– a story in six parts –
iv
Many times we resist this cycle of death and re-birth because of our beliefs. It is not about belief. It is about faith. Beliefs are primarily our own conjecture of how things must be in the light of our present understanding. They are formed out of a mix of our own experience, and what our tradition has taught us. Whether we agree, disagree, follow, or practically ignore what has been taught, our experience, along with our tradition, provides a point of departure for our journey, revealing our inner compass and giving shape to our world view. We act out of these beliefs. They determine our perspective both physically and spiritually. They formulate our ideas of right and wrong, justice, compassion, fairness, who we are as individuals, and even our understanding of God. However, if our beliefs, our understandings, aren’t growing in awareness, if we are satisfied with what what we think we know, our beliefs bring us to a dead end where we become unfruitful like the fig tree, Matthew 21:18–19, devoid of the fruit of unknowing (faith), producing only leaves of conjecture, the very antithesis of faith.