Is it ok to have belief in belief instead of belief in God?

From Steven

Some people say that belief helps people to be positive and confident, so that is good. What they believe in is not important. So belief in God is not needed – just belief in belief is.

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you.
Hare Krishna. Question, is it okay to have belief in belief, instead of belief in God? When I talk about spirituality and God with my friends, they say that, you know, yes, belief in good is good. And belief helps people to act confidently and achieve things in life.
So, we have belief in belief. And belief helps people to think positively. Belief helps people to do certain things confidently.
So, belief is good, they say. But they have belief in belief, not belief in God. So, how do we respond to this? Is it okay? Answer, the question is, what kind of belief do we have belief in? What is the kind of belief that we have belief in? You know, there are the Nazi Germans, they believed strongly that ridding Germany of Jews, in fact, ridding the whole world of Jews, would be good for the progress of Germany.
And accordingly, they thought Germany was, Germans were the center of the world, they were origin of the world, they were the original Aryans. So, it would be good for the world. So, there are jihadis who believe that killing kafirs, those who do not believe, will be good for everyone, good for the world, because it will rid the world of disbelievers.
And their idea of disbelievers is those who do not agree with their interpretation of their religion’s beliefs. So, I gave examples from both atheistic, the Nazis were atheistic, and the jihadis, they are supposedly religious, theistic. So, in both, I gave examples of damaging, destructive beliefs from both secular and religious circles.
So, therefore, we cannot just say belief in belief is good. Yes, certainly belief has power. And when people believe something strongly, then that impels them to act, act strongly.
But that strong action can often be destructive. And that’s why the Bhagavad Gita classifies even belief in three modes. There is goodness, passion, and ignorance.
The 17th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is entitled Shraddha Trayavibhaga Yoga, that the three divisions of faith as per the three modes. The modes themselves are a complex subject. But a simple introduction is that modes are subtle psychological forces that shape the interaction between matter and consciousness.
So, according to the mode that we are in, we perceive things differently. So, just like I can have green colored spectacles or red colored spectacles or blue colored spectacles, my perception will get tinted. So, the spectacles come between me and the world, whereas the modes between my eyes and the world, whereas the modes come in between me, the soul, the source of consciousness, and the mind and the body through which I perceive the world.
So, again, they shape my perception. So, the Bhagavad Gita says that there can be faith in goodness, passion, and ignorance. And depending on the kind of mode in which our faith is, there will be the consequence.
So, a faith in ignorance is destructive. And it’s not that just because there is some semblance of religion to some belief, that does not mean that is itself good. The Bhagavad Gita also talks about religion in the mode of ignorance.
So, the basic point is that not all belief is good. And belief in belief is not necessarily a good thing. From a point of view of fact, yes, belief shapes our behavior.
And so, it’s not a matter of belief in belief, it’s a fact that our beliefs shape our behavior. But then we, whether our, when we say it is shaped our behavior, the beliefs shape our behavior. Now, what is the nature of that shaping? Is it reforming and elevating our behavior or is it deforming and degrading our behavior? That depends on the content of the belief.
And so, we have to look whether the content is sattvic, rajasic or tamasic. So, now, specifically, when you talk about belief in God, then we are talking about understanding how God is the highest reality. And he is the source of all of us.
He is the benefactor of all of us. And he is the ultimate destination for all of us. So, these are the broad, broad understandings, which most of the world’s great theistic traditions share about God and our relationship with him.
So, when we understand this, that God loves us and he wants us to love him back. And the way to love him is by living morally, living selflessly, living a good life, which is not just good, which is also devoted to God. So, that actually brings out the dormant virtuous qualities within us.
It not only makes us devoted to God, aiming for him ultimately and his abode, but also enables us to become virtuous, moral, selfless, compassionate in this world. So, that way, the important thing is to recognize that we have to look at the content of the belief. So, belief in belief will not have any, necessarily any uplifting effect.
We have to have belief in God and not just some vague conception of God. A proper understanding of God, the more proper and precise the understanding of God, the more elevating will be the effect of the belief in God. And the, in general, all the religions are talking about making people, raising people from being materialists to being spiritualists, for raising people from being lovers of material things to lovers of God, lovers of the ultimate spiritual reality, God.
So, that is what the ultimate goal of religions is. And different religions are like pathways. So, like a mountain, like somebody wants to climb up a mountain and reach its peak, there may be different pathways from the bottom to reach up the mountain peak.
So, now, we have to see which kind of belief is conducive for elevation. We look at the, what are the philosophical propositions of that particular belief system? What are the transformation mechanisms that are offered by the belief system? What is the quality of life that the people who are following that particular spiritual way are living? And based on that, we can decide. So, there is a lecture on this website called tap the power of faith.
And there, I talk about the acronym faith, you know, how faith begins with recognizing the futility of material life, that is F. So, I may have belief in belief. But if just I believe that if I desire something, it will happen. That is not going to stop, say, mortality, it is not going to stop me from dying.
So, irrespective of our belief in belief or our belief in disbelief, at a material level, things are temporary, perishable, and whatever we achieve materially is going to end, be destroyed. Then A is the amazing design. We see the world around us.
And based on that, we recognize that there is intricacy, there is artistry, there is magnificent design in this world, which points to a super intelligent designer. And that’s what most of the world’s founding scientists have accepted, inferred from their scientific study. Then I is intelligence, whether what we are asked to believe in, whether it makes sense.
You know, God has not given us our intelligence just so that He makes faith demands that require us to really reject our intelligence. Faith is the perfection of intelligence, not the rejection of intelligence. So, it should be the faith, whatever we are asked to believe in, it should withstand, at least its basic fundamental principles should withstand intellectual scrutiny.
Of course, we also understand that some aspects of what we are asked to have faith in, because they talk to higher realities, they will not be perceivable to us. But the basic should be intelligible. Then T is transformation, whether the practicing it leads to a transformation, makes it better, just like if I go to a doctor.
Another metaphor to understand the nature of religion is to say that it’s meant to cure us, cure us of excessive materialism and help us to become devoted to God. So, it’s like there are different medical systems, there is allopathy, there is naturopathy, there is Ayurveda, homeopathy. So, the test whether a medical system is bona fide or not is whether it cures people.
So, that’s transformation. And H is happiness. The purpose of life is ultimately to be happy.
And any spiritual system that we practice, whatever we believe in, that should actually make us happy, not in a superficial titillating sense, but in a deep fulfilling sense where we get the get the overall sense that our life is well directed, it is well used, and we get a sense of satisfaction and self-worth through the way we are living. So, all this happens when what we are, what we believe in, when we believe in God and the associated worldview that comes with it, when it actually has these characteristics, then that will be elevating. So, what we focus on is not just belief in belief, but belief in God and not just belief in God in some vague sense, but belief in a God who is a centerpiece of an intellectually satisfying and practically transforming worldview, which answers life’s fundamental questions and provides practical guidance for living in this world.
And yes, belief in belief is no substitute for belief in this kind of proper understanding of God and life and ourselves. Now, some people may even object to the word belief, saying belief itself is bad, but actually everybody has belief and belief in God is, even atheists have belief, they have belief in disbelief, they believe there is no God. So, what we are talking about is choosing our belief intelligently and not just being, not just settling for belief in belief, but we could say choosing intelligently and selecting belief in the best belief and that belief in the best belief is belief in God.
Thank you. Hare Krishna.