How many people ruin their lives by blind faith in one way or another? It could be blind faith in a financial adviser or manager who has a super track record. The Madoff-Ponzi scam fooled many clever rich people who never questioned how their money was invested. They were attracted to regular high interest gains and never questioned how it was achieved. Another example of blind faith is allowing the medical professionals to take full responsibility for an individual's health. The third leading cause of death in the USA is staff infections in hospitals, therefore taking charge for one's own health and well-being seems the most sensible approach.
Having blind faith means not questioning why you believe something is true. It means relying on what you are told by other people or ancient holy books written by folks who thought they had a handle on true facts. Maybe some of what is told by past generations is true and then again maybe most of it is fallacies posing as truthfulness. Some of the most likable and credible people turn out be the biggest scoundrels and swindlers because the more believable they seem, the more people they can cheat. If it is only money the swindlers take then it is just a hard lesson learnt.
Unfortunately, when people are indoctrinated at an early age with blind faith, their whole lives can be ruined by the fear of rebelling against the erroneous reference point built up in their minds. The suicide bombers in the Middle East are a prime example of how blind faith can be the cause of death and destruction. However, that is only the tip of a much larger iceberg of unquestionable trust people practice to delude themselves.
Delusions start early in life with parental guidance that has been handed down from generation to generation. Once born into a religious belief system or a non-religious belief system, the conditioning of the brain is seldom challenged. As a person extends their convictions the more entrenched they become.
The educational system in the main helps to dumb down the human brain by limiting the way students are taught. Most schools and universities do not appreciate free thought that questions the judgements of those who hold the power to formulate the curriculums. The few teachers who do question the system are quickly dispatched outside of it. A few do try and bring some kind of meaningfulness into the classroom, however most students' minds contain such conditioned thinking that the authentic teachers' role is limited.
When fresh truthfulness occasionally tries to apply itself to the education system, greater resistance will formulate from people in power, who cannot grasp how the delusions of their brain are holding the keys to their thinking functions. It becomes a Catch 22 situation where the blind lead the blind into deeper recesses of blind faith in every area of human existence.
So much so, the mainstream media, the financial markets, and large corporations are all being brought to heel by their own deluded intellectual understanding of how to think in a truthful manner. Truthful thoughts bring genuine results, whereas delusory thoughts induce the results we read in our daily newspapers. The word delusion means something that is believed to be true or real but that is actually false or unreal. So, how real or true is the belief system of most people? If anyone says that they hold the truth then at best it is just one person's perspective of what they believe truth to be. However, in the final analysis, truth will always speak for itself and the results will also follow.
Good, bad or indifferent, a person's life can be summed up on their deathbed and they will know then if blind faith has lead them on a merry or miserable path. A few people will question how their mind absorbs information and the wise ones will work out the answers that very few others will accept. The question yet to be answered is how much longer can humanity survive in a world of blind faith filled with so many intellectual experts?
Michael Levy is the author of nine inspirational books and is an international radio show host. Michael's poetry and essays now grace many web sites, newspapers, journals and magazines throughout the world. He is a prominent speaker on health maintenance, stress eradication, wealth development, authentic happiness and inspirational poetry. His new book - Paradise Graces a Simple Mind - is available at all good book stores and Michael's web site: Point of Life.
