Blog 2137 – 08.02.21
Often The Stuff We Believe The Strongest Is The Wrongest For Us
I have heard myself say things out loud that I knew were just wrong. I have often remarked that the reason I talk so much is so that I can get my thoughts out in front of me so I can take a good look at them. One of my special favorites of The Ten Intentions For A Better World is number 2:
If I have not changed my mind lately I should be concerned that I might be operating on faulty premises, on out dated information, or outmoded beliefs that are no longer serving me.
One of the karaoke songs that I enjoy singing most (though it is a bit high for my limited range) is “No Matter What” with it’s great line, “What we believe is true.” When a thought or idea becomes a belief we have a tendency to reorder our lives around it in an attempt to guard it and hold on to it. We should hold lightly even our strongest held belief for if the winds of new information or evidence can blow them up or away we should let them go. It is so sad when we allow our hearts and minds to be held prisoner to beliefs that are no longer serving us.
As a young man I heard and saw often the TV spot soliciting donations to Black colleges that said: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” Education, formal or self acquired has as it’s goal challenging our long and perhaps wrong held beliefs. The term “dark ages” was never popular with “the church” for it was a time in history when religious dogma reigned supreme in the western world and science was deemed heresy or witch craft. The Dark Ages were superseded by The Enlightenment when thinking people returned to the proven practice of discarding beliefs that no longer served them. Also democracies began to replace theocracies and monarchies and personal liberty, justice, and greater opportunities to rise above one’s station in life and all manner of progress has since been achieved. Both the modern Conservative and Progressive thought positions can trace their roots to that turning point, I think.
In this country there has long been a strong subversive movement to undermine and destroy our public schools. The last administration made moves like no other before it toward accomplishing that goal. I believe the goal of public education was never to indoctrinate children, but to teach them to question, search for answers, and to beware of those who claim to have all the right answers.
The beliefs yelled the loudest and professed the most violently and strongest are often the wrongest for us and those we are in most need of discarding for good. But how does one let go of an addiction that is quite literally harming them, be it to a substance or to a belief? One thing I have found that helps is to daily affirm in these words or your own:
“My arms and my hands are open. My heart and my mind are open. My mouth, my ears, and my eyes are open to receive all the Universe has for me.” I believe that the Universe can and will fill us to overflowing if we stay open to all the possibilities instead of fixating on one, two, or a narrow few.
Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White
No Matter What
theencouragingword 