Step by step or...misstep by misstep

· There are questions that will never be answered in my lifetime
· Answers to these questions which others may offer are based only on their beliefs and not on facts
· There are organizations or institutions for people who, on the surface at least, believe the same things
· People who believe in something that can’t be proven feel better when other people believe the same things
· People gravitate towards people with similar beliefs
· People who believe in something that can’t be proven and are alone in their beliefs are often considered to be troubled or insane
· Now I’ll go out on a total un-provable limb: people who believe in love are right. People who believe in hate are wrong
· No one knows, because it can’t be proven
· Perhaps people who believe in hate are right. My choice is to believe that hate is wrong
· Part of the problem is that there are people across the globe who are convinced of their correctness, without proof of any kind, who believe it’s their job, their duty, their divine responsibility to convince everyone else that they are right
· And furthermore, that thinking leads to the extreme notion that those who don’t believe as you do and cannot come to think as you do, because of their own rigid convictions, should be eliminated
· If I join group A because I think either they are right or that many of their beliefs are in harmony with mine, group B is going to say I’m wrong
· If I don’t join group A or group B, group B is still going to believe I am wrong
· If I join group B yet I don’t believe in group B, group B is going to be happy and I will be a liar
· Henry Ford: “If you think you can’t, you’re right. If you think you can, you’re right”
· If you believe something, you are right. If you don’t believe something, you are right
· Perhaps all beliefs are true whether they appear to be at odds with each other
· Gandhi: “all religions are true”
· All beliefs that cannot be proven as being true are true despite their being in opposition to other beliefs
· Organized religions attempt to organize beliefs into a comprehensive and understandable system
· If I am to be a Christian, I will know it. If I am to be a Buddhist, I will know it. If I am to be a Hindu, I will know it. If I am to be a Muslim, I will know it. If I am to be a Jew, I will know it. If I am to worship an empty box of Milk Duds, I will know it.
· Many are in need of a box that contains very clearly what it is they are to believe