Whenever someone askes me a question that I really don't want to answer,
I respond: "Do you want an explanation, or the Truth?"
Belief, in my opinion, is the ability to _totally_ ignore data, past
models, and opposing reasoning. The purpose of belief is (for the moment)
beyond me. But you seem to be saying that you utilize belief, for much
the same reasons that I do. I don't study Zen, but my alter ego is
a Zenarch. One of the steps he takes on his way to illumination is to
start with a popular or appropriate slogan or saying. He may, on a whim,
reverse this saying. He then _believes_ that that saying has merit, and
meditates on it until an understanding is reached. This is sometimes called
'studying a koan', and can have some interesting results.
For example: the Assassins of the Crusades had as one of their teachings:
"Nothing is true. Everything is permissible." This may have been
one of the ideas that allowed them to carry out their dirty work. My
Zenarch inverted that teaching, and began to study: "Everything is true.
Nothing is permissible." I was able to use the concepts that arose
from that session to disarm are particularly messy situation that
occured a few weeks later.
Without belief, we would begin to _doubt_ that Zen or Zenarchy have merit.
Our _doubt_ would hinder us from studying our beliefs, and we couldn't have
as many benifits that come from doing so.
Belief is harmful when it becomes eternal. If you _always_ believe something,
you will quickly find yourself in a situation where you must either
abandon your beliefs, or cling to them, even if you're wrong.
Corey A. Cook
cookcore@esuvm.emporia.edu
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* The One Universal Truth: *
* Sometimes, you're wrong. *
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