Accepting Fear without Question

What are we so afraid of?  It’s understandable to be scared of a snake because there is a defining reason behind it.  If it bites, you might die because its venom is poisonous and others have died from it.  Can the same be said about the afterlife, that if we don’t practice a certain religion, we will go to hell?  There is not one living person that can answer that question truthfully, and we will never know until we die. 

The world lives in fear of not having a happy afterlife, instead of focusing on being happy in this life.  The reason is because mere mortal men of the church, who don’t live the same way as the majority of society does, are making the claim that fearing God to get into heaven is more important than life here on earth.  They preach this over and over again when they themselves have not experienced death yet.  They tell their followers that if they believe in the church’s created truth and do as they say (just don’t do as they do), that their heavenly afterlife will be granted.

When Columbus lived, people thought that the earth was flat. They believed the Atlantic Ocean to be filled with monsters large enough to devour their ships, and with fearful waterfalls over which their frail vessels would plunge to destruction. Columbus had to fight these foolish beliefs in order to get men to sail with him. He felt sure the earth was round.  -Emma Miller Bolensium

It just shows when the fear is gone and foolish beliefs are distinguished, the truth can be seen through all the imaginary creative truths man can dream up.  However, it can be hard to take that step into unknown territory.   But when the monsters are gone and the truth of the uncharted territory is revealed, the beauty of humanity will be within every person’s reach. 

But it can be hard to find the truth in the created truth, especially when some created truths maybe centuries old.  And even if we do seek the truth in religions or with politicians and governments, we are labeled sacrilegious or antipatriotic. The only way to move forward is to not be afraid to ask questions and to start conversations.  It can be difficult though asking questions because we have become a society of name callers.  If someone doesn’t like your question or opinion, then they call you some derogatory name to stop you from continuing the conversation.  This can happen especially when their words and actions have a profound effect on society or their own personal financial stability. 

Such individuals can be hiding a created truth so deep and embedded in our culture that telling the truth could destroy their own internal world as they know it.  Or maybe they just don’t know the answer to your question, so they become embarrassed or their fear is so great that they have no other response, but spew vile words. Regardless of the reason, we can’t let the ugliness of name calling stop us from asking important questions. 

If you think about it, kids are great at asking questions.  How many parents have heard, “Why is the sky blue?”  And since most parents can’t answer that question correctly we just say, “Because it is, that’s why.” We could tell our children that God made the sky blue, but how do we know that is true?  Most parents tell their children the same thing their parents told them and so on and so on.

Somewhere along the way to adulthood, we lose that yearning to know why something is the way it is or why we believe in something that we were told as children.  And by doing so, we as adults stop the growth of our children’s ability to ask questions.   Promoting intellectual conversations and seeking the real truth could further their development to become our future thinkers and problem-solvers.  

We need to start teaching our children to ask more questions to help build their confidence, peek their interest, keep them safe, and be able to start and be part of these conversations.  However, is the fear of retaliation from society when asking questions so great, that we don’t?  Or are we that apathetic that we just don’t care?  Or maybe the created truths of society are so easy to believe, we just don’t question them.

It’s easy to fall into the parenting roll without making sure our parenting is actually being effective.  But then how do we effectively teach our children to ask more questions, when we as adults don’t do it ourselves?  If it is just fear, then isn’t it shameful that adults place their own fear in their children and then children take that fear into adulthood with them.  There are so many attributes that we could pass on to our children.  The fear of asking questions should not be one of them.

Questions help get to the root of problems and then solutions can start to be formulated.  Making our children better, makes our society better.  We should want our future generation to be problem-solvers. But how do they become problem-solvers if they are too fearful to ask the tough questions, to further a conversation, to find the solution to a problem, and to find the truth they should be seeking for?  As a society, we should help each other become educated thinkers and masters of our own voice.  And since children tend to learn by example and mimic what adults do, let’s start becoming great role models now by asking those tough questions and being more proactive in conversations.  

But first we need to ask why we haven’t been doing this all along.  We shouldn’t feel ashamed, embarrassed or even fearful to question what our parents, religious leaders or government have been telling us for years.  Many of the things we have come to believe in are just centuries of storytelling either by the written or spoken word by past generations of mere mortal men.  There is no real way to know what is truth and what is created truth.  It can be very difficult though to know what is real and not real when a storyteller has the gift of deception. Sometimes the truth can be somewhat boring and a little created truth thrown into the mix can enhance how people perceive what is being told to them.  Many individuals throughout history have fabricated a story just a tad to make it more interesting.

We are a society that loves history and nonfiction.   We become engrossed with the creative touch of so many writers of fictional stories such as William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, James Patterson, George Lucas and J.K. Rowling.  The list is endless.   Who needs the truth when we can douse ourselves into a world of make-believe and escape from reality?  But in all reality, we need the truth because without it we become trapped in a world of individuals who control our minds and take away our ability to be contributing members of society without us even knowing it or questioning it.

There is no downfall to asking more questions, giving opinions, and having other people join in by asking their own questions, and ending up with a calm, sensible intelligent conversation.  The days are long gone when we should believe just to believe. There are too many individuals who are willing to lie, cheat and steal to keep the power and control what they have possessed for years, decades and yes, even centuries.  And as more and more information comes to light about these powerful controlling members of society, the more questions and conversations there should be within the general public.

We cannot move forward as a nation and as a world if we are not asking questions.  Carl Sagan said, “We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.” So why is the sky blue?  Because God made it blue; great question but an answer with no depth and not based on facts.  No wonder we have become a society that lacks the vision of conversation when adults don’t try to further conversations with each other, let alone with their children.  Most of us were never taught the power of communication which involves questions and answers, and the right to ask without debilitating fear. 

And when asking questions, it’s alright for the person asking the question and the person being asked the question not to know the answer.  It’s about starting a conversation to help find the answer together and come to a reasonable conclusion.   An educated person isn’t someone who has to know everything, but one who knows how to ask the questions and find the answers.  And it isn’t someone who has to be right every time.  Every human being will make mistakes.  There is no perfect human. 

It should never be a sign of weakness to admit to one’s own mistake as long as the person tries to correct the mistake and make it right.   Just admitting to the mistake is a sign of good character, but its offensive when individuals tout one thing and do another.  That’s called lying. There’s a big difference between the two.  There should be little forgiveness for those individuals or groups who have hidden wrong doing and hurt innocent men, women, children, animals and our planet to flourish their own greed, power and control.  Those are unforgivable flaws in character which should be condemned in all aspects of society.

And when people ask questions and/or state their opinions verbally or in writing, the intent does not have to be to mislead, hurt or condemn anyone with different opinions.  Regardless though, many times when questions are asked and opinions are given by people not in authority, their words will be misconstrued and others will say our youth and society are being misled down a path of evil and destruction. 

And when a person starts asking questions about religion, politics and society at large, they will be condemned by anyone who is gaining value such as money, power or control from their own created truth.  Someone who is fearful of the truth may feel that the created truth is far better than the real truth and to leave it alone. 

There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.  -Søren Kierkegaard

However, even though it may be difficult to accept the truth after believing in the created truth for so long, keeping silent while others are being hurt is a far greater sin then asking a question and initiating a positive change.

The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. -Dante

Our lives should be about keeping people safe and out of harm’s way.  Being good and kind to create a world without fear.   Love and be loved.  There is no point of living if these basic concepts are not entitled to every human being. Seems to simple, but then why doesn’t society put these simple values before everything else including religion?  In the end, if there is a God, pure basic good and kindness should be the end result of our humanity.

And asking questions shouldn’t be applied just when there is controversy, but also in the happiest of relationships to continue to build on those relationships.  You can be religious or spiritual and should still be able to feel comfortable asking questions about religion without being called an atheist or sacrilegious.  You should be able to love your job and still ask questions to improve the safety and quality of your work dynamics without the fear of being retaliated against or terminated.  You can be young, middle-aged or elderly and start conversations by asking questions to build a healthy and happy life.  And there’s no right or wrong question.  It just needs to be asked with calmness and confidence to anyone around you such as your spouse, children, parents, boss, priest, politician and anyone else where a question and conversation are warranted.   

We all make up our own created truths on a daily basis just to get through our day and our lives, but in general they don’t have a direct impact on society.  However, there are individuals and groups of individuals who have created their own truths that have had a profound effect on society.  It is imperative for all of us to seek these individuals out, especially if they include world religions and governments where created truths could harm our way of life and our love for humanity.

If we are not questioning the people who run our government and our religions, then we are up for grabs for the next person who would like to become a dictator or the next great charlatan.  These types of individuals have only one motive, which is to control our every thought and our every action, even if it is harmful to “We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it.  George Orwell

George Orwell was considered a Democratic Socialist.  Socialism may not be the answer to keeping America great, however, sitting back and doing nothing and letting world leaders and religious orders do as they please, will end humanity as we know it.  So why has our Congress relinquished its duties to form a “more perfect union?”  What happened to the justice, tranquility, and common defense, promotion of general welfare and blessings of liberty to everyone?  Aren’t those the foundation of Democracy? 

What if we didn’t define ourselves as a Christian nation, but a Nation of Humanity instead?  Humanity is defined as “the quality or state of being human”.  Maybe if our nation’s laws emphasized that worshipping each other is far more important than being a Christian, the health and welfare of every person would have the utmost priority.

However, greed, control, and power have changed the course of the real truth of what our nation was founded on without any of us questioning it.  The same thing been going on for centuries with governments and religions, which has affected our past, our present and the future generations to come, if we let them.  The Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan, was on Meet the Press with David Gregory on March 9^th 2014.  He said Pope Francis was going to use his notoriety and turn the attention to Jesus and his church, and that part of the Pope’s strategy is for people to start asking questions.

For all the Christians who live and breathe by the Pope’s every sacred word, he has given you permission to start asking questions, so why not start with the tough ones first.  However, very few people are ever willing to ask the hard questions and connect the dots.  Most individuals don't go that next step to make sure that our government and the church’s words and actions are in line with what is best for the majority and for the sake of humanity; and not just what is best for those in authority themselves.

And anyone who tells you that you can’t or shouldn’t be asking questions about God, religion or government, can only be telling you that because they themselves are benefiting from their own created truth.  Especially when they themselves either have conjured up or have kept a created truth alive out of fear or personal gain.  When someone lives a life of “do as I say but don’t do as I do”, then they created their own truth trying to hide it from society. 

For instance, individuals who state they are Christian, but molest children or say they are against abortion, but have been personally involved in an abortion or denounce homosexuality, but are caught in a homosexual act.  Or even someone who pushes abstinence on other parents, when their own children have had children out of wedlock.  Or individuals who tout their Christianity to the heavens, but judge anyone who lives and thinks differently than they do. 

In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.  -George Orwell

Is it even possible to dig through the layers and layers of created truths throughout the centuries to reveal the real truths of society?  It’s similar to knowing if heaven exists, we won’t know until we die. The same principal applies to finding the real truth, we won’t know until we start digging.