Today I present a short followup article to two previous articles mentioning my lack of beliefs (Challenging Your Beliefs and Belief, or a lack thereof). I’m writing this because I wanted to clarify that a lack of belief doesn’t mean a lack of principle, morality, or ethics. In fact, it means quite the opposite. It serves to strengthen your fundamental convictions by drawing attention to them.

I preach a lack of belief because belief can be a dangerous tool. Throughout history we’ve seen all sorts of atrocities done in the name of religions, institutions, governments, ideologies, and more. All based around an individual or group of people that share at least one powerful and alienating belief. Often formed during a time of struggle or hardship. The belief explains all sorts of things, not through logic or rational, but through emotion. It appeals to what we want to believe rather than what really is. And we see in our daily lives how it affects people. People form strong opinions and argue with those that disagree. They judge others harshly and criticize their appearance, behavior, and attitude without fully understanding their situation. They discriminate and profile and will spread their prejudice. All these things are futile acts done in the name of some belief the person has never honestly assessed. It is because they are not awake. They do not see reality as it really is and thus cannot grasp the concept of a life different from their own. I so often see this in ordinary people and it saddens me to know that they do not know what they speak or think. They will do these things whether or not they want to, and whether or not they will admit to it. They are the sum of their programming and having never questioned it and cannot see passed it. Belief must be deconstructed before you can ever hope to reach enlightenment.

There is a counter argument I’ve heard before to this line of thinking: “if we believe nothing, then we cannot be held responsible for our actions, and thus people will do whatever they want.” They argue that religion provides a framework of morality and helps people determine what is good and bad. There are numerous problems with this, although funnily enough, the core argument is probably accurate. Unaware, robotic minds probably do need institutions to instruct them. It provides a basic framework for society to lay consistent morality among a nation. This isn’t a bad idea, it’s statistics. The problem is that people use this argument to discourage people from thinking for themselves. They say, or at least imply, that leaving the Church will result in a society that will become immoral and unpredictable heathens. They ask, “where does it end? how can we have society without belief? Won’t it all come crashing down?” Well it is true that much of our system is based on belief and as a consequence, would weaken because of a society questioning it. Our money would lose value, our economy would falter, and our government and leaders would lose power. But it would not crumble because to use that argument exposes a flaw in your thinking. You live in a happy equilibrium between belief and an appropriate level of upholding those beliefs. You do not uphold your beliefs to the maximum attainable level, just as non-religious people don’t fall into chaos. We find an equilibrium that is most content and peaceful because that is what we want. The only difference between the two is that the individual holding a lack of belief is free to question and understand the world. They do not form opinions shaped by their preexisting beliefs and thus purely experience reality. They are free of the afflictions I mentioned above and accept others openly and warmly. This is why a lack of belief is so powerful, because it doesn’t destroy your fundamental convictions, it frees your mind and allows you to strengthen them.

And that’s what I want to share today. That it is not religion or Atheism that gives you power or direction. It is yourself and your ability to understand what it is you believe in. Do not be religious, do not be Atheist, do not uphold opinions or beliefs, let it go and free your mind from these obstructions. Go out and formally acknowledge what it is you believe in. Do not ask others. Do not remember what others told you. Choose for yourself and what you’ll find is that this recognition will make you happier, more confident, and prepared for whatever comes your way.

Don’t forget the lessons I’ve taught earlier in the previously mentioned articles. We’re talking about fundamental beliefs, not societal opinions. Those are still completely useless and create a framework that warps your view of reality. A person who properly holds beliefs is able to constantly shape and mold their framework.

Lastly, I want to stress that until you formally recognize your principles, you cannot be trusted to make good decisions. The Stanford Prison experiment and others over the past decades, have found that a surprisingly high rate of people will comply with authority, regardless of whether the task is unethical. This, I believe, could be mitigated simply by choosing what you believe is right and wrong. In fact, there’s an opportunity for an experiment here by doing a similar task and telling people to update their convictions by writing them down before hand. If they had written, “it’s NEVER OK to physically harm people”, they may not have pressed the electrical shock button. Just a thought.