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Today's
Meditation:
It's
a shame that so many people have attached so much dogma and
so many conditions to believing in God. We've turned
one of the most important aspects of our lives into some
sort of competition--you're not a true Christian unless you
believe this; you're not a good Moslem unless you adopt this
set of beliefs; a good Jew always will believe this. But
what of our own relationships with ourselves and with
God? What of our own ability to believe in who we are
and who God is? Is it any wonder that we find it hard
to believe in ourselves when we're told so often that our
most basic beliefs are wrong or misguided? How can it
help us to adopt other people's beliefs just because other
people believe those things? For
centuries, Christians believed that it was right to kill a
person who committed blasphemy. Some cultures still do
believe that. But for the most part, that belief has
changed significantly. What once was considered a holy
duty before God is now a crime in almost all countries of
the world. But how many people adopted that belief in
former times simply because other people told them it was
true? If
we insist on adopting other people's beliefs, we will find
that we are unable to get to know ourselves, and that we are
unable to believe fully and deeply. Our first duty is
to ourselves, for the person who has come to know him or her
self can then reach out and help others effectively. |
