By Agnes Gnome
In what could be called a fairly typical ‘textbook approach’ (because this approach is followed in many textbooks on the subject), belief systems, both secular as well as religious, are seen as self-contained systems of belief and practice, each of which is depicted as being clearly separated from other belief systems. A belief system is thus seen as a neatly defined entity in itself, possessing sharp boundaries that clearly distinguish it from other belief systems.
In this way of understanding belief systems, membership of, or adherence to, a belief system is exclusivist—it is as if one can be a member of, or adhere to, only one belief system at a time. Hence, multiple membership (that is, membership in two or more belief systems simultaneously) is by definition ruled out, or at least not envisioned. The possibility that individuals who identify primarily with one belief system might want to access, benefit from and incorporate into their lives aspects of belief and practice that are a part of other belief systems may not be ruled out according to this approach but it is not something that is seriously taken into account.
Even though this might be a fairly typical ‘textbook’ approach to belief systems, it does not mean that one must necessarily mean conform to, or even approve of, it. In fact, I am convinced one needn’t, and even oughtn’t. While there are a not insignificant number of people who have been made to believe that they must confine themselves, in terms of belief and practice, exclusively to just one established belief system (which, in many cases, are several centuries old), the fact is that actually, every individual has the potential to come up with a personal belief system or philosophy of life of their own, one which is unique to themselves. Thus, there can, at least in theory, be as many belief systems as there are people in the world! Speaking just for myself here, I say to myself, “Why be a slave to a belief system that someone else has devised (in many cases, more than a thousand years ago—which means, someone you never met) when you have the ability to devise a belief system or philosophy of life of your own and on your own, one that truly resonates with you?”
After many failed experiments with trying to conform to several different established belief systems, one after another, I gave up that path altogether. There were, frankly, too many things in these belief systems that I found problematic, from the ethical and logical points of view, for me to sincerely go along with. For a long time, I had labored under the delusion that one necessarily had to identify with one or the other established belief systems that had a large following (perhaps because this is what almost everyone I knew did, or at least claimed to), but gradually, after many ups and downs, I came to the realization that there was actually no need at all for me to do so. And what a tremendous relief that was! No longer did I feel the need to live up to the expectations and demands of this or that belief system and its self-appointed guardians! No longer did I have to fear the wrath of a supernatural being and the dread of being punished in Hell for all time to come for not doing this or for doing that, for not believing something or for doubting something else.
Today, I am free of what I personally experienced as the very painful mental shackles of conformity, in terms of belief and practice, to a belief system devised by someone else. I no longer identify with any such belief system, religious or secular. I now have my own personal belief system or philosophy of life, one that is constantly evolving, not being fixed and frozen for all time to come, unlike in the case of the belief systems that I spent years trying to believe in and practise.
My personal belief system or philosophy of life is open to learning from various belief systems, religious as well as secular, but also from other sources, including my own experiences, observations, reflections, feelings and intuition, from the human beings and other creatures that I interact with, from the books that I read and the videos that I watch of people from different parts of the world, and so on—from Life in general, that is. Also, my personal belief system or philosophy of life is open to constant revision and correction, so that some beliefs or practices that resonate with me today may be dropped tomorrow if they no longer so resonate.
There are no fixed boundaries to my personal belief system or philosophy of life: I can pick and choose what resonates with me in what I think, see, hear, read and in other ways experience and leave aside the rest. I find all of this immensely rewarding, and also, a great liberation. For me, the discovery that I can—and, in fact, should—live according to my own Inner Voice and not in self-imposed conformity to a system of belief and practice devised by someone else has been an immense blessing. It is a tremendous freedom (which only those who have escaped the pressure to rigidly follow a belief system truly know) to find that one can be and do and live simply as one’s own conscience guides.
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