My Philosophy on Belief Systems

I also posted this material on my personal website at http://www.robertl33t.com.

Over time I have developed what I call my philosophy for belief systems. In other words, my thoughts and own personal guidelines for life/religious/philosophical beliefs. Tell me what your list would be and if you disagree with any on mine.

There is a universal, absolute truth

This is something you just have to decide for yourself, but to me it makes more sense than the idea that everything is relative. The truth could be that there is no supernatural forces, that there is a God, that we're all in the matrix, or anything else, but it's there.

Humans innately seek truth and are only truly happy when they do so.

This is something I learned from experience. I believe that while people try to lie to themselves and try to believe what they want to believe, there is no true relief than when you finally give in and accept the truth. I believe this is a basic human trait.

Though you can never be 100% that you know the truth, it's reasonable to think that if you strive to have a truly open mind and search for many different experiences, you will come closer and closer to the truth throughout your life.

Already in my life I have experienced some pretty drastic changes in my views on the world and relationships. These changes happened when I let down my defenses and tried to see things for how they really were. This act of vulnerability was hard the first time but has progressively gotten easier. All that is left is to simply have faith (in life, God, whatever you believe in) that at each change in my beliefs I am coming closer to the real truth, even if I take some side roads and backtrack sometimes. But, to do this, you have to constantly check yourself and ask yourself why you believe the things you believe. Is it because you're scared of rocking the boat? Is it because you don't want it to be true (or you're deathly afraid that it isn't true)?

I definitely don't mean to imply that I "have arrived" in my beliefs for anything. But I do mean to say that I am not scared of my beliefs anymore. I think that this is the tell-tale sign of believing something for the wrong reason. If you are scared or defensive about your beliefs, you have to ask yourself why. Often, whatever is scaring you is making you close minded.

Finally,

We're all in this together.

We're all seeking the truth and we all want to know the meaning of life. Though arguments and personal attacks are inevitably going to happen, I think it's important to recognize that we truly are all in the same position and all want the same thing: the truth. Why can't we all just share our ideas and try to figure out what makes the most sense? I think the main reason people get upset when talking about religion is because they are indeed afraid of their beliefs and therefore get very defensive.