As we progress through life we accumulate various unique experiences. From our individual experiences we form opinions, judgments and biases. From our biases we start to build our belief systems. Based on our belief system we start to act one way or the other.
For e.g. our belief system may result in our finding fault with our friend or our relative. We have our own set of beliefs of what is right and what is wrong. We think a person should have acted in some particular way. When we find them behaving in a different way then we begin to find fault with them. However the person so acting is doing so based on his/her belief on what on what the correct response should be.
Hence in this world all of us carry within ourselves our own individual belief systems which are usually the result of a lot of confusion and strife in this world.
Our primary purpose in life is to reflect deeply on own belief system and constantly try to refine our view of the world. Most of the time, many of us just carry on with our own ideas of how things should be. We rarely ever try to realign our belief systems. We just continue to stick to our views rigidly which we formed based on our experiences in this world.
Every now and then we need to take stock of our beliefs and our value system. One way to do this is to read the scriptures or to read or listen to the masters. We then will have to reflect on the true meaning behind the words. For e.g. the verse from the Gita “do your duty without any attachment and dedicate the fruits to God” can mean different things to different people. For some it can mean that one has to go to office and stomach all sorts of indignities heaped on one in official life. To a housewife it could mean “being a good mother and wife”. But the more we think about this we realize that there are a million different shades to the above statement. It could imply doing our duty as a son, father, husband, friend, colleague, worker, boss to being a good Samaritan a good citizen and so on. Similarly the biblical saying “if anyone smites thee on one check, show him the other” could again mean many things from quietly accepting ill-treatment, to changing another through magnanimity or to repay with love, acts of violence.
In any case, we need to reflect and refine our beliefs. This will take time. We should not persist in stagnating in our rigid views. We have to constantly refine our personal views of the world. This is imperative in life.
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