Which is more important, what you believe or what you are?

__________________
InterfaithForums.com-Where your ideas and beliefs count.

Both, what I believe is wrapped up in who I am. I try very hard to live my life by my personal beliefs, which leads me to believe that I am living a good life. My beliefs have saved me from some nasty situations. It would be hard to seperate who I am from what I believe.

What I am.

__________________
peace for all
love for all
bliss for all

...may your journey be graceful...

If anything is possible, then the statement, "anything is possible," is possibly false.

...and $1.25 will get me a small cup of coffee.

Actually, I do not think I can separate what I believe from who I am.

I reached the fundamental conclusions I hold when I was in early adulthood...and while I would not say I have not changed, it is less "change" than it is a deepening and expansion. The interpermeation of belief and personality is pretty much accomplished now.

__________________
Grassaf, Eolas

" Is What You Believe Important? "
------
-------- Your question is important so l assume your belief is important too , whatever .

I assume that God judges us in so many ways and so on . God may judge us on our 'purity of intentions' and not by what Religion we join etc .

In that respect it is not what Religion we pick but instead is ,,,why we chose that Religion .

God knows us each, and as individually God knows our behaviour is a presentation of God .

What our behaviour presents and what we feel deep inside is where God waits and hopes we apply our behaviour in God's presentation and we all know where God's presentation is , as it is explained in the Manual of Life ,,, the Bible , Koran and other Holy Books.

What we believe can lead to enormous events in our life and sometimes it is so overwhelming and amazing we feel lost in what it means and what it represents . "It" being God poses a difficult presentation for us to "assume' and leads us to Faith where we must reside unless we have received enough of God to know of the reality of the real God .

So " what you believe' is not only important but is the substance that the real God goes by and your purity of intentions in that realm where God can interpret as you is where God finds you and this is good.

Some beliefs can be thought of as empirical hypotheses. If accurate they can be used to our advantage in predicting future experience, and controlling it.

__________________
-Scott

It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true. -- Bertrand Russell

Well of course "who we are" is also based I believe on what we believe... If we believe we are a mere accident in the general chaos of the universe that has an impact on how we see ourselves and may also influence our behaviour. If we think we are essentially spiritual beings and have some kind of ultimate value then that too will influence I believe how we relate to one another.



- Art

__________________
"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

I believe there is a difference between who we are and what we are. I believe that my beliefs reflect who I am (Vivian, personality, job, hobbies, relationships), but since my beliefs are based on my preference, awareness, attention and perspective of things, my beliefs may change. What I am is the core naked me, without beliefs, identifications. The question is was I before me and if, what was I? What separates us humans (differences) and what do we all have in common?

I see that the core of humans is "being", which could be anything. Now, if I could get Vivian to reflect pure beingness without a title or an Idea, I would be reflecting that what I am (anything and everything) and until then I am reflecting who I believe to be.

So, to answer the original question: What I am is more important than who I believe to be.

__________________
May your awareness be perfection

I tend to think the "belief" and what we "are" sort of go hand in hand. But, on the other hand, I've come to think that what I believe does not necessarily correlate to what the reality may be. Therefore, when it comes to religion, I rely very little on "belief".

Shalom,
Vern

__________________
When a man sleeps in his bed, his soul leaves him to soar above, each soul according to its own way.......
The Zohar