Have you ever met someone without a belief system, even if it was one they refused to admit? We are believing creatures - that we cannot escape; even to believe in no belief, that is belief.
Sutta-Nippata -
For one who is free from views there are no ties, for one who is delivered by understanding [i.e., insight] there are no follies; but those who grasp after views and philosophical opinions, they wander about in the world annoying people.
*Adapted from the Sutta-Nippata. In "Free from All Opinion." Trans. V. Fausböll. In Jack Kornfield, Ed., with Gil Fronsdal. Teachings of the Buddha.
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I was raised in a religious culture that used "conviction" in two ways. One, the Holy Spirit convincing one of their sin. Second, being sure of what one believes. My sense was if one said something like, "This is my conviction," it meant, "No matter whether it is true or not, it is true, for I strongly feel it is true." Belief is not the same as feeling certain or thinking something is true. No matter how much someone recites a creed, confession of faith, or scripture, that does not make it true.
I get the sense sometimes that some people think if they yell something loud enough, that makes it so. Not so - it has nothing to do with the volume of our voices. Belief serves us, but it is not malleable to fit our wishes. And the truth is often inconvenient - certainly so in the pursuit of self-satisfaction and self-glamorization. That something sometimes disturbs us, that is a sign of its veracity.
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In the 1991 comedy "The Fisher King," Jack, played by Jeff Bridges, is a former radio talk show host and is now a depressed alcoholic. He meets Parry, played by Robin Williams, a homeless man who claims to be "God's Janitor." They have a special connection. Parry's psychosis was caused when his wife was the victim of a deranged killer at a nightclub.
Jack had taunted the killer on his radio show the night of the rampage. Now, Parry wants Jack to help him in the quest for the Holy Grail, which he identifies as the symbol of Divine Grace, a Grace both Jack and Parry need. Jack refuses, but Parry and the quest are on his mind when he goes home that evening.
So, Jack asks his girlfriend if she believes in God. "Do you know what the Holy Grail is?'" Ann replies, "Holy Grail? Yeah, I know that one. That was like Jesus' juice glass." She remarks that she used to be "such a Catholic." Jack inquires, "Do you still believe in God?" "Yeeeaaaah, you gotta believe in God!" answers Ann. That is about as far as her belief goes, however.
Ann continues, telling Jack that she believes men were not made in God's image but in the devil's. Women were made in God's image, for they can give birth, a kind of creating. She claims that women are attracted to men because the devil is more interesting. Saints, Ann says, are boring. She finishes her self-crafted catechism by saying, "So, the whole point of life is for men and women to get married, so that God and the devil can get together, and work it out."
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Ann is not that different from many in our society. It is the in-thing, a fashionable thing to criticize anything "traditional" or "religion" and glamorize all kinds of group and self-concocted oddities of "spirituality." Such stupidity is rampant and speaks of an antireligious self-inflation, another form of, ironically, self-righteousness - that is right, religious or not, one can be self-righteous. I wonder how many of these self-proclaimed experts on religion have ever taken a single course or read a single book on any one religion? Such shallow, shoddy belligerency is simply thought to be the cool thing to do.
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Yes, I often speak of transcending belief. We must, however, have some solid belief system to get close to transcending belief. And transcending belief is not abdicating it or creating an ideological smorgasbord that fits our preferences. A medley of beliefs based on one's egoic self-promotion or self-satisfaction is not a means for self-transformation but is a means for egocentric-validation.
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I am religious. I do not attach to a religion. I have been called a Baptist-Buddhist. I have been called a Christian. I could be called a contemplative or esoteric Christian (i.e., devotion to Jesus' subtle, inner wisdom teaching), interfaith, or interspiritual. I am none of these things, for I am does not belong to any religion, yet may express through such. That I am - we are - has enjoyed the Way in different ways.
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I respect a Christian for living the spirit of the gospels, being Christlike. I esteem any Buddhist who lives the Dharma, being Buddhalike. I appreciate a Muslim who worships the one God in a way that betters the world. I salute every Jew devoted to the path of Torah and the Name, and a Hindu or Jain or Sikh ... who serves the world and betters self through their particular religious sect.
No, Ann is not our example. We could have an Ann within us, thinking we can throw belief overboard and sail on nicely. As Rebecca Nottingham shares in one of her books on the Fourth Way, The Work: Esotericism and Christian Psychology. She writes of the necessity for intellectual understanding, not just faith or love -
If you have no belief that there is something greater than you are, some meaning to life other than your self-gratification, then you won't be able to do this Work [any truly religious-spiritual work]. Because if you don't think that there is something above you in universal scale, you won't be able to move up to something higher than what you are now.
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Belief has its limitations, and often persons attaching to a belief system end up in divisions and conflicts. As noted above, in the Buddhist scripture, persons who cling to belief are often annoying. They enjoy telling others what they think on matters spiritual, whether asked for or not. The potential and actual limitations in belief are not a fault of belief. Our intellectual capacity is part of our wholeness. We cannot rightly take it lightly in matters of any significance, religious or otherwise.
The key is to see the intellect as a tool with a role to play - to serve us and all beings - and not be emotionally attached to our thoughts, turning them into an ideology that brings harm to other beings and, so, to ourselves.
The Sutta-Nippata [see above] speaks of this nonattachment as our not being "led into any resting places of the mind." Belief is not a resting place; it is a tool to lead us home, the resting place. The Place of Rest is nonconceptual. It cannot be thought, it cannot be taught.
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If any belief we hold leads us to compassion, kindness, and serving others, that is reasonable. If not, we need to question it - it is unreasonable. Belief is not equivalent to nonsense, stupidity, prejudice, or meanness. Truth leads us to love-giving for the benefit of others.
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*İBrian K. Wilcox, 2023
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and title and place of photograph.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
