Belief

Belief is a very tricky thing. Most people tie belief to religion or religious beliefs and for many people this is true. But, I think it more important for people to realize that belief isn't just about religion but about literally everything in their lives.

For example, you cannot lift your arm unless you believe you can. You cannot get up and walk unless you believe you can. You cannot learn anything unless you believe you can. So, life doesn't exist at all for you without a belief system. So, it goes way beyond anything to do with religion at all.

One of the most important things in any person's life is to feel safe enough to develop your own system of testing everything in your life. Without a practical system of testing your reality at every point it is impossible to ever become a practical useful adult capable of critical thinking and making useful decisions every day of your life.

So, belief isn't just about whether you believe in God or not or whether you believe in Buddha or not. It is also about what you believe you are capable of and what you believe it is possible for both you and everyone around you to actually do in any given moment.

Having too closed a mind cripples people just as surely as having too limited a belief system in any one religion or person. Because whenever people give over their beliefs to the control of any other system or group outside of themselves they tend to start to live in a type of hypnotic stupor having lost control of their lives. And it doesn't matter whether it is a person or an area or a religion or a country or whatever belief that they are limited by. Once someone becomes that hypnotized they cannot progress further in their lives until that hypnotic state is broken somehow.

So, developing your own system for moving forward through life in as wide open a way as possible and as open minded and as free thinking as possible actually allows enough possibilities in your life so that you literally can do anything you need to to progress in your life and as an immortal soul if you believe in having one for yourself.