Chapter 3 “The Idolatry of Belief”

When it is firmly understood not just in the mind, but also within every facet of one’s being that Love, Truth is the only Reality, the only True God, then the reality of the unreal becomes profoundly clear, in a blinding Light.  Indeed, the True Light always exposes the unreal for what it is.  The symbolism of vampires hating the light has much truth in it, as that which is evil, that which is untrue, always hates that which exposes the fact of its non-reality.  It is a striking fact the untrue is hateful of the Light.  It is hateful of it because the Light is the Truth.  If the unreal were true, then it would not be full of hate and anger.  It would not be threatened.  It would be content in itself.  But the untrue can never be content in itself since it is in rebellion and denial of the only Reality.  Its anger and misery prove there is such a thing as absolute Truth, which is Love….God. If there was not absolute Truth, then the untrue would not be miserable.  But to deny Love, Truth, God, is the definition of Hell, as it is always miserable to deny Love’s Truth. The reason many wish to shatter the mirror of Truth in frustration and anger is because we are upset with ourselves when we look into the mirror to see what we actually are, and we don’t always like what Truth reveals.  We may try to lie to ourselves, but Truth never lies.  It is incapable of it. 

When looking into the mirror of Truth, we also realize that all which is not love or loving serves ego, self, and is not of God. Belief itself is ultimately everyone’s idol, and the “baggage” we must leave behind to follow Truth, God, Love, as Christ asked of his disciples and those who would follow God.  I am not sure of the actual Greek word for what is typically translated to the English word “belief” in the Bible.  If there is any Truth in the New Testament scriptures, then the word “belief” must not have the same meaning as we give the word in the 21^st century.  The reason for this is because what God is really asking of us is to Love – period.  Not believe.  What benefit does belief have? Love, Truth is all that matters, and belief is not love or truth. The only way to Love is Love.  The only way to Truth is Truth, not belief. One could believe something with all their heart, but it does not necessarily make it true or factual.  For millennia, humanity believed the world was flat, but that never changed the fact it was always a sphere. 

What is belief?  We all have beliefs, whether we like it or not, whether we acknowledge them or not.  We all “believe in a god” of some kind, whether we call it the God of Abraham, the god of money, the god of self, the god of intelligence, etc.  Belief is unavoidable since we all draw conclusions and opinions of things based on our experience.  This is belief. We cannot not believe.  It is what the mind does.  However, when looking at the history of religious wars, and current conflicts, listening to apocalyptic preachers and others’ opinions, it is clear most of us spend much of our time identifying with these beliefs, trying to get other people to either see our point of view – to believe as we do, or at least live in the silent or not-so-silent hope others will eventually “come around” to see our “truth.”  Identifying with our beliefs and prejudices is true “original sin,” which came into being when we ate the apple – the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge when we evolved into an animal whose intelligence could measure change, create time, and therefore have the capacity to sin through our identification with our self-created beliefs and prejudices.  Our choice to either identify with them or follow Truth is the classic human problem of choosing good or evil.  We may think our beliefs are “truth,” but what is our “truth” really?  It is nothing more than a belief, yes?  And belief is nothing more than a conclusion based on experience and knowledge one has gained.  Since all of our knowledge is always limited and incomplete, as it is impossible to know everything about anything, then all beliefs, whether we label them “good” or “bad” are ultimately inaccurate and therefore not true, and more to the point – not Truth.

The implications of this are enormous.  If all beliefs are not Truth, then no matter what we believe, it is never the Truth.  The reason is because Love is Truth, and is never limited by concept, thought, idea, culture, or time.  Love is timeless, limitless, and has nothing to do with belief.  Truth, Love cannot ever be codified and “captured” into a belief, as it is the ALL of Life and is beyond comprehension.  As we know, belief in something does not change the reality of what actually is. It only colors our perception of what actually is.  The fact all beliefs are conclusions, prejudices based on incomplete, limited information, reveals the fact no belief of any kind is ever Truth.  Still, we cling to our beliefs as if they are truth, and these beliefs become our god, our “idol” we worship.  It is the source of all conflict, all wars, all misery, all division.  The act of identifying with belief itself is Satan, the “devil” if you will.  It is the essence of sin because it is to identify with the lie.  We are of the Truth, called to identify with the Truth, and Truth cannot abide within the limits of belief.  God, Truth, Love, exists outside the limits of belief and time.  This is why Christ commanded all who would follow God to leave their baggage behind.  It is not an option.  It is required since Truth cannot be seen through prejudice and belief.  So, when it is understood that many traditional religions, and in particular traditional Christianity is based on what we believe and not the condition of our hearts, on the Truth, then we see these traditional religions are not about the True God, but about idol worship – the worship of belief, which is just an extension of the self, which is never Truth.

All wars are religious wars.  All conflicts are religious conflicts, as everyone has a religion.  Religion is simply a world view.  We all have one – as they are our beliefs about the world and existence.  One need not proclaim belief in “God” to have a religion.  Atheism is a religion too, as it is a world view – a conclusion about what life is and what life is not.  Any conclusion, whether it is atheism or traditional beliefs about God are the same – none are truth because they are beliefs, which by definition cannot be Truth.  A belief is a limitation – a prejudice, a conclusion.  Truth is never a limitation, prejudice, or a conclusion.  There is such a thing as Absolute Truth, and we can witness to it, but it can never be “believed in” to be Real, only experienced.  To “believe in” Truth or God is to be separate from it – to label it with boundaries of limited thoughts.  This is never Truth.  Truth, God can therefore never be known, labeled, or understood.  It can only be experienced and shared.  When Jesus identified with God, He illustrated to us what we all must do – to identify with the Truth, not the lie of self and ego.  To recognize God is beyond the known of belief and prejudice, that He is outside and inside us, and to recognize our views and beliefs, while unavoidable, separate us from God, Truth.  It is only in recognizing and acknowledging this fact we can approach God with the necessary humility and poverty of Spirit to live within the Truth – to cast off or at least recognize the limitations of our prejudice that get in the way of experiencing the True God, Love.  That has nothing to do with following rules, laws, believing in certain things, following religious rituals, or eating and avoiding specific foods. 

The Apostle Paul wrote of Christ “emptying himself.”  Indeed He did. He had to face the temptations of Satan in the desert.  The temptation of Christ, indeed the temptation of all of us is to follow our beliefs and prejudices instead of God, Truth.  Following these beliefs and prejudices instead of Truth, God, is what sin actually is.  Christ had to empty himself, to “fast” from identification with prejudice and belief which is the “devil” lurking inside all of us, so He could see God and witness to Him.  Christ did what had to be done to become the Son of God, and showed us all the way we too can become realized sons and daughters of God – by emptying ourselves of our identification with our prejudices and beliefs, walls which prevent our witness to the Truth.  In a way, we cannot ever quite “empty ourselves,” as we cannot get rid of the fact that we believe and are prejudicial by nature.  What we can do is see this fact for what it is to enable us to go beyond it by choosing not to identify with our beliefs and conclusions as so many do.  To actually see this is exceptionally rare. Christ refers to this in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Most of us are not even conscious of the fact of our conditioning and how imprisoned we are by our beliefs.  To live only within the narrow walls of belief and to impose them on others, no matter how well meaning we think we are, does nothing more than perpetuate slavery.  Only when we realize we no longer have to identify with our beliefs can we know True Freedom, as recorded in John, 8:32, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  The ending of the identity with the ego, the self, the maker of belief and prejudice is the true emptiness, the true freedom Christ accomplished.  Christ Consciousness is one which is Whole – Unified, and recognizes the limits of perception and individual prejudice, and therefore transcends them in the knowledge of their existence. Belief does not accomplish this, as belief is prejudice itself.   When looked at from this perspective, belief is actually an escape, and a denial of this critical self-examination.  Beliefs, like the self, seek to defend themselves, and when one is defensive, one can never honestly examine anything and cannot see the Truth. 

So, belief keeps us from the Truth, as beliefs are baggage which is no part of the solution to real Peace on Earth.  The part of the Lord’s prayer which says, “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” cannot be accomplished without every single human being making this critical self-examination of one’s prejudice and beliefs.  Since almost nobody does this, it is no wonder our lives and world in which we live have become a shambles.  Truth is not about fighting over which religion or belief is “right,” but about being aware of the snare of belief itself, and resolving to not identify with it.  Only in that is there true freedom as all else is slavery.  Truth always lies outside the known of “good and evil,” “right and wrong,” “believing in” one thing or another… the entire dualistic game of Earthly life within time.  God, Truth is beyond all of this.  There is the Goodness of God which is not the opposite of “bad.” It is the True Good which is All Goodness, in which there is no night, but only pure Light without opposite.  As Truth, Love, God has no opposite, no “devil,” nor “Satan,” as the only Reality… the only Truth… is Love itself…