“The medicine for my suffering I had within me from the very beginning, but I did not take it.  My ailment came from within myself, but I did not observe it, until this moment.  Now I see that I will never find the Light unless, like the candle, I am my own fuel”. – Bruce Lee

By Zile Singh

Ambassador(Retd.)                                                   

Believing in oneself is a Magic. If you can do that, you can make anything happen. – Johann Goethe

In English language the word Believe is a Verb.  It means to accept something as true or as conveying the truth and  have faith in the existence of something which can perform acts of providence.  Belief, on the other hand is a Noun meaning faith, conviction, an opinion or an assumption.

Beliefs are thoughts underlying in our conscious and sub-conscious mind. We start to gather and  build up beliefs from our childhood.  Belief may not necessarily be correct or accurate based on logic and facts.    In order to establish one's belief, one may consciously or  unconsciously look for evidence or other  coincidental incidents that may confirm and reinforce that belief   and save oneself from being wrong.   The outside environment, which can be  religious or non-religious  has made all efforts to take you out of your inner nature of logic and practicality to make you believe in anything according to the norms and  convenience of the society  at the cost of your own will and  individuality.  In another words, the belief and faith have been acquired at the cost of one's intuition, free-will and self-inquiry.  Over the time,  the correct or incorrect belief system becomes so strong that an individual finds it impossible  to get rid of it .  Instead, it  becomes  an inseparable part of day-to-day life and takes  the form of rituals and superstitions. In religious field some beliefs compelled human beings to perform human and animal sacrifice to propitiate deities.  There have been numerous social evils in the name of beliefs.

There is no unanimity of beliefs in different regions and  religions.  Belief systems  have affected the people and the societies to a large extent. Almost all people believe in something or the other; like fate, afterlife, previous life, destiny, hell, heaven, gods, omens, ghosts etc. People go after a belief when they feel that they have nowhere else to go to get some relief from their illness or some benefit in  business.  Belief justify their actions and bring them comfort.   To justify and uphold their beliefs, religions and sects have fought  with each other for their supremacy.   History is witness to the fact that humanity has suffered a lot on account of false beliefs.  Whosoever tried to awaken the masses against these rituals, blind faith and illogical practices had to face severe difficulties in  their lives. 

To protect the society  from such unfounded beliefs it is necessary to understand the value of “ Believing in Yourself”.  Believing in oneself is a magic which dispel the darkness of blind faith and paves the way for a clear understanding.  If you do not believe in yourself, you sabotage yourself.  It induces in you a lethargic and inferior complex, dependent on outside forces including  non-existent phenomena.  And inferiority complex  pushes you towards failure and self-pity as you  start believing in certain  non-existent  power.   

Dependence on any outside element especially  the unfounded  belief leads to slavery and  low esteem. The world is trying to make you somebody else than your own-being.  To be nobody but yourself is to fight and fight the hardest. But by nature, individual has avoided genuine struggle as far as possible. Therefore, it is necessary to  respect yourself enough to walk away from anyone or anything that no longer serves you, grows you or makes you.  Also remember that a person who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd.  The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in a place, no one has ever been before. 

That is why, it is necessary to  “ Believe in Yourself”.   It is SOS vs SOS situation.   Save our Souls vs Sense of Self.  In the former case, you pray to somebody else  for your safety whereas in the latter case your  own effort is the panacea for all difficulties.  We have to create  a society where we are not swept away under the carpet by manipulative and cunning elements all around in the name of false beliefs.  Flood of thoughts and emotions based on false assumptions needs to be managed carefully. 

Scientific  attitude and believing in oneself are the handy tools to overcome the age-old false assumptions based on blind faith. Now a days there is mushrooming of  sects and congregations which are taking advantage of innocent public in the name of religion, ethics, morality and spirituality. Outwardly, these establishments look appealing but inwardly these are dens of corruption whether it be moral or financial or both.

Believe in yourself and walk on a track carved out by your own logical understanding and  the  calling of your own conscience based on scientific temper. Your destiny  is in your hands.  You are the maker of your fate.

The following two quotes sum up the article:

“I do not want to give advice to people about their religious beliefs, but I do think that it is not smart to bet against the power of science to figure out the natural world.  It used to be a thousand years ago that if you wanted to explain why the moon moved through the sky, you needed to invoke God”. – Sean Carroll.

“The medicine for my suffering I had within me from the very beginning, but I did not take it.  My ailment came from within myself, but I did not observe it, until this moment.  Now I see that I will never find the Light unless, like the candle, I am my own fuel”. – Bruce Lee

Zile Singh is a former Ambassador(Retd.) of India and a Vipassana Meditator. He can be reached at zsnirwal@yahoo.ca.