Spiritual Inquiry . com

There are many things that we could be insecure about - finances, health, relationships, the list goes on. We could tackle these insecurities outwardly. This corresponds to having a reliable secure job and saving early for retirement, taking good care of our bodies with regular medical check-ups, marrying early and staying in close contact with friends. Alternatively, there is the inward way. This doesn’t really tackle the issues as such but is rather just a decision to be comfortable with the uncertainty of life and have faith that we will deal with whatever arises.

Either of these methods can be taken to an extreme. The problem with the outward way is that you can never really have complete security in this fashion. No job is completely secure, and our precious insurance cannot cover everything in life. We can reduce the likelihood of health problems, but we cannot eliminate them. Thus, some residual insecurity will always remain.

In this light, the inward way is both more reliable and more realistic. Basically it says that we must accept the inherent uncertainty of life. This is no excuse for apathy or denial. Accept the possibility of illness or bankruptcy, but still work hard to avoid this happening! As taught in the Bhagavad Gita, we should work our hardest but without care for the results. In other words, make a living, take care of yourself, take care of your family, but be aware that anything can happen and that that will be OK.

I firmly believe in the importance of inquiry and of challenging your beliefs. However, what would happen if this inquiry led us to a point where we believed we should inquire no more? Does there come a time when we discover the Truth and must then stop questioning and just have faith? Is there ever a time to stop inquiring?

I do not believe that there should ever be an end to inquiry, just as I do not believe there will ever be an end to science. The argument against continual inquiry is that it can introduce a paralyzing doubt. However, this is not valid. Scientists do not need to retest the laws of gravity year after year, and it would be a waste of time to do so. But if new evidence comes to light, we, just as scientists, should always be prepared to evaluate our beliefs.

There are branches of religion that tell us exactly what to think. They say that to question or to doubt is wrong. I disagree with this notion. Perhaps this is my point of faith. You should not doubt your beliefs for no reason. This will indeed stop you progressing. However, being willing to change your beliefs as your understanding grows is a virtue. I don’t think there is ever any value in shutting yourself off to the possibility that your beliefs might be wrong.