Religious faith vs. seeking of the truth

I encourage people to seek the truth in all things. My religious aunt tells me, proudly, that “the truth doesn’t burn in a fire”… But in her case, the word “truth” should be replaced with the word ignorance. You see, when you DECIDE not to be SWAYED by anything, not logic, not proof, not by your own eyes, there is no telling you that something that isn’t true isn’t true. You can ALWAYS believe ANYTHING that is even remotely debatable if you just decide you’ll obstinately believe whatever you’ve decided to believe. Like, that the Earth is flat.

Many people reconcile their faith in something that isn’t the way they have decided it to be by that “OK, we know logically it isn’t so, but we’ve agreed as a community to believe it is, therefore, even if we doubt it, we’ll keep telling each other that’s the way it is.  It is not so much about the FACTS as it is about the community, after all.” However, what that saying “the truth doesn’t burn in a fire means” is that when you apply logic and scrutiny to TRUTH, you WILL find that what is true is true. You do not need to protect the truth by such things as faith, belief, decision, loyalty, blind trust, or whatever, gullibility to keep you believing what you believe.

When we also believe that our faith will be rewarded in the end, our loyalty will pay off, and that this is all just a test of faith, you’ll find it near impossible to break free from a false belief. It is a true bitches’ brew that one.

But you wouldn’t leave me…!

So. My former friend believes that me telling her to her face that our friendship is over and there’s nothing she can do about it, her FAITH in our friendship keeps her from hearing it. “You’re testing me. You’re organizing a surprise for me like you did when I turned 20. I thought you were an asshole, I wouldn’t do that again. I should have trusted you then, and I will trust you now. There is a reason why you do this, but it isn’t that we are no longer friends. You work in mysterious ways. Even though you are unfriendly, unloving, tough on me, you do this because you are preparing me for something greater.” And I’m like… Very sarcastically thinking yeah. Because I would DO THAT, but I wouldn’t tell you YOUR actions against me have made me reconsider the validity of our friendship and decided it’s not worth preserving?

Hooks that keep you hooked in bad faith

“Any day now” God/lover/friend will reward me. Community support. The demand of forgiveness, understanding, loyalty. Believing that if you lose faith, it’s YOUR failure. You’re not doing your job in brainwashing yourself.

Liberation from bad faith

Allow yourself to DOUBT. Allow yourself to think inappropriate thoughts. Let yourself scrutinize and let the questions you have come in fully. Open your eyes to other people’s flaws and failures, and study the possibility that you are naive and gullible.

Truth shouldn’t need your self-manipulation techniques. A GOD shouldn’t require YOU to keep HIS GLORY up. The truth will remain the truth without you believing it for the time being; the truth is not fairies that will die once the last child stops believing in them.

Truth is something that was agreed to be the truth before

OK, imagine religious leaders would have a big speech coming up. They don’t know how things were exactly, but they decide that OK, we have a Mass on Sunday and we have to say something. So they come up with a tale that sounds good thinking people will forget it come next Sunday. But they don’t. They lap it up as it was the most beautiful sermon they’ve heard so far. So, the leaders decide they’re going to go with that story. Lock it in. We’ll insist that’s real because the congregation really seems to respond to that idea.

Now. Is it true? (And yes, “which part?” is a good question.)

You won’t lose faith in what is REAL

If you put your faith through the scrutiny of truth, you won’t lose faith in what is actually real. TRUTH does not burn in a fire, but you should let idiocy and gullibility catch light like polyester near an open flame. If you feel like your faith is always under an attack, ask yourself why. Do you feel yourself HOLDING ONTO your faith, or does it exist as a certainty that you are where you think you are… You know, there’s a slight chance you’ve gone insane and sitting drooling in a padded box somewhere without you realizing it, but when you at least trust you own ability to observe reality, your faith should be about there… You know, because it’s real. How do you know if anything is real? You do and you don’t.

Scrutinize your beliefs. Make them stand for their own self. Don’t respect your faith, respect THE TRUTH. Do not fear the truth. No. I’ll rephrase, do not fear FOR THE TRUTH so much you’re scared to examine what it is. The truth is your friend. It needs to be discovered. Anything that needs your help to be believed is not the truth. The truth exists without the need for YOU to know it, or to believe it. The truth doesn’t need you, but you need the truth.

What is real will remain, and it is the ONLY THING worth believing in. The truth.

Subscribe to get a Daily Message