What is Belief?

Let's examine belief. Many religions stress the need to adopt a particular creed and to pronounce that creed as the sole way in which the "believer" can achieve their particular goal, such as the salvation of the soul. But this is not the only form of belief. Many people believe that God does not exist. For these persons the need to seek out God is a waste of time. It is impossible to find that which doesn't exist in the first place. Many people simply don't have the answers and will sit it out on the sidelines. We commonly refer to them as agnostics. Of these three basic systems of belief, who' s right? The answer is that they all are right up to a point, and after that point they are all wrong. I believe that the concept of God is a mystery that cannot be solved. If it is a mystery then no one person or belief system can suffice. The Atheist says that there is no God. To believe so, they say, is foolishness. The fundamentalist Christian says that Jesus is the only way to the Kingdom of God. The rest of us will miss the train when it pulls out of the station, and the only thing left is Hell or Death. Such certainty is not in the cards. It may or may not happen. As the old saw says, "We pays our money and takes our choice." The subject is too big to grasp and so we can only flounder in our own pond and make as big a splash as we are able. Hopefully somebody else will join us so that we don't have to make the splash by ourselves. No matter how many join us, however, we are not going to possess the truth itself, only a metaphor of the truth.
Atheism may be the most honest course open to us given that we have no way to see God or to prove His existence. The scientist who studies quantum physics can tell you that all life on the quantum level is as mysterious as our search for God, perhaps even more mysterious. Most of them are atheists, but not all. I prefer to leave the examination of reality to scientist. We still have a way to go in that field, and who knows what we will find out as we go along. There's a book called the "God Theory" out there that is worth reading in this regard. This leaves us only with the search for God by metaphor. To look for God in metaphoric terms leaves the issue in the hands of the poet rather than the scientist. I am content with that. While poetry does not give us reality straight, it gives us reality none the less. Who can read great poetry, listen to great music, or read a great novel without being deeply stirred? Only those who think that they know the answers and are not searching. For the future let's require our preachers to read more than just the Bible. Let them read Shakespeare. Let them study quantum physics. Let them study other religions thoroughly before we allow them to comment on them. Above all, let us open our minds and our hearts to all of the great truths that lie out there. For the final answer, let us abolish war, crime, inhumanity to our fellow humans, and the rape of our planet. Then perhaps we will have the capacity to understand what the winds of wisdom have to say to us.
Until we reach this point let us love one another and tolerate one another. Waiting for God to provide the answers may seem logical, but when the answer comes and all there is on earth is the remains of our civilization rotting on some forgotten plain, what is the point of that? Let's not wait for an answer from the sky. Let's do it ourselves with our poets and scientists leading the way. Only by so doing can we truly find God within us.