Most people tend to be unilateral when it comes to belief.  They like thinking that their belief is what keeps them going in good and bad times.  It is after all, the quintessential expression of human hope.  Well, I’m a cynic and I believe that every coin has two sides.  Just because people choose to ignore the other one, it does not mean is not there.  My intention is not to criticize the good things having a “belief” does for some people.  I will acknowledge before I go any further, that in some cases a belief has helped people go thru a difficult situation.  Yet, is the price we pay for it worth it? It is my intention to explore that idea by simply showcasing how wrong people can be, how badly they use words without knowing their proper purpose/definition and how dangerous a belief can be to society.  That or just messing with your head.

If I were to ask people what’s the first thing that comes to their minds when I say the word “Belief” we could be sure enough that among the top three answers we would hear the words “faith“, “religion” and “god“.  In a distant fourth we probably woudl hear UFO, but that’s neither here nor there.  The truth of the matter is that people attach a belief to religion.  From there they convert it to truth, skiping anything in the middle to make it spiritual law, hence we must do what we have to, to protect such law.  In my head there’s but one true way of using the word belief and that is in the sense of choosing to give credit to an explanation that has been accepted.  If it so happened to be that the explanation was related to god’s ability to make people miserable and have us all think its for our own good, then fine, but that’s not the same as assuming that because I belief in god, that explanation is correct. Oh and yes, I know I’m writing god without a capital G.  Deal with it.  The fact of the matter is that an explanation can be wrong, and by default so will the belief attached to it.  There is no such thing as infallible and the sooner we understand that concept the sooner we start growing and depart from the shadows of human nature.

So let’s talk about these groups of people that think having a belief is worth defending it to the death.  For the fun of it let’s call them “believers” although I’m pretty sure some might prefer to call them”nutcrackers“.  Now, if we remember what I wrote above and by that matter I’m correct, if belief is the credibility of an accepted explanation, then there can be only one, just like the Highlanders.  I mean if the explanation is “God made Jesus black” then any other explanation could not be accepted by normal logic.  Yet somebody does, and they stand by their explanation and we end up with a good ol’ quick draw as to why Jesus is black, white, brown or yellow and in some cases an alien.  That confrontation over a word that should mean more than what it seems to resemble, rests weight to the term “belief” turning it into a fancy way of saying “In My Opinion”.  So something that gets attached to religion that is only but a person’s (or a group of people) perspective, really should not receive the acceptance and justification it gets from everyone in that particular click.

Some people have been fighting over beliefs for their whole life, be that family members that belief that gays are a punishment from god and therefore their daughter should not be part of the family if she chooses such a lifestyle, parents and teachers arguing over the belief to teach intelligent design instead of evolution, to nations, fighting over a piece of “fucking” crap land, as their holly location.  I bet you half of them don’t really know what is so holly about it.  Because of a belief, Israel boys and Palestinian boys are raised hating each other and continuing a fight they know but what they have been told on their side only.    Because of a belief, millions of people don’t do shit here on the planet they live and where their input could be helpful and put to good use.  Instead they like to be waiting for some cloud to break and some frat alumni on a toga  with a white beard walk out and gives us passes to an all-post-live buffet of goodies.  Because of a belief that is just an opinion, that they like to enforce on everybody.  Just because they are empty enough and got filled up with the first thing that gave them hope and expectations in the future.  Something that keeps them in order, better than any law created by man could.  The funny thing is, there are people that don’t care if there are fanatics like these fellows.  But they are not happy, none of them are.  They need everybody on board with their belief.  The more pacific of them just try to ram it down your throat thru politics and social pressure.  The more excentric, well they like to bring planes down in the name of their belief.  Is as if they are a few people away from a big prize, if only the help transpose the belief in others.

I guess what I’m saying can be simplified simple enough.  Having beliefs does not make you any better or worse.  Living for your beliefs can be a waste of your time.  Dying for your belief is a waste of your life.  Killing for your belief is the lowest poing a human being can achieve.  We don’t even make it to the “like monkeys” category but to the “psycothic assholes”.  Wether you wear a turbant or a rosary, a yamaka or you just like hitting the gong, think about the energy you are concentrating in your belief and remember that 500 years ago our belief was that the earth was flat with monster at the end, less than a hundred years ago it was our belief here in the United States that having slaves was ok and woman had no rights.  So before you tie yourself to a belief, ask yourself if it’s really worth the investment.  Wouldn’t you rather invest in yield bonds or something that gives you something you can truly use instead of an excuse to defend your hidden bigotry?

If there was no belief or no maxed out attachment to believes, would there be any wars in the world? Would there be any fight in the Middle East? Would the inquisitions continue? I’d like to think that without the belief factor in the mix, people would be really free to care about each other, themselves and the future of things.  Isn’t that ironic? It would take the elimination of their believes, to possibly start acting what their belief tells them they should do to begin with, yet ignore like happy drivers on the highway.  I believe some people are in desperate need of a wake up call.  Just get a fucking clue!