Duality Of Beliefs Read Count : 93

Category : Articles

Sub Category : Lifestyle


        Where would we be without our systems of belief? Would we be moving further away from progression or would we be more advanced as a species? It's a subjective question with more than one answer, and a million more ways to show if they are right or wrong. But who decides what is right and what's wrong? Is it an innate feeling from within, popular opinion, or what we've been conditioned to believe based on society and our upbringing. 
        The majority lives within a polarized world where it’s either one extreme or the other. Everything and everyone is either all or nothing in their perspective, never seeing any middle ground. Most of the time, never seeing that both sides are of the same concept or ideology. One cannot exist without the other and thus both make up one whole piece. For them, it’s either all or nothing, black or white, good or evil, science or faith. When it comes down to it, you can actually have both or neither. 
        Everything sustains everything else and nothing occurs in isolation, but instead causes, and is caused by, everything else that exists. Instead of seeing two sides of a coin, it’s taking a step back and seeing the coin as a whole—seeing the forest for the trees. 
        The forces of light and darkness in humanity are neither good nor bad. Both create artistic aestheticism if and only when they manifest in a delicate balance with one another. It’s not banishing the shadows in favor of the light but seeking to bring them together in harmony with our own mind. 
        Nevertheless, there are primal forces more ancient than humanity that continue to operate through us and every other creation in this universe. There is a fundamental duality that forms the basis of all experience, and every phenomenon that’s obscured in history is the result of an interaction of those dual forces. Our progress as a civilization is a result of the interaction of those forces as well. You cannot eliminate one in favor of the other. 
           In taking such a one-sided approach, reality is carved into two halves which remain alienated from each other and leads to an apathetic existence from lacking the aesthetic basis from which life can truly be felt and appreciated for what it is. 
        We’ve been conditioned to think of science as absolute fact when it is actually composed mostly of unproven theories. However, we also wouldn’t have science if we didn't have faith in these theories. We’ve become convinced that without faith, beliefs, or morality, we would become ravenous barbarians who wouldn’t hesitate to devour each other for our own selfish means. If we look back in history, we don’t need to lose belief or morality in order to turn into such primitive beasts. That sort of behavior is well supported with belief systems. 
        In a way, we still are those beasts and barbarians, but thanks to civilization, we are rather more sophisticated savages. Instead of painting our faces and hacking one another to pieces, war is now fought with the mere push of a button that can wipe out entire cities thousands of miles away. 
        We do not need a system of beliefs to live. In fact, they are actually a hindrance to living. Whether it be political ideology, religious indoctrination, a spiritual path, social narrative, conspiracy theory, corporate agenda, or whatever belief system we adopt, we are constructing an alternate route or escape to bypass reality when we buy into them. Have we not yet figured out there are no shortcuts in real life?
        When stuck in a traffic jam, it's in our western nature to want to find an alternate route instead of staying put without progressing. With minimal belief, you become locked into this reality as if it exists, where there is no desire to get off the highway because there aren’t many reliable routes to take and there is nowhere to progress to. The highway of life is endless and we remain on it until we don’t, so sit the fuck back and enjoy the ride. 
        Many will argue we need beliefs in order to function and find meaning in life. I don’t believe that we do. Rather, it is the ability to suspend “disbelief” that we need in order to come to terms with our participation in the human drama. For example, why do we enjoy films, stories, video games, or theater, even though we know it isn’t real? We are able to experience our full range of emotions because we believe the experience to be our own in the moment when it is not. 
        It is willingly suspending our disbelief to be entertained by an alternate reality. We can be inspired, enraged, euphoric, horrified, aroused, and experience love and hatred while knowing that it is only a fictional overlay. Nobody likes the person constantly talking or asking questions during a movie. They, too, need to shut the fuck up and enjoy the show. 
        When we are able to live in that narrow window of perception between belief and disbelief, we are free to experience life and are no longer hesitant to express ourselves by experiencing the things we are truly interested in, rather than those prescribed to us. 
        The world is indeed a stage, but to take the drama as reality becomes a form of insanity. One must not storm off the stage either. The only mature way here is to act accordingly and play the part the best we can until the curtain falls. 

Comments

  • No Comments
Log Out?

Are you sure you want to log out?