Shadowy Beliefs - Alan Watts

Real courage is possible only through seeing.
It's not possible through belief in the divine self, 
which we all share in common, as if that were
something you could believe in.  This is only to
be discovered through not hanging on to anything,
not having any armor, not having any beliefs, not
having any kind of gimmick with which to try to
hold the weaving of smoke in position. You don't
need it.  If you really are the basis of the world,
you don't need a belief that that is so.

Alan Watts

with thanks to Love Is A Place

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Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

Deepening Wonder - Jeff Foster

I do not believe in anything.
I have no religion.
I have no god, including the gods of money, science, and atheism.
I have no fixed theories about reality, including that one.
I see heaven and hell, karma, reincarnation and the search for
enlightenment as beautiful fairy tales.
I have no guru, no lineage, no teacher, and so everything
 teaches me.
I see doubt and profound mystery as my most trusted companions.
I walk no path except the one appearing directly in front of me.
I have no home except this sacred moment.
I trust nothing at all, except whatever happens.
I find no meaning in life except the fearless living of it.
I know that today could be my final day.
I feel grateful for all that was given and all that was taken away.
I see the inherent limitation of language and yet love to play
with it.
I see the joke in using the words "I", "me" and "mine" and yet
delight in using them.
I realise that I am not my story, and realise even that ins't true.
I find it impossible to say anything about myself, for experience
is constantly changing.
I find it effortless to talk about myself, for who I Am never changes.
I know that on the deepest level I am profoundly equal to you.
I know that these sentences are pale imitations of truth.
I do not believe in anything.
I have no religion.
Except the in-and-out breaths.
And endlessly deepening wonder.

Jeff Foster

with thanks to No Mind's Land
and photo too.

 

Fantasies We Live By - Terry Pratchett

"You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."

Really?  As if it was some kind of pink pill?  No. Humans
need fantasy to be human.  To be the place where falling
angel meets the rising ape.

"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little - ?"

Yes. As practice.  You have to start out learning to believe
the little lies.

"So we can believe the big ones?"

Yes. Justice. Mercy. Duty.  That sort of thing.

"They're not all the same at all!"

You think so?  Then take the Universe and grind it down to
the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and
then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy.
And yet (Death waved a hand).  And yet you act as if there
is some ideal order in the world, as if there is some...
some rightness in the Universe by which it may be judged.

"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point -"

My point exactly...

Terry Pratchett
From Hogfather

With thanks to Whiskey River

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Photo - Mystic Meandering

 

What Are Your Beliefs? - Dave Gray

 Beliefs are not reality.  They are not facts.
They are constructions.  You construct your beliefs,
even though for most people this is an unconscious
process, and they hold you captive.  Your beliefs form
the fundamental model that you use to navigate the
world.

By beliefs I mean everything you know [or think you know].
All beliefs are approximations [of reality/truth]. because the
whole of reality is unknowable.  None of us can ever
completely understand.

A belief is something you hold in your mind, a kind of map
or model of external reality.  But just as maps and models
can be wrong, so can your beliefs.

When people confuse their beliefs with reality, they get
into [political and religious] arguments and conflicts, 
sometimes even wars.

We are all blind.  We may be able to grasp pieces of the truth,
but the whole truth about reality is unknowable [in the sense
of not being intellectually understandable by the mind].

Any understanding we can gain of the world will be limited
by our point of view.  We are each constrained by the boundaries
of our own experience [conditioning] - which form our beliefs.

Beliefs may seem like perfect representations of the world, but,
in fact, they are imperfect models for navigating a complex,
multidimensional, unknowable reality.

We create beliefs about reality to reduce its infinite complexity,
in order to make it easier to understand [or explain, or justify].

Dave Gray
Excerpts from: Liminal Thinking

[brackets mine]

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Photo - Mystic Meandering

Meeting Life As It Is...

I used to think the goal was to "awaken"
from life as it is - to be "enlightened."
And everything would be "different:"
easier, more fluid; things would just fall into place;
that "I" would be "different" - changed somehow.

But it seems the real "awakening"
is about keeping the heart open to
life as it is - not dismissing it or others
as an "appearance" only;
detached from life...

But seeing beyond the "appearance" to the Real;
the Formless in form;
Seeing the Real Being behind the eyes...

Showing up for life and doing what is needed
with mindfulness, kindness and compassion.

Allowing ourselves to be touched by others
and their life circumstances means being
vulnerable and open -
not having the "answers",
or hiding behind the comforting certainties of
a "belief system."

It means forgiving the frailties of others
and accepting one's own...
Not dismissing others as part of an illusion, part
of a dream; not buying into the dream of separation
by denying life...

"Awakening", it seems  is about meeting life as it is,
living amidst the disturbances of life,
discovering and acknowledging the Real Being in
oneself and others;
surrendering to the immensity of "The Mystery"
living ItSelf in the every-day-ness of life...

Mystic Meandering
Aug 2020

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Photo - Mystic Meandering
Red glow of sun from the wildfires in Colorado
and California...