Knowledge

I find that the amount of information I intentionally come across and try to understand often changes the way I actually look at things. Once upon a time I was religious, and then there was a period of doubt and then I decided I wasn't religious, but then I went back and forth as to what religion is really good for and if I should accept it or see it as something that's in the way of science. That's only an example, but what I really mean by this post is that I've learned to accept things more, and be more optimistic towards what I learn in the future for what we think we know is only the tip of a very large iceberg - we don't really know anything.

My Beliefs: The Collection

This post is essentially a collection of thoughts and blog posts organised into what you see below. It represents what I have come to believe up until its writing, and as all else, it is subject to change as time continues and future experiences inspire new learning!

Introduction
I do believe that Faith, Love & Patience are the three qualities one needs to live happily. What I didn't understand until now was that there was a little more to it than just that. There are other factors that we must first recognize before we may be able to see through them. The first and most important factor in this equation to recognize is that, as the Buddha said, life is suffering.

The Environment

 People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within.
― Romana L. Anderson

One's qualities underlay his intentions, which in turn lead to one's desire to fulfill how he perceives his purpose for living. Good qualities are generally passed on through good parenting and a positive surrounding environment. However, there are also other societal and environmental influences that play a huge role in how one perceives his surrounding world, which in turn usually also lead to many other more negative issues such as mental or physical illness, violence, etc. The main cause for these negative consequences of societal and environmental conditioning is the stress brought on by poverty and joblessness, let alone the lack of a positive environment for the majority of human beings. The less money you have, the more you have to work physically and mentally to make ends meet, and the lower your health physically and mentally. Money is just a material item, but the value that we give to it and what we do with that value could indeed be looked at as the root to all evil. Especially being in a capitalist society, it can only lead to greed; the system we've created breeds suffering; life is suffering.

Attachment & Balance

I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.
― Edgar Allan Poe

One must detach himself from the cycle of suffering through the understanding of his attachment to society. Nothing is addictive, what's addictive is the susceptibility of the individual to becoming addicted, or attached. To break the cycle, one must become aware that he is attached, and to do this one must understand what he truly needs so that he may separate that from everything else. Not that setting goals to obtain one's desires is a bad thing, the problem is when he loses sight of what truly matters; why he wanted that thing to begin with, why he desires such a future. The true path to enlightenment is a gradual path of first sustaining balance within the self. Attachment is only one extreme, the opposite end is no better.

God; The Universe; Consciousness; "The Big Electron" (George Carlin reference)

If there is a God, he is within. You don't ask God to give you things, you depend on God for your inner theme.
— Bruce Lee

What is God? Many different cultures and societies called it many different things, but in the end of it all, it all comes down to it being the same thing. God, The Universe, Consciousness, etc, are all different interpretations of a higher divine power, it's what makes up what we have yet to understand about life itself. God is everything; everything is God; we are a part of what makes up God.

Our Purpose & Intention
The meaning of life is to live; to move forward with good intentions in order to Thrive. Actions are what we generally use to interpret the intention of a person, but actions come from thoughts, and the intention of said person comes from the emotion attached to the original thought. A good intention is one that keeps in mind one's best interests, which are what you need to do to fulfill your basic needs as a human being. First are the three more commonly known needs for food, water, and shelter. But, as social beings, there is also an equally important need to be touched; to feel loved and accepted. An example of this need would be how stroking an infant on the head for 10 minutes a day has been shown to stimulate brain development, but if an infant isn't touched at all, it will not be able to live.

Qualities of Practice: Gratitude & Thankfulness

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.
— Buddha

Among all of the positive qualities one may practice, these are two of the most important! To be happy with what you have will allow yourself to obtain more of that which makes you happy in the future, it will also allow you to step back from the materialistic world of want and greed of which we live in, and allow yourself to love where you currently are right now!

Qualities of Result: Faith, Love & Patience
These are the three most basic qualities that one requires to create, encourage, and continue true good intentions. Faith is believing in something of which cannot necessarily be proven. Love is the deepest sense of acceptance and contentness. Patience is understanding the difference between when to walk or when to run. One must have Faith within the self, Love the self, and be Patient with the self, before he will be able to truly do just that with others, as well as with life itself.

Morality & Ethics

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.
— Abraham Lincoln

 What is Good, and what is Bad? As Abraham Lincoln once said, and as stated under the New Thought movement of the early 1900s, what is good and what is bad depend on what you truly desire - if you feel good about what you're doing, then you are inline with what it is that you desire. The feeling you get is what ultimately determines the morality of the choices you make.

The Laws of Attraction & Karma
The New Thought movement lead in the early 1900s really made a big deal about the power of the mind, or thought; how thoughts can affect the physical world. We've discovered that thoughts can be measured, they put off a frequency, and that is the beginning of the manifestation of that thought. What you think, will inevitably affect you, and the world around you. If you think positive things, you will create positive outcomes, where as negative can only lead to more negative experiemces. Some call this the Law of Attraction, but really it's another perspective on Karma. Where the law of Karma talks about being conscious of your actions right now because they will have consequences, the law of Attraction focuses on the results. It is important to understand that every moment will lead into a new moment, and what creates the next moment is simply what happens in this moment... when you think of something, every part of you will start to be affected by that thought. If you thought about happy memories or maybe a future you'd like to create, your body will respond in happiness, however if you thonk negative things your body will respond in such a way. Your train of thought leads to your state which changes whatever decisions you make. It's important to remove yourself from attachment to keep your mind pure and stag in the positive.

Time, Quantum Physics & Observation
Time doesn't flow in a line, as in past, present and future. It flows forward, like shuffling a deck of cards, each shuffle is a new moment. Each card can be a thought or action, natural occurrences like wind or even a storm, sun light, the gravitational pull from the moon causing the tide to come up, etc... there are a lof of things that we don't have control over. Not that we need to for we have control over ourselves. But these factors play a role in the creation of each new moment in time. Quantum Physics even digs a little deeper than this, it gets into the multiverse theory. There are different ways that this could play out but generally it is inline with spirituality in that throughout a lifetime you experience a series of moments, and in that series of moments you understand that other people are also experiencing their own series of moments - where quantum physics comes in is that it says every possibility is occurring, which means that each moment is constantly splitting up into more moments. We can only experience the "timeline" that we're in, but it's all happening. The moments that you experience are because you consciously observed them through thought.

Conclusion

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
― Martin Luther King Jr.

Once you understand your surrounding influences, and how you were and are being influenced, you're already one step forward in separating yourself from them - not in the sense of putting up a wall, but in embracing them positively so that you'll be influenced for the better instead of for the worst! This isn't something that you'll be able to snap your fingers and just do. What you are doing is redefining your very lifestyle, you must have faith that it can be done and be patient with yourself along your own journey in life. As you must have faith, and you must be patient, you must put love above all as your guiding authority - this is the root of the lessons of every spiritual teacher and leader,  from Jesus, to the Buddha, to Martin Luther King Jr. If there is one thing that you take away from this, to lead with Love is it.

Passion and Beliefs

If you're going to believe in a thing, you should be passionate about that thing. Beliefs are really just stubborn thoughts, when you believe something, you're biasing yourself towards that thing which makes it that much harder to think away from it. The problem is where the stubbornness turns into stubborn ignorance, where you're claiming to believe in a thing while being unwilling to understand or clarify within yourself what it is that you believe.

I don't see a problem with believing in a religious view, for example. The problem comes where one claims to be religious but doesn't follow the view or even educate themselves on it. You should understand why you believe what you do, or else you should be open to what else is out there. That is what I mean by, if you're going to believe in a thing, you should be passionate about it - if not then what is the point in believing it?