The Order Of The Ancient Way

Belief

Belief is a problem for most people, and most certainly for the followers of The Way. To most people it comes down to, "Do I believe or don't I believe?" or “What is comfortable for me to believe? Shall I believe this bit and not that bit; and why?”

Confusing isn't it, especially when religious leaders preach one thing and practice something completely different themselves.

Consider the belief that sex is such a big sin, which applies to most religious belief systems. Yet little children are regularly subjected to unspeakable abuses by the purveyors of such a belief.

The belief that sex is a terrible sin is pressed upon us because we all think about it and or indulge in it. Therefore we are all sinners. It is in fact a method of bullying via the good conscience of the vulnerable. It reduces one's self esteem and so renders the individual guilty with a deep sense of inadequacy and therefore willingly self manageable.

It is accepted that if you can be made to believe something completely ridiculous, then you can be convinced to accept something else equally ridiculous, or even downright evil, whichever the case may be.

We can be sent to war against “The enemy.” This enemy is someone we usually don't know, so we are made to believe all sorts of things in order to get us to willingly kill him and his children, for whatever cause. In times past, it used to be territory or gold, but nowadays it's the cause of obtaining oil and other such things.

We are also put into a frame of mind where we are happy to die for king, country, cause or whatever god that is the prevalent flavour of the day. God was on the side of the British in the last two World Wars, but he was also on the side of the Germans. What an amazing guy that god was, or is supposed to be. Of course we do believe that he works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform, don't we?

The Jews believed that if they prayed they would be saved. They were not saved. All but a few died and the few gave thanks to their god because they survived. Why are the not also angry with him because so many died? The reason that they are not angry with him is because they believe. I was all because of some grand plan that no one knows anything about; and indeed is far too humble to be allowed to understand and too worthless to dare question.

Of course the priest, or other form of holy man, is in on the Grand Divine Plan and one must not ask any questions, and in particular the difficult ones that require reason and fact. If any god is credited with praise when someone lives, then he should surely be blamed when they die.

Consider a person who is very ill. They leave hospital and give thanks to god for saving them. If you think about it, would he have saved them if the surgeon had not operated? Or if they had not been given antibiotics? I think not; so why give thanks to god? Has anyone seen such a god while sober or sane? I think not.

If you want to lose weight or give up some bad habit and have often failed in the past, then you go to see your local hypnotist. You will probably have previously failed because of an anxiety problem, so you embark on a series of Hypno-therapeutic sessions. You undergo a session every seven days. Why every seven days? The answer is that he is going to brainwash you out of your problem. Every seven days is necessary because the subconscious mind reverts back to it's previous position after seven days if not reinforced, so it is necessary to get the new idea bedded in and that's why a varying number of sessions are required. Give me the mind of a child till he's seven and all that.

So why do you go to Church every seven days? The reason is that the subconscious mind has no reason and it acts just like a machine, so when an idea is planted with the seven day regularity, it just takes it on board without question and then acts on it.

The priest says “Close your eyes” and so also does your hypnotist. The difference between the two implanters is that the hypnotist is honest and you go to him for help. The priest will deny that he is doing any such thing, yet his methods are exactly the same.

Take it from me: it is all done by hypnosis. The subconscious mind will act in an emotional manner regarding anything that it believes to be fact, as it cannot tell the difference. That's why we get so upset when our religious or political beliefs are brought into question. They are, or at least should be, questionable considering the impact they have on our lives.

If you are overweight, then ask yourself why are you overweight in the first place? It's simply because you're feeding an anxiety problem; that's why. Your taking in more food than your body requires. Take the food away and you increase the anxiety, that's why you get fat if you give up smoking. Guess what happens when you go on a diet or an exercise program? You increase your anxiety.

When you stop jogging you will get fatter than you were before you began because the subconscious side of your mind, which controls everything, gets afraid by the starvation and so demands more food jut in case you might die. It cannot reason and its job is to maintain you and protect you. Regardless of reason you plunder on, because you believe in this program or that program. Such programs also allow you to avoid facing your real problems so they are portrayed in a very attractive way.

The smoking habit calms the anxiety, so when you take that away you eat food to calm it instead. But of course we have all sorts of beliefs about weight don't we. We have such difficulty with it and we fail so often. Do you ever wonder why? It's because of belief and attitude towards the self, that's why.

Belief, according to The Everyday Dictionary, is described -- and I quote - “assent of the mind, persuasion, creed, opinion” (while assent is described as an act of “agreeing to anything, consent to agree, to yield.” So why do we automatically accept belief as fact, when it quite clearly is not?

In fact belief is just a theory accepted as fact, but not necessarily a fact and with nothing to suggest any true value based on experience, demonstration of anything else. It is just belief, which is the unquestioned mental acceptance of something unproven. It might be a belief in the Tooth Fairy or Father Christmas: but that kind of thing is only for children, or is it?

In The Way, when we try to explain to anyone how and why we believe in nothing, explanations are difficult for a believer to come to grips with while not at the same time having the feeling of being threatened. To say that we don't believe in anything is viewed as not quite accurate, as belief is part of the human condition and we cannot function without it.

It is regularly said to us that “You have to believe in something”, but why should we accept something that is beyond belief? Why should we believe blindly, and against all evidence of any truth, in that belief?

This of course brings in the question of sanity. Why can't you believe in Knowledge, Reason, Logic and provable facts? There is sufficient evidence to support such things. They prove themselves, yet people don't want to know. Their minds are made up by what they believe and they don't want fact. Facts are cold, rigid and difficult to live up to. But you can take factual cheques to that great bank that is the Bank of Life: and unlike beliefs that are based on nothing reasonable, they won't bounce.

Blind faith and belief allows you to perform actions that reason would tell you are wrong. It even allows justification for mass murder or child abuse; things we see and read of every day. It acts as a salve for the conscience and affords comfort of mind. It also stops us from improving as human beings. It restricts us to false conscience and complacency in the face of our reality. Because of this it places us in danger and so prevents us from realization.

The belief that you will go to some paradise after death, is beyond reason, logic and indeed common sense. But it's a comforting feeling, is it not, to believe that the more you suffer, the better your chances are of getting to Paradise? It can also give you a feeling of superiority and righteousness over your fellow man. It also makes you happy to go without things you might like to have, and suffer life's poverties and pains proudly and without a single complaint.

If poverty and suffering are good for you, then why are the poor looked down upon and despised? And why do the people who teach such blind belief not give all their money and property away, so that they too can go to heaven? Perhaps they don't really believe in paradise themselves; otherwise it is logical that they would give all away gladly. Don't they believe what they tell others to believe?

Look at the wealth of churches in any religion; and yet people starve. The very ones that tell you how good suffering is for you, don't go without much themselves, do they? So what about them? Where will they be in the great pecking order after death? What do they really believe? Could it possibly be that Heaven doesn't really exist; like the tooth fairy and dear old Santa?

There are different kinds, or types of belief. The first and acceptable type is in the order of the one that allows me to plant my garden, because I believe that I will harvest a crop. If I didn't believe that I would harvest a crop, then I wouldn't plant anything or even get out of bed in the morning to bother doing so. Such belief is however based on something tangible. I have planted in the past, as I have seen others do, and both I and they harvested a crop many times before, so it's a fair chance that I will do so again this year. I know that disease and drought might give me a problem, but it's still a fair bet.

To believe that the sun will come up tomorrow is a reasoned conclusion because I have experienced it so many times before. Again, it's a fair bet. It is belief based on reasoned conclusion, experience and evidence.

Maybe next we can consider the gambler's belief that he will win because he has won before, which sounds the same, but isn't. However he has not taken into account that he will have lost more than he gained, therefore his reasoning is less acceptable because in the end he always loses. He hasn't reasoned or calculated all the factors. This, once again, is a false belief.

The bookie or Casino owner however, believes that the gambler will keep coming back because of his occasional win from time to time. It makes the gambler believe in the possibility of winning and then again, there the Big One that someone else has reputedly won.

Again, past experience has taught the bookie that it's a fair to certain bet that the gambler will keep giving him his money regularly. It's a carefully calculated possibility and the odds are always in the bookie's favour. Nothing is left to chance by the bookie, who always wins. He is working on belief based on calculation, experience and good maths.

Then there is religious and political belief: the belief in gods who obviously do not and cannot in all reason exist. This kind of belief falls under the category of belief in that which is beyond belief. Unfortunately we base our rules and laws for life on the teachings of such beliefs: in believing that what we are taught to believe, is true.

If we looked at any religious beliefs for a second, with just a little reason and common sense, we would realize that such beliefs can't be true. Once again we are taught to believe that to question such beliefs will damn us to Hell forever, and so fear protects the peddlers and their nonsense from scrutiny or question. It's a case of belief protecting belief no matter how ridiculous, harmful, or downright evil such beliefs might be.

Our politicians tell us what they believe so that we will vote for them. When the obvious happens, and they fail to deliver on their promises, they can then pretend to be upright and honest men and claim that they really believed what they were saying was true when in fact it couldn't possibly be true, and they both knew and shamefully know it.

For example: you cannot reduce taxes and give more to pensioners, young families, the employed and the unemployed at the same time, because the extra money for such things has to come from somewhere.

If you believe that something will happen because it has happened every day for generations, then it is a belief based on something tangible and reliable, so it is a calculated reasonable assumption and not just a belief.

To believe that a certain horse might win a race may be based on past performance of that horse, but when you consider the factors involved, such as weather, other horse's behaviour and bet-rigging, it's not truly based on much of any reliable value. It is then a shaky enterprise, spurred on by blind belief in luck or something else equally vague.

If you believe in something that has no evidence to support it, and a great deal of evidence against it, then you're crazy. If something is beyond belief and you are the expected to follow blindly, then ask yourself, “Why?” The answer will then become obvious. You are in fact being manipulated for someone else's gains, whatever such gains may be.

In The Way, the latter is the one that we will not accept, and we advise everyone else to avoid it also. Blind belief in the unbelievable may excuse anything and everything. It may make you feel comfortable and secure, but blind belief, is what it is, both blind, false and dangerous!

Most people will accept that knowledge, reason, logic and provable fact are the only foundation for life that is sound and yet they can take ages deciding to make the change to their thinking. I wonder why?

In The Way we follow only Knowledge, Reason, Logic, and provable truths. How do you want to live; and by what rules?