Highway of the evolution.

Self-Doubt and Its Impact on Confidence

Self-doubt and related influences rob individuals of their confidence. If you constantly compare yourself to others who are more successful, or if you buy into religious teachings that portray humanity as inherently worthless or sinful, you may begin to feel inferior and without value. However, if you view yourself as a useful and integral part of God or humanity, you will begin to recognize your true self-worth. Each of us is like a working cell in the body of God, contributing to the ongoing spiritual and physical world.

Our education plays a crucial role in identifying the root cause of our problems (explanation below). How we view ourselves is strongly tied to our level of conformity. Many of our physical, mental, social, and spiritual problems can be resolved by stepping beyond the boundaries of conformity. The spiritual world knows no limits, just like space. While religions may claim depth like the ocean, becoming an extremist or radical turns religion into nothing more than a pond for yourself.

Security as an Illusion

How do men and women perceive security as the most important aspect of life? That perception creates boundaries. Yet, in reality, not even the air we breathe is within our control. The idea of security is an illusion, one we seek from others and that society constantly promotes. Yet, as mortal beings, we die from the inside out.

Today, we are rising up to take charge of our environment, social justice, and equality. Interestingly, religious groups, which are often conservative, don’t believe in taking charge due to their belief systems, yet they fight against change to the point of violence in defense of those beliefs.

God helps, but not without the help of humankind. Continuous bickering and differences of opinion are used openly and with pride, even if they lead to prejudice, racism, or ignorance. This attitude slows us from reaching our full potential. Simply put, you cannot stand at mile twenty and claim to know the details of a journey spanning one hundred miles that you have not yet traveled.

Standing on the Right Side of History

We must stand on the right side of history, especially when it comes to evolution and the betterment of humanity. Even our concepts of good and bad are changing for the better, but the speed of this transformation has been slow. We can do better.

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The Dead Dog: Addressing the Cause

Once there was a small community that dug a well for water and lived around it. One day, a dog fell into the well and died. No one noticed until the water began to stink, and everyone became concerned and gathered to investigate. A leader went down into the well and discovered the dead dog. The community looked to the mayor for guidance. He advised them to remove fifty barrels of water before resuming use but reminded them to remove the dead dog first.

As human beings, we are continually evolving. Our knowledge, like ourselves, evolves. Though we have been around for millions of years, we have always claimed to know everything there is to know. Yet, we continuously learn new things. We passionately claim to know God and even kill one another over the knowledge of God, but after thousands of years, we still have no clear proof of life after death or the true nature of God. All we have are assumptions. No one has returned from the afterlife with concrete evidence, like videos of the moon or Mars.

Religions and faith systems insist we believe blindly in whatever they preach. Until we have something concrete, we all have a one-way ticket. I believe in individual freedom, and no one should be forced to believe in whatever is popular in society, let alone be killed over their beliefs. Beliefs are highly personal and can be either beneficial or harmful to the individual. Society, governments, and religions carry on, but the individual has limited time to live.

Our understanding depends greatly on our ability to comprehend. If you are standing at mile twenty, you cannot predict what lies at mile one hundred—especially when it comes to knowledge of God. The “dead dog” in this spiritual problem is ego, pride, and honor. These three offspring of our sense of belonging are behind many of our social and personal problems. Therefore, the sense of belonging is the “mother problem”—the true dead dog of our conflicts.

Evolving Knowledge: A Metaphor

B.R. Hergenhahn wrote this about the brain, but I use his quote to describe the evolution of our knowledge. It applies to the brain, God, or anything we don’t yet fully understand. I’m using it to discuss our knowledge of God and life after death. In his book An Introduction to Theories of Personality, fourth edition, chapter one, page 12, he writes:

“Imagine yourself in a dark room where you cannot directly touch a complex object. As long as the room remains dark, you will know nothing about the object except that it is there. Now, suppose a faint light illuminates part of the object, allowing you to see some of it. You now know more than you did before, but much remains unknown. Then, another beam of light falls on the object, and another. You walk around, noting what has been illuminated. The more light beams, the more information you have, even though many beams show only part of the object, with some offering greater detail than others.”

Ideas come to human beings, including our holy men and prophets, to benefit the general population. It is then up to the people to either use this knowledge for their own good or harm.

The Freezing of Knowledge

When it comes to religion, why do we have “freezing caps”? It all relates to the politics of belonging. No one wants to be tied to the “wrong” knowledge, so everyone believes their ancestral knowledge is ultimate and correct. They believe they will go to heaven while everyone else will end up in hell. Whether hell exists or not, we are certainly creating hell on earth with our differences.

Since humanity is part of God, we have essentially given God an autoimmune disease. God is sick, and the cure lies in the hands of the individual. Are we up to the task of healing God by living together in peace? Can you take responsibility and speak out against your own sense of belonging and the politics that come with it? Can you stand against your own group, even if it goes against your religion? It is time to stand for humanity, not for our belonging groups.

It’s time to rise above the boundaries of our ponds, conquer the depths of the oceans, and set anchors in space. That is God’s vision for humanity. We must stop being caught up in territorial disputes and arguments over what happens after death. It’s time to wake up and recognize the void our disputes are creating. God would not want humanity to disappear—because that would mean suicide for God as well.