How to choose your beliefs
We have motivated the importance of spiritual inquiry and questioning, but how do we now go about choosing our beliefs? First, belief is not a choice, it is a process of discovery. Spiritual inquiry is about learning what is true, not what is convenient, and thus the word “choice” is misleading. We do not choose the truth. The only choice is our path of discovery.
To choose the path of discovery, we must clearly know ourselves very well. Therefore, the power of self-observation is of the utmost importance. Meditation can be very helpful in this – not to put you into some kind of passive trance-like relaxation, but to teach you about yourself and the nature of your mind.
Earlier, we discussed the relevance of questions such as “who am I?”. Have you ever actually sat down and thought about this in depth? We like to be told what to do – we look for the advice of religion, of friends, some self-help book, or whatever. But we will never firmly believe something until we explore the issue on our own. These big questions are not really so daunting when you actually sit down and rationally consider them. Once you have some experience of thinking on your own, all those books and religions will all be of far more use.
