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Legal
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What IfWhat If You Are Wrong?What if your major beliefs were proven to be wrong. What if the beliefs you have held and accumulated over a lifetime were proven unnecessary. Would you change or would you continue to live as if those beliefs were still necessary and important to you? I am referring to life-altering beliefs not something like East becomes South and North becomes West. These type of physical changes we humans can adapt to; at least with time and some effort. What if it could be proven beyond doubt that the universe and all life is or is not the product of intelligent design? What if the major and primary tenets of your religious beliefs could be proven true or false? If your supreme deity did or did not exist, what would you do? Would tomorrow’s actions include what you consider wrong today? Would you continue to live and act as you do now even if your ultimate religious beliefs were verified or destroyed? If your way of living would change then your beliefs are adopted not ingrained. Do you live and act as you do out of fear of punishment and hope of reward or because you really believe how you live and act is the best for you? If your religious beliefs are all that is keeping you from performing certain acts or from living certain fantasies, your beliefs are an external part of you and you should rethink your beliefs. The way you act and live your life must be a part of you not just a part of your belief structure. This means that if what was illegal became legal, would you change? In other words, are you living the way you want or the way you have been taught? Are your beliefs based on your own ideals or the ideals promoted by others? The honest answer to these questions will tell you if your beliefs are an integral part of you or just adopted. If your lifestyle would drastically change then your beliefs are based on something other than internally accepted beliefs and concepts. You must live by an internal compass that does not depend on external dogmas. Until we can live without fear of punishment or the hope of reward, we are more primitive than civilized. Until we can trust ourselves above any and all moral or religious teachings, we are doomed to be less than we could be. We will remain but children of this universe. Adulthood awaits those willing to live by internal rules and laws based on the advancement of civilization rather than on short-term gain and selfishness. Life is about raising our conscientiousness to a level where dogma is no longer necessary, where reward and punishment are no longer needed or wanted. Religious doctrines should encourage personal development rather than dependency on its dogma. Until you can state that the way you live and believe is based on what you think is best way for you, you are living someone else’s life - not your own. We must learn to curb our appetites and urges based on not only what is best for ourselves but also on what is best for those around us. We must learn to view our actions as part of a whole rather than as individual, unconnected acts.
Author: Don Miller
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2005 Articles |
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