"Committing many mistakes, one learns what is a mistake and how not to commit it. Knowing what is error, one comes closer and closer to what is truth. Life is an individual exploration; you cannot depend on others’ conclusions." Osho
I came upon this quote yesterday and it fit so much with what I have been thinking about lately. Life to me seems full of questions and ideas to explore. I wrote the other day about the importance of questions and observations to fully awaken. Today, it seems too many people have given up their individual explorations of life and have settled for the beliefs and values others give them. Religion plays a big role in telling us what to believe in and what to value. I was raised in a religion that taught me a lot about how I was to think and be. As an adult I sorted out what I experienced as the truth and kept those lessons. There were many teachings I decided didn’t fit my requirements for the truth. This sorting out process seems to me to be life-long.
How do you sort out your own truths and beliefs? Beliefs need to be experienced by you or they are just simply someone else’s belief that you have taken on. As Osho says in the quote above, “Life is an individual’s exploration” and to take on the truths or beliefs of others without a direct experience of them is missing out on the self-discovery. The adopted beliefs are simply ideas that have less personal meaning. Your truths have real power when you discover what they mean to you.
It seems to me that one of the dysfunctions of the world is that we have too many people running around spouting beliefs and telling us their truths should be ours. There are religious leaders saying one thing and then acting very different. There are young people willing to kill others in the name of their so-called beliefs. There are leaders that say they believe in certain values and then act in direct contradiction to them. All this proclamation of beliefs and then acting differently would indicate that their beliefs are merely words and lack true value to them. Too much posturing and no real integration sounds like the work of the ego.
Doesn’t it seem important to you to sort out what your value, what you belief in, and what is your truths are? Can you really count on others to know what is right for you? The journey of self-discovery is a life long and yes the guidance of others can be helpful along the way. Take their guidance and explore your truth in what they share and move on from the rest.
I wanted to share another Osho quote. These come from a very stimulating book called, Courage, The Joy of Living Dangerously
“Life is not a problem. To look at it as a problem is to take a wrong step. It is a mystery to be lived, loved, experienced”
I hope this has inspired you to be you as fully as possible.