Thoughts on Faith, Part 4 - Why So Improbable?

Countless millions of your fellow humans have some sort of belief in a fantastical tale. Their tale usually includes some form of Father Figure who dwells skyward and upon his last visit, left you with either a promise of a return, or a promise of being reunited with him at some future time in some future place. This is your Belief Tale.

Yet anyone who believes in the similar and not identical version of your Belief Tale is wrong in your eyes. Why is that? Is their belief in their father any more far fetched than your belief in your father? Yet you persecute and you hate. You wage war and commit all sorts of violations against your own code of ethics or your own commandments. And such violations in the name of your Father is excused or ignored or simply rationalized away.

You isolate yourself in your beliefs and scoff at the others whose belief - while similar - are not the same as your own. How can you justify that?

Over my past three blogs, I cited lyrics from Dave Clark's "Time: The Musical" from 1986. This failed slice Theatrical 80's BritPop/Rock barely reached these shores, but the words, strike more profoundly in me than the various Belief Tales that billions believe in.

The 'Isms' that divide this spinning rock of ours, continue to hold us back as a species. Continue to separate us from each other. Continue to cause us to waste resources, funds, generations of lives - and yes, time - over small variations in a similar tale. And a fervent assumption that since your Belief Tale is correct, then an other's Belief Tale must be wrong. And a misguided assumption that anyone who does not share your Belief Tale must either conform, be shunned, or die.

How do you live with this?

You hide your head in the sands of your Belief Tale, you chalk it up to The Word or the Will of your Father Figure. You couldn't even tolerate others belief in multiple Father (and Mother) Figures. You forced them to believe in only one. The One. Your One. Yet of course, which "The One" they chose even became a point of contention.

It's almost as if you strive to Hate. You look for reasons to Shun. You create worlds of Wrong that others dwell in. You must be Right and only those who agree with you are right as well.

Should you chose to re-read Thoughts on the Origin of Faith, Parts 1-3, think about my thoughts from this Part 4. Please try to draw some parallels and step back from your Belief Tale to view the other Belief Tales. See their similarities. Look closer at those other believers.

Are they really any less than you?

Think about the possibility of the Believe Tale in my Thoughts on the Origin of Faith, Part 1. It is merely yet another variation on a theme; neither wrong nor right.

And just as probable as the rest.