Your Own Beliefs

If you were raised in an environment completely different from that which you were, all things considered, do you suppose that you would have the same beliefs as you do now? What if you were raised in a different culture? Or with a family with different worldviews or values? I am not asking if you would have different insights or perspectives, but would you have a different set of basic beliefs?

If you answered no, but that you would have very different beliefs, how then do you know that the beliefs that you hold now are really yours? You seemed forced to conclude that your belief system is no more than a product of your environment.

But if you answered yes, then, I think, you can truly say that your beliefs are your own.

I hope that no one reading this gets caught up in the thousands of variables, such as, what if your parents left you in the forest and you were raised by wild boars, or what if you were born without being able to see or hear and your parents locked you in a room and never hugged you. All of these can be argued until the real meaning of the question is lost.

My hope is that the essence of the question is really turned over in your mind, that is–are your beliefs really your own? Have you investigated the truth of your beliefs? Have you reflected on their consequences? Or are you merely riding the coat tails of your family, friends, teachers, or culture? The question is really a test to discover if you have truly earned your beliefs, and that you have the right to say, “This is what I believe.”

In the search for your own beliefs, there are at least these three principles:
1. If an idea is traditional, it does not necessarily follow that it is evil.
2. If an idea is new, it does not necessarily follow that it is false.
3. If you are concerned with reality, then you must believe that which is true.