People, by nature, are compelled to turn ideas into belief even if it is lacking warrant to take such a great leap. Doing so is far more dangerous than any other act that a person can commit in his or her mind.

When you have an idea it is a concept that can be molded like clay if more information or thought come about. But a belief is like a rock that cannot be cracked unless forced upon by another. If your beliefs are without full warrant then they may not be correct and if it cannot be molded in your mind then you are living your life on a false truth.

This can lead to great and terrible things. Look in history at people who have believed without warrant to back those beliefs up. Observe the leaders who have brought their people down with them off of a belief like Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Hussein. Look at religious fanatics who do ungodly things in the name of God like bombing buildings, killing people, attacking others for not sharing their beliefs, even if their beliefs dictate that they not do those things. Look at your fellow Americans who get so caught up in standing for their beliefs that they forget the great ideas behind them in the first place.

Your belief can turn against itself because it is your own interpretation of it. The idea turned to stone through your eyes alone make it not a truth but instead your personal truth with may not be valid at all. If you keep an open mind to the possibility that your idea, however great it is, may be incorrect you are able to move beyond belief to a place where you live your life by great ideas and change course when better ideas come into view. Living inside a belief traps you from seeing a greater idea than the one you already reside in.

Update: I found a really cool quote that goes along with this…

“It is far easier to fight for principles than to live up to them.”
~ Adlai Stevenson

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 at 3:16 pm and is filed under faith, humanity, society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.