Perfect goodness (universal compassion) based upon
perfect truth (universal wisdom)
leads to perfect beauty (universal magnificence) –
in the form of Buddhahood.– Stonepeace
A popular author on comparative faiths espouses this idea – ‘It doesn’t matter what you believe, but how you behave.’ (This might not be a verbatim quote.) At first, it seems perfectly alright, a sound concept to promote. But if you are to reflect deeper, it might not be. Here are associated words of the keywords involved:
Believe: Belief; Inner Basis; Truth/Delusion; Understanding; Wisdom
Behave: Behaviour; Outer Expression; Goodness/Evil; Love; Compassion
As you might have realised by now, it does matter what you believe, because it determines how you behave. It’s idealistic to imagine that all aspects of all so-called spiritual beliefs lead to similar acts of universal understanding and love (wisdom and compassion) – because one’s outer expressions are based on different inner bases of ideology – some of which might be truthful and good, some of which deluded and evil, and in many cases, a mix of the above.
Hi,
as somebody who cherishes greatly the Tolteq teachings of Don Huan who made an extensive discourse on belif systems, perception, behavior subsequently and their mutual comditioning, i see the reasoning behind your discourse.
But, let me kindly point at that one thread while is omited from your knit. By the nature of things, belif systems are very deeply rooted within our psyches, by it’s own nature they are the very fundation of our psycho-make up. We have no direct acess to them in therms of all data deliberate manipulation, for they are made not only of mental, but (at least) emotional substance too. So, behind your consci(enti)uous resoning, there is a certain admission of helplessness in the human condition underlying, which i personally wouldnt like to overlook. It’s quite a big one, yeah . .
The pedagogic implications behind this (non)verbatim statement that you’re trying to crack, are :
– be free from your belif systems (at ANY time of your life)
– be free to act beyond your psychological ‘programation’ (whenever YOU WANT it)
– be free to not act from your mind (only)
As you see, it’s quite a simple one, but it gives you the means
– to act uppon your curently present, centred self every time anew, as things come
– to evaluate things consci(enti)ously, as you feel them ‘sound’
It’s an effort, it’s practicly an exercise :biggrin: And to BE conscious it has it’s own degree of inertia (that you can use constructively) as everything else . . In sum, “you dont have to run on your autopilot, you’re a conscious being, you can reinvent and change yourself at every moment of your life” (Y)
Have a nice day ! :silly:
Yes, our conditioning can be changed too. As the Buddha put it, subject to change are all conditioned things.