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Is belief the cause of conflict?
We believe in whatever gives us an identity, in whatever lends us strength, whatever gives us hope, meaning and direction in our lives. Religion, theories, philosophies – all these are a shelter for our tired minds and hearts. We seek a way out of our confusion. We seek relief from an inability to understand and the pain associated with it. We seek to know why an event occurs in our lives. We seek a pattern, a cause and effect explanation, a theory , a belief that can explain the incessant flux of life. We seek an explanation for complexity, a refuge in our fear and our doubt. We seek within ourselves for comfort in our hour of despair. To assist us in reaching within and find comfort, we seek the assistance of a method, a technique, a belief, a system, a religion, a philosophy, an ideology. This offers the strength of organized numbers, it enjoys the clarity of definition. In most cases, we organize and build in the name of our beliefs. Therefore, we have institutions to support and nurture our beliefs.
In many cases, we are conditioned by belief and belief systems from our earliest years. We grow up loyal to our belief and our system. A compliment paid to our religion, our version of God, our religion, our ideology will make us happy. That of another makes us indifferent or angry, skeptical or critical. We have become enclosed in a narrow cellar that shuts out another. We have got trapped in notions of "mine" and "not mine". We have shackled ourselves with figments of our own imagination. We have conditioned ourselves to like and dislike. We have set the stage for conflict, overt or covert in our lives.
To believe divides us and creates conflict. It traps us in narrow compartments of conditioned likes and dislikes, notions of "mine" and "not mine". It can be a powerful source of conflict . Yet, the answer cannot be to disbelieve either. For, then, we are reacting to the tendency to believe. The mind can deceive in innumerable ways. It can swing from one extreme of belief to another extreme of disbelief. In both cases, it clings to a narrow, fragmented outlook, mere notions, a fixed view of what is a dynamic movement. Therefore belief and disbelief are two sides of the same coin. They are both static notions of a dynamic movement, fixed theories of an incessant flux, finite explanations of an infinite intelligence. Belief is a child trying to empty the ocean with a spoon. It is at best amusing and entertaining itself. Its intrinsic absorption and pleasure is its reward. Yet, we have to awaken from the fixed, narrow mindset of our beliefs. We have to question the true nature of our beliefs, why we need it, what it contributes to our lives. We have to investigate whether we cling to belief out of a fear of uncertainty and the unknown.
The known is what tires our minds and hearts, the burden we seek relief from, the repetition of mindless patterns, a conditioned and mechanical response. Yet, often, this is the nature of our belief. It is awareness that provides energy and intelligence, facilitates insight and understanding, love and compassion. How can there be energy and intelligence in a mechanical response when the unfoldment of our lives is a constant movement of the unknown? The search for answers, for meaning and direction is alive from moment to moment. It is an expression of an innate, infinite awareness. In fact, it is the perfection within that enables us to stretch our minds and intellects to even permit the possibility of an infinite and unknowable unknown. I call it unknown because it is infinite and defies description. I call it unknowable because it eludes our instruments, means and methods of knowing. It eludes understanding by sensation, feelings and thought. Therefore, how can we believe in what is forever unknown? Belief implies a separation while we are forever one with it. The infinite splendour is the very core of our awareness and existence.
What we believe in is the possibility of something infinite and that which brings us lasting bliss. We believe, one way or the other, in that possibility. This belief gives us the strength to walk when our legs are weak and the terrain is rough. The belief is a crutch to support us on the journey of life. Yet, millions of people have millions of beliefs. There are dozens of religions and dogmas, faiths and ideologies, movements and cults, systems and philosophies, organizations and institutions. All these promote their own particular method or technique, belief or ideology, religion or philosophy. These are all a reflection of the variety of human experience and are good. Yet, they also sow the seeds of conflict in an ignorant mind. They become a barrier to an expanded awareness. We can become and often are frogs in the narrow well of belief.
Most of all, we have to be convinced of the essential oneness of creation, the unity of all life, the shared concerns of humanity, the need to ceaselessly enquire and question our own notions and beliefs. The age old authority of the scriptures may have a treasurehouse of truth. Yet, we have to discover it ourselves as living truth within our own lives and in our own lifetime. This calls for enormous insight and understanding. Belief may offer us refuge and shelter, it may give us a ray of hope. Yet, finally, we have to enquire into what we truly believe and why.
If I believe in something, does that belief become a gateway to truth or a narrow cellar of preconceived notions? Does my belief become a crutch to lean upon? Does it perpetuate the weakness of my own legs by being a crutch? Or, are all of us at some time or other, vulnerable to the ups and downs, the turns and twists that life brings us? Is belief then a method to reassure ourselves or is it a pathway to truth? Further, can conflict arise without belief? Isn't belief a separation, a narrow notion however lofty, a compartment that divides man against man? Why do we believe and what do we believe in ? What we believe is known to us. Do we know the ultimate reality of life? If we do and believe in it, why do we still suffer from sorrow, greed, doubt, jealousy, hate, fear and anxiety? Why is there conflict? Is it possible to "know" what is infinite? If we do not know, what do we believe? Are we deluding ourselves with mere notions in the form of belief? Is this mind boggling multiplicity based on name and form a source of conflict? Is belief the cause of conflict?