Want to know what the hell is going on in the world? We are always being called to go outside the confines of the box of our minds. Now is always the best time to listen. Our beliefs can create the walls that separate us from the truth and from each other. If you are afraid to question your belief system, then your belief system rests in shaky ground. If you are grounded in your convictions, you are unshakable. It is important to understand the difference between what you think you know and truth that rests at the very core of your being.
Beliefs come from our intelligence. Convictions come from our wisdom. Beliefs need to be defended. Convictions have already won the battle without a fight. Beliefs need supporters, admirers and followers. Convictions stand on their own two feet and can walk the path alone without need for glorification. Beliefs are often based on judgements and perceptions, yours and others. While we can learn from example and the lives of great beings can inspire us, convictions are based on understanding, exploration, and your own experience of blood, sweat and tears, not those of someone else.
Why so much worry about the beliefs of someone else? Can you take a stand for what you belief in without making someone else wrong for what they believe? They may be wrong. You may be wrong. What makes your wrong less wrong than theirs. If it is truth, then it can take a lot of mud slinging, beating and battering and it won't be harmed. It won't ever change. It is not subjective. It exists without anyone's belief in it. Truth does not need to be protected. I am not saying we shouldn't take a stand for what we believe even though it may not be a conviction yet, but we should give ourselves and others some growing room. A conviction is a belief that has been tested. We are all learning here.
For me, a dangerous person is someone who believes they have nothing learn. That is a person that is so afraid, that they have cast the walls of their box in impenetrable stone. Surround yourself with yourself and your are limited with yourself. Inside your box lives your small mind with all it's thoughts, all it's worries, all it's justifications, all it's rationalizations, all it's me, me, me. Outside your box an entire universe of possibilities, expansive thoughts, solutions and understandings exists for you. Now is the time to step outside your box. We need each other. The boxes are in the way.
Free your mind. Open your heart. Spread some love.
