And WHY do you believe it?
Over the course of our lives we develop a lot of ideas that we believe to be true. Where did you get many of the strongly held beliefs that you have? How did you develop the so-called "strong-holds" in your mind, that give you your version of "truth"?
What if something you believe to be true is actually a lie? We all take actions based on what we believe to be true. Have you ever thought about how you came to believe what you believe? Are you absolutely sure that the things you go around believing every day are true? Are you basing your life on things that you know to be absolutely, positively true, or are you just going around assuming that what you believe is true?
I once heard someone say that it is dangerous to assume anything. This is because the word "assume" can also make an "ASS" out of "U" and "ME". Arguments among friends and wars among nations can be started over assumptions.
Remember when the world "assumed" that the nation of Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction? The United States drove a world-wide effort to invade Iraq over this assumption. After all, the "intelligence" community said they had these weapons. Was the "intelligence" community assuming that they had these weapons, or was it the truth?
This question is still argued by those on the left and the right, to this day, years after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Regardless of what may have supposedly happened to those weapons, the truth at this point is that they were never found. Looks like the intelligence community made an assumption. Or perhaps it was an outright lie to give an excuse to start yet another war. A CIA informant later admitted that he had lied about the existence of the weapons, but was "shocked" when the USA used that information to drum up support for an invasion.
The information was assumed to be true, and it was acted upon, when the USA invaded Iraq. An entire war was based on a lie that was generated within the "intelligence" community. Clearly the information was neither true nor intelligent.
When we say that we base our lives on what we know to be true, we must take stock of where we got our "truth". Often the "truths" we believe are lies concocted by others who have ulterior motives. Our views on politics and religion often come more from what we personally want to believe, rather than any real basis in absolute truth. We hear thousands of messages every day as we go about our lives, but very few of those messages are actually based on real truth. Most are designed to influence us into believing a certain thing to be true, whether it is or not.
Stop and think about what you believe and why you believe it. Are you a "conservative"? a "liberal"? Where and how did you develop your belief system? Did your parents influence you? How about those messages in the music you listen to? What about the TV shows and commercials you watch? What books do you read? What politicians do you believe? Which ones do you believe are lying? Do you really believe that one party is lying but the other is not?
Most of the time we listen to those that we like and especially those that we think we agree with. But just because you agree with what someone is saying does not mean that what they are saying is true. It's more difficult than you realize to know the truth in a world filled with deception.
Over the course of our lives we develop a lot of ideas that we believe to be true. Where did you get many of the strongly held beliefs that you have? How did you develop the so-called "strong-holds" in your mind, that give you your version of "truth"?
What if something you believe to be true is actually a lie? We all take actions based on what we believe to be true. Have you ever thought about how you came to believe what you believe? Are you absolutely sure that the things you go around believing every day are true? Are you basing your life on things that you know to be absolutely, positively true, or are you just going around assuming that what you believe is true?
I once heard someone say that it is dangerous to assume anything. This is because the word "assume" can also make an "ASS" out of "U" and "ME". Arguments among friends and wars among nations can be started over assumptions.
Remember when the world "assumed" that the nation of Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction? The United States drove a world-wide effort to invade Iraq over this assumption. After all, the "intelligence" community said they had these weapons. Was the "intelligence" community assuming that they had these weapons, or was it the truth?
This question is still argued by those on the left and the right, to this day, years after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Regardless of what may have supposedly happened to those weapons, the truth at this point is that they were never found. Looks like the intelligence community made an assumption. Or perhaps it was an outright lie to give an excuse to start yet another war. A CIA informant later admitted that he had lied about the existence of the weapons, but was "shocked" when the USA used that information to drum up support for an invasion.
The information was assumed to be true, and it was acted upon, when the USA invaded Iraq. An entire war was based on a lie that was generated within the "intelligence" community. Clearly the information was neither true nor intelligent.
When we say that we base our lives on what we know to be true, we must take stock of where we got our "truth". Often the "truths" we believe are lies concocted by others who have ulterior motives. Our views on politics and religion often come more from what we personally want to believe, rather than any real basis in absolute truth. We hear thousands of messages every day as we go about our lives, but very few of those messages are actually based on real truth. Most are designed to influence us into believing a certain thing to be true, whether it is or not.
Stop and think about what you believe and why you believe it. Are you a "conservative"? a "liberal"? Where and how did you develop your belief system? Did your parents influence you? How about those messages in the music you listen to? What about the TV shows and commercials you watch? What books do you read? What politicians do you believe? Which ones do you believe are lying? Do you really believe that one party is lying but the other is not?
Most of the time we listen to those that we like and especially those that we think we agree with. But just because you agree with what someone is saying does not mean that what they are saying is true. It's more difficult than you realize to know the truth in a world filled with deception.
