Always ask the question

 

How do you feel/think when someone says to you, “Don’t question me, just believe me and trust that I am right?” No one person has the knowledge or authority to make such a statement. Everything should be questioned within the proper understanding of authority. If you are diagnosed with cancer, you can seek out the opinion of two, three, or more doctors. If they all agree, you are most likely safe in believing their collective assessment.

But even then, the decision to act or not is still yours. And the decision on how to respond is yours as well. Does one ignore the assessment of the experts, does one follow an alternative path to health that may or may not result in the best consequences, or does one fully follow the direction of his doctors? As with anything, there are a multitude of variables and approaches.

It is wisdom that is required to respond in the best way, but a response is unavoidable. To do nothing is a response, to do the opposite is a response and an odd one, and to blindly follow is a response as well. The best response is to gather information, understand it as holistically as possible, and to draw an informed conclusion.

Within the context of the spiritual world, the same argument can be made. One can simply ignore the fact that every known culture has acknowledged the existence of deity, or one can embrace the religious beliefs of his culture without giving it any thought, or one can study, learn, grow, mature and draw informed conclusions, seeking to understand as many variables as possible.