly, beliefs, more than any other thing (eg race, skin colour, ethnicity, nationality), create deep divisions and separate people one from the other. Catholics are separated from Baptists. Muslims are separated from Jews and Buddhists. Communists are separated from believers in capitalism. With separation and division comes conflict, turmoil and strife. There is no end to it. I laugh when I hear some religious leader talking about ‘brotherhood.’ There can be no world brotherhood or sisterhood for so long as there are religious distinctions---for example, when people are divided up between the ‘saved’ and the ‘unsaved’, the ‘chosen’ and the rest, and so on.

Fourthly, beliefs prevent freedom of thought. As already mentioned, beliefs are a form of collective thinking, and all such thinking is the result and reaction of memory. In such a conditioned state of mind, there is no ability to think freely. Even the desire to think freely is lost. Any 'true' (ha!) believer is constantly exhorted by those in authority to believe more deeply and fully, to have more faith. The result? You build a bigger cage---or prison---for your brain and thus for yourself. Great stuff.

Fifthly, beliefs hold us back---indeed, they make and keep us sick. Examine your beliefs and belief-systems. Have they really made you happier? Do they really make it easier for you to see, know and understand things-as-they-really-are? Now, please be rigorously honest with yourself. You may have been a devout---or perhaps only a nominal---believer in some religion or political ideology all your life, but if it be the case that you are ordinarily anxious, depressed or the like, or have constant difficulties relating to other people, or think the world will be a better place if others believed the same things you do, then I respectfully submit that your belief-system has done absolutely no good for you at all. Krishnamurti put it this way many decades ago:

'So, your belief in God, or your disbelief in God, to me are both the same, because they have no reality. If you were really aware of truth, as you are aware of that flower, if you were really conscious of that truth as you are conscious of fresh air, then your whole life, your whole conduct, your whole behaviour, your very affections, your very thoughts, would be different.'

I tell you this---whether you want to hear it or not. You will never---I repeat, never---be able to experience any meaningful, lasting change in your life for so long as you remain wedded to your beliefs and belief-systems. If you want to recover from any illness, disability or condition, the first thing you must do to get better is to see, know and understand things-as-they-really-are. Do you believe in the sun? Of course not. You know it’s there, so there’s no need to believe in it. We tend only to believe in things we don’t know or understand as well as things the existence of which is either unproven or unprovable. Funny, that.

So, forget about belief-systems. Indeed, why not start today on a lifelong process of purgation of the mind, in which you choose not to believe, or disbelieve, in anything. You set yourself just one goal---to be choicelessly aware of all things as they unfold from one moment to the next. That way you will come to know and understand---and nothing is more important than that.

Beliefs are for ‘spiritual cripples’--that is, for those who can’t, or won’t, think for themselves, for those who choose not to know and understand. Choose to be different. Choose not to be deluded. Choose to have and enjoy an uninfected mind. Choose life.

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BUDDHA SAYS, ‘COME AND SEE’

‘The arising of form and the ceasing of form – everything that has been heard, sensed, and known, sought after and reached by the mind – all this is the embodied world, to be penetrated and realized.’ Buddha, from the Samyutta Nikāya.

Gautama Buddha (‘the Buddha’) did not claim to be God, or a god, nor a ‘son’ or ‘agent’ of any such god, nor even a prophet. When asked about himself, he simply said, ‘I am awake.’ The essence of being ‘awake’ is this---always stay mindfully present from one moment to the next ... and 'come and see.'

The Buddha encouraged his followers to ‘come and see’ (ehipassiko) [Sanskrit: ehipaśyika ‘which you can come and see’---from the phrase ehi, paśya ‘come, see!’], that is, to test and investigate for themselves whether or not his teachings worked, as opposed to placing reliance on blind faith. Yes, investigate for yourself and then make up your own mind based upon the evidence.  Buddhism is a very down-to-earth set of teachings. At the risk of over-simplification, the essence of Buddhism is: what you see is what you get. That is all there is, but it is more than enough! The essence of Buddhist empiricism is this---one ‘looks and sees’, one ‘perceives.’ In other words, knowing (jānam) must be based on ‘seeing’ (passam). The Buddha spoke only of observable causes without any metaphysical pre-suppositions. He sought always to explain the observable in terms of the observable. That means rejecting the unobservable as the cause of the observable.

The author in front of the Daibutsu---The Great Buddha of Kamakura
Japan, June 2011

The Buddha taught that it is through the regular practice of mindfulness (sati) from one moment to the next, that we experience---note that word experience---life directly ... without those mental filters and psychological barriers which we tend to erect between ourselves and the objects of experience. Alan Watts, a well-known authority on Buddhism (and Zen Buddhism, in particular), has written that ‘the method of Buddhism is above all the practice of clear awareness, of seeing the world [that is, ‘things’] yathābhūtam – just as it is [they are]’, for it is recorded in the Pāli texts that the Buddha said, Bhūtam bhūtatopassati (‘See a thing as it really is’). He was talking about things (bhūta) that can be directly experienced. Now, in order to do that successfully, the Buddha made it unambiguously clear---as I hope I have as well in many previous posts---that we must not put any barriers between ourselves and external reality – barriers such as beliefs, views (especially speculative ones), thoughts, ideas, theories, opinions, and doctrines.

I have no time for any religion which says, ‘Believe [this]’ or ‘Believe in [this person]’. No time at all. That sort of religion is foolish stuff, unworthy of thinking people. There is nothing to believe. Absolutely nothing. There is nothing worth believing. Absolutely nothing. There is no one worthy of your belief. No one---not even Buddha. Anyhow, why believe? Think about it for a moment. How could it ever make a difference in your life? The sky does not become any bluer because you ‘believe’ it to be blue, nor does the proposition, ‘The sky is blue,’ become any truer because you believe it to be true. Is it not more important---indeed, entirely sufficient---to know and understand … to ‘come and see’? I say to you this day---come alive! Come and see things as they really are!

And don’t even believe that. Just do it. Come, see!

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THE EMERALD CITY REALLY IS GREEN

It’s not all that clear in the book The Wizard of Oz, but in subsequent Oz books the author L Frank Baum, having changed elements of the storyline more than once, made it unambiguously clear---the Emerald City really is green. There is no need for special green spectacles to be worn, to make it all look green!

The Emerald City, in the initial book, was not emerald (or green) at all. It was merely white, but each visitor to, and inhabitant of, the city was given green-tinted glasses which made everything appear green. They were told the glasses were necessary to shield them from the blindingly shiny green colour---the ‘brightness and glory’ of the city---but it was a hoax, as are most of the claims of conventional religion. (NOTE. In the 1939 movie the Emerald City really was green.)

I am not that old. I am only 57, but I well remember a time when Roman Catholics were prohibited by their church from reading the Bible in their homes or otherwise in private, and from attending any services (eg weddings or funerals) in Protestant churches. As recently as 2007 Pope Benedict XVI declared that Christian denominations other than his own were ‘not true churches.’ And Protestants, especially evangelicals, were---and still are---often no better, with their cries against ‘Popery.’ Most of the Baptist ministers I have known---including the one who was the celebrant at the marriage of my wife and I in 1980---took the view that Catholics weren’t really Christians. (I only mention Baptists because I was reared as one.)

John Algeo, in a wonderful article entitled 'The Wizard of Oz: The Perilous Journey,’ writes:

The green glasses are like the dogmas that religious wizards insist their followers adopt so their ecclesiastical cities will look green and vital.

The joke is that the Emerald City really is made of emeralds; it really is green, quite naturally. Religion really is what it says it is--a place of treasures and marvels--but the humbug wizards who have got themselves put in charge of it--the priests and ministers--have no faith in the natural value of their city, so they require the unnecessary and artificial spectacles. They think that emeralds need the assistance of green glasses. ...

The Emerald City is green! There is no need for special green spectacles to ‘make’ it look green. That reminds me of studying Philosophy as an undergraduate. The lecturer would say, ‘The sky is blue. The sky does not become any bluer because you believe it to be blue. Further, the proposition---the sky is blue---does not become any truer because you believe it to be true.’ As already mentioned, Baum changed the storyline of Oz such that, after the Emerald City was conquered by General Jinjur and her Army of Revolt, the use of green spectacles was discontinued, for the city itself is green (see The Marvelous Land of Oz). I love that. They came to realise that there was absolutely no need for the green spectacles. More and more people are coming to realise that the special green spectacles dispensed by organized religion are not only unnecessary, they actually distort reality. Good stuff! Bring it on!

Yes, the world really is green---and note that word ‘green.’ We don’t need any special glasses to see that. Beliefs and dogmas are thought coverings or veils (āvarnas). That is how Shakyamuni Buddha referred to them. These thought coverings or veils do not reveal reality, indeed they distort reality. How? Well, they prevent us from knowing and experiencing things as they really are in all their directness and immediacy. Belief is conditioning. Knowledge is experiential. Bugger beliefs and dogmas!

Beliefs and dogmas are a menace to society---and a total, impenetrable barrier to true knowledge and wisdom. Beliefs and dogmas are always someone else's 'version' of reality---the result of someone else's conditioned mind, mental habits and fragmentary thinking, that is, the past. There is nothing of any value to believe, and there is nothing to be gained by believing anything or anyone. Just observe. Then you will know---and understand.

Beliefs and dogmas, being 'mechanical' in nature, and constructed entirely of past thoughts, are for spiritual cripples---that is, those who can't, or won't, think for themselves. In that regard, I have always found helpful these words attributed to the Buddha: 'Do not believe, for if you believe, you will never know. If you really want to know, don't believe.'  The current president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Rev. Peter Morales, has stated:

Religion is not about what you or I or Baptists or Catholics or Jews or Muslims or Hindus believe. I would even go a giant step further: Belief is the enemy of religion. Let me repeat that: Belief is the enemy of religion. [Emphasis in the original]

Morales goes on to say that any religion that is focused on belief is 'a dangerous corruption of true religion.' True religion, according to Morales, is 'about what we love, not about what we think.' It's 'about what you and I hold sacred.' The Unitarian Universalist movement, says Morales, offers religion beyond belief, 'religion that transcends culture, race and class ... religion where we can grow spiritually, a religion where we can forge deep and lasting relationships, a religion where we can join hands to help heal a broken world.' That is the kind of religion - or metareligion - that I embrace.

The great thing about mindfulness is that it ensures that there are no barriers between you---the person that you are---and external reality. That’s right---no barriers. So, forget all about beliefs, dogmas, priests, mediators, gurus and anything else that seeks to interpose itself between you and reality and your direct, immediate and unmediated moment-to-moment experience of reality. Beware of all ‘humbug.’ Eschew it! The Emerald City is green. It really is! Let us rejoice in that fact---and come alive!

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‘There is hope for whoever does not know what to believe.

Human belief is a combination of superstition, gullibility and mental laziness.

We need not believe anything; we need to find, to see, to know.’

Vernon Howard.

Forgive me if I return to a familiar theme. I have often said that one of the great things about being a practising Buddhist – with the emphasis on the word practising – is that there is no need to believe anything … and nothing to believe.

Now, even within Christianity there have been some enlightened souls who have written of the dangers of belief. Take, for example, that great Modernist of last century, Harry Emerson Fosdick (pictured left), who famously wrote, ‘Better believe in no God than to believe in a cruel God, a tribal God, a sectarian God. Belief in God is one of the most dangerous beliefs a man can cherish.’

Having just re-read Brideshead Revisited – a book which, despite the author’s apparent intentions, fails to convince me of the reasonableness of Catholic Christianity over non-belief – I say, good stuff, Dr Fosdick, but why believe at all? Belief is not a criterion of truth. What is real does not become any more real because we believe that it is real, nor does the proposition ‘X is true [or real]’ become any truer because we believe that it is true.

For me, the Biblical prayer, 'Lord, I believe; help my unbelief' (see Mk 9:24), would be better expressed as, 'Lord, I believe; help me instead to know and understand.' Yes, follow the advice of the psalmist: 'Be still, and know that I am God' (Ps 46:10).

The current president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Rev. Peter Morales (pictured right), the Association’s first Latino president, has stated:

‘Religion is not about what you or I or Baptists or Catholics or Jews or Muslims or Hindus believe. I would even go a giant step further: Belief is the enemy of religion. Let me repeat that: Belief is the enemy of religion.’ [Emphasis in the original]

Morales goes on to say that any religion that is focused on belief is ‘a dangerous corruption of true religion.’ True religion, according to Morales, is ‘about what we love, not about what we think.’ It’s ‘about what you and I hold sacred.’ The Unitarian Universalist movement, says Morales, offers religion beyond belief, ‘religion that transcends culture, race and class ... religion where we can grow spiritually, a religion where we can forge deep and lasting relationships, a religion where we can join hands to help heal a broken world.’ That is the kind of religion – or metareligion – that I embrace.

But what exactly is the problem with 'beliefs,' you may ask? Well, Shakyamuni Buddha referred to beliefs as being in the nature of thought coverings or veils (āvarnas). These thought coverings or veils do not reveal reality, indeed they distort reality. How? Well, they prevent us from knowing and experiencing things as they really are in all their directness and immediacy. Belief is conditioning. Knowledge is experiential.

I have always found helpful these words attributed to the Buddha: 'Do not believe, for if you believe, you will never know. If you really want to know, don't believe.' There is also this sound advice from the Pāli texts:

In what is seen, there should be only the seen;
in what is heard, only the heard;
in what is sensed, only the sensed;
in what is thought, only the thought.

Yes, we need to safely 'navigate' our way through life, but beliefs actually stand in the way and hold us back. What we really need is ... knowledge ... and understanding.

It was that great meditation master Sunlun Gu-Kyaung Sayadaw (pictured left), the founding father of the Sunlun way of Buddhist vipassanā meditation, who taught that there is so much that we can know. We can know that we are alive … in the sense of being part of the flow or procession of life. We can know that we are persons among persons. We can know that sensations arise in us, and as respects each such sensation we can know the fact of its existence … as well as the fact of its strength or weakness. More importantly, we can know each sensation - as a bare fact - as and when it arises … and as it truly is … in all its directness and immediacy.

Yes, there is so much we can know that, well, there is simply no need to believe anything at all. In any event, the very act of formulating a 'belief' causes an otherwise present reality to die away, because (as Sunlun Gu-Kyaung Sayadaw would constantly point out) the very nature of a belief is a mental construct based on an already past reality. That is, by the time a particular belief has been formulated, the reality upon which that belief is purportedly based is no longer a present reality. It is now the past. Beliefs lock us into the past. Beliefs imprison. They do not liberate. They are chains that bind us.

You may ask, ‘Is that all there is to life? Is there no more than that? Just life as it arises? As we see and experience it?’ Well, I suspect that we cannot truly know more nor less than that, but either way it is enough for me. Direct and immediate contact with reality – of that we can be truly mindful. And for that we should be truly thankful.



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