Blog 311 – 06-06-2016

The lines to one of my favorite songs, No  Matter What sung by Boyz to Men expresses, I think, an important truth:

“No matter what they tell you
No matter what they do
No matter what they teach you
What you believe is true.”

What you think or believe is your reality. My faith-based friends have a real problem with this line of thought because they have been taught and believe that Truth is absolute and yet each one of us has a different take on what that might be. What we believe or think to be true is our truth.

There are, I think, some archaic and just plain mistaken beliefs expressed in the Bible. One of them, in particular, is expressed in Proverbs, “It is natural for children to think and do silly things but the rod will drive them far from them.” I do not think we can beat the truth in to anyone or beat it out of them either for you fans of torturing information out of captured enemy troops.

I do believe that the Universe brings us experiences that we can learn from if we choose to. I also think that learning is a process of discarding beliefs that are no longer serving us. Some beliefs we hold on to way passed there usefulness to us. Many once believed it was okay to own people and a lot of silly other ideas like that men ought to be paid more for doing the same job as women.

Growing up is shedding childish thinking and beliefs. Good people can disagree but we ought to try to do that agreeably with an open ear, mind, and heart for the possibility that new information might cause us to question some of our long held beliefs or thinking. I do not claim to have all the answers. But I do think that no belief however sacred is beyond some honest questioning. When our thinking becomed set in stone we are probably ready to exit this stage and leave it to more open minds, open to new interpretations and possibilities, the young of mind and heart.

Over fifty years ago in a song called The Times They Are A Changin’ the singer/poet wrote,

“Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your commands
Your old road
Is rapidly agin’
So get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a changin’.”

Minds, hearts, thoughts, and beliefs are continually changing too.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White