"When you hold onto your beliefs with all of your strength you choke the wisdom right out of them"
James Arthur Ray has just been convicted of 3 counts of negligent homicide causing the deaths of those same poor people. He was one of the worlds top self help Gurus and a teacher of the Law of Attraction in the book 'The Secret'. He was featured on Oprah and all of the major cable shows. He built an empire based on the Law of Attraction. So how could it be that a leader in the LOA movement came to this?
I believe Mr Ray fell into the same trap that most zealots succumb to: his success caused him to believe that his teachings were infallible. His conviction that his methods were beyond question blinded him to the truth. His intention was not evil, in fact he strongly believed that we was doing incredible good.
"The stronger your beliefs the more intolarant you become of the beliefs of others"
This is why people will strap bombs on themselves and go blow up innocents. This is why people will blindly follow their leaders into unjust wars and commit crimes against humanity. They believe! And they believe so strongly that they are right and that everyone else is wrong so they lose their ability to question authority. The leader knows the truth and they follow his teachings and directions.
"The truth doesn't need us to believe in it, the truth just needs us to be open to it"
How many times have you been wrong when you were totally convinced you were right? Maybe you feel in love and were totally convinced you had found your perfect soul mate and yet a year later you couldn't wait to get out of the relationship. Maybe you found the perfect friend only to discover that they were disloyal or just using you. I could on but we both know that we've all had beliefs that we were absolutely right and later discovered that we couldn't have been further from the truth.
Anything of great value is worth questioning. Any teachings that asks you to commit 100% is dangerous. As your belief strengthens your mind slowly closes. This is just human nature at work. The mind likes to have faith and have fewer things to worry about. But simplistic beliefs can be very dangerous. Of course it helps to believe in things like the law of gravity. Jumping off high buildings to test its validity would be inane. But we should never give up our ultimate protection.
"Our protections is to always question authority"
Those in authority make up the rules, guidelines and laws. And those same people profit by us following their teachings. It is one of my great life epiphany's to always question authority. I am as open as I can possibly be to new ideas however my inner doubter is still protecting me. That's its purpose. Anyone who tells me that what they are teaching is beyond questioning sets off this little inner alarm in me. They may be right but they may be wrong as well.
Any teachings, religion or theory that doesn't tolerate questioning is potentially dangerous. Three people died because James Arthur Ray demanded they accept his teachings without questioning. They stayed at his urging in a sweat lodge long past when their common sesnse told them to leave because they refused to question his authority. They are now dead and it is so sad, tragic and unnecessary.
"Without strong beliefs you won't accomplish much"
Sounds like I just contradicted myself doesn't it? Well this is one of life's paradoxs. Without strong beliefs we are leafs blowing around in the wind. We need to anchor ourselves in strong beliefs so that we have a foundation to build on. In fact it is often unrealistic beliefs that lead to major discoveries and success. Life is full of stories of people with irrational beliefs that changed the world. So what's a girl to do?
Strong beliefs loosely held!
You need strong beliefs to build upon. You need to base your life on something. You just don't need to ever quit questioning authority and beliefs. Do you really think Jesus, Mohammad or Buddha would really mind if you questioned their teachings. No, I think they would welcome it! I believe they would admire you for it and welcome your questions. After all it was blind acceptance that led previous generations to believe in sun gods and demons.
I believe in a lot of things and I will defend my beliefs to anyone. However, I will never give 100% belief to anything. I've been wrong just too many times. Heck, I once thought bell bottom jeans were just the coolest pants on the planet.
I'm proud to say to anyone that I have strong beliefs loosely held. Meaning that I believe strongly in many things but I'm always open to being proven wrong. In fact I welcome anyone to prove me wrong. I would not want to invest any part of my life being on the wrong path just because I refused to open my eyes to the truth.
Three people would be alive today if they questioned authority. Three people would be alive if they had strong beliefs loosely held.
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