Beliefs – Rooted in Fear

 

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Beliefs – Rooted in Fear

Lots of us think of God and say, “We don’t fear God, we believe in Him.” The question is why do we believe? Do we have concrete knowledge about God, have we ‘known’ God? If we ‘know’, then where is the need to believe. 99.99% of us believe because we are told to believe, our families, our priests etc tell us about God and we develop a belief. Our search for God remains external – we are looking for God in things, in temples, in churches, in mosques – but do we find God there? No! Our belief comes basically from fear or from greed. Either we are afraid or we are greedy. And these are two sides of the same coin.

Greed is out of fear, and from fear more greed arises. They go together. So, either we are afraid of hell or we are greedy for heaven. Otherwise, why do we believe in God? How can we believe in God? Our very belief simply says that alone we are afraid; we need a protection. We need a father, we need somebody to control the destiny, we need somebody to look up to.

And all belief is based in fear, and our Gods are nothing but our fears personified. Our Gods don’t say anything about the God, they simply say something about our pathology, about our mind.

A very religious man, deep asleep, had a dream. In his dream, God appeared and said to him: ’I have news for you – bad news and good news. Which would you like to hear first?’ ’The good news,’ said the man. ’Well, the good news is that when you die you will be going to Heaven.’ The man, very happy, said, ’And what is the bad news?’
Said God: ’The bad news is that you are expected there by tomorrow.’ We are even afraid about Heaven – we are afraid to die.

One alpinist fell down from a steep rock, and when he was falling, he took a hold of a branch and kept suspended. “Help me, help me!” he shouted. “Is there anybody above me?” Suddenly a strong and deep voice echoed over the abyss: “I’m going to help you, my son. But first I need your faith and you have to trust me.” The man answered, “Sure, I’ll do everything you want, my Lord. I trust you; I believe you.” “Then,” replied the voice, “let loose the branch.” A deep silence followed and the man shouted again: “Hey! Is there another one above me?” Even if God comes to us and says: “Let go! Die! Disappear!” we will turn our back towards Him. We will start searching for another god.

All beliefs are rooted in fear. And a really religious person is born only when all fears and all beliefs are burned, and the scriptures and the idols destroyed. When we are free of belief, we are ready for the truth.