My Belief System

My own faith system is a constantly evolving, major part of my life formulated by a life long search for answers to questions about origin and meaning. I learned in grammar school that people believed the earth was flat, that scientists based theories on that belief and then speculated truths based on that assumption. Like a house of cards, what was taught as truth fell when the first assumption was incorrect. I realized that everything taught was suspect and needed to be examined carefully. Growing up as a cradle Catholic I was given answers that made no sense and weren’t logical in the most simple ways. I was never satisfied with those answers. Church law is not a good enough reason for me to believe something that does not make sense to me.

I know that I do not believe in the God of my upbringing. I believe that I am not the greatest power alive. I believe there is a greater power than myself though it takes no shape or form that I can comprehend at this time. Having said that, I think anything is possible, including the existence of the God of my upbringing. I believe there was an historical Jesus, although I do not believe he was divine. He may well have been a completely enlightened being. I believe that Jesus was a teacher, a radical and enlightened thinker, and a seeker of truth. I revere him for those reasons. I believe there have been other highly realized, enlightened beings including the Buddha and Ramakrishna as well as many, many others unknown to me.

I respect the spiritual in others, regardless of how that manifests itself. It is not for me to judge whether or not a belief system, a ritual, or a spiritual tradition is valid for others. I am only concerned with being able to live peacefully with my own beliefs.

My beliefs include love and compassion in action. The teacher is not more important than the truth taught. I believe that life is the most valuable resource humanity has and how we treat the less fortunate and least known to us as well as the most affluent and known is love and compassion in action.

My beliefs are based on an inner resolve to contribute to humanity at large and not be part of the burden of humanity. I believe that I alone can change and control me, and I'm barely able to do that at times. I do not believe that outside laws, whether religious or secular, can control me. My belief system is internally based and driven, with external manifestations of those beliefs in how I am in the world with others.

I have an attraction for ritual and demonstrative expressions of my beliefs. It is important to me to fully participate in a faith system in order to learn and absorb the beliefs of that system. I think rituals are an important way to reinforce and remind ourselves of our primary concerns in this life. It is so easy, too easy, to get lost in the details of living and culture. I need reminders on a daily basis that I have a more meaningful purpose than running the race everyday. It is also important to me that my faith be a part of my life every single day, not just on the Sabbath. One of the things I like about Buddhism is that you are encouraged by the teachings of the Buddha to not take his word for it, but to instead, examine your own experience and draw your own conclusions.

The more I learn and process what I learn, the more my beliefs are honed to a clear, simple vision of what I believe. I was always somewhat frightened of "cleaning house." I think I feared there would be nothing there if I cleaned out the clutter of my beliefs. I am very pleased at not only what is there, but at how clear and strong it is.