Religious Belief and the Pebble of Truth



The Devil and his Friend

The devil once went for a walk with a friend.
They saw a man ahead of them stoop down
and pick up something from the road.

'What did that man find?' asked the friend.

'A piece of Truth,' said the Devil.

'Doesn't that disturb you?' asked the friend.

'No it does not,' said the devil, 'I shall allow him 
to make a religious belief out of it.'

People that cling to a nugget of truth make no progress because they are sure they have found it all. They know the way. And the more their way is questioned the more hostile and dogmatic they become. They are blind to the whole.

It is wise to not rush to judgment but live within the question. And yet that is a difficult place to be like balancing on the point of a boulder high up on a cliff. Everyone will jump in to try and tell you where to put your foot so you can climb down. They never ask if you wish to come down or even what the view is from that position.

Comments

  1. ShaynacwingsFebruary 20, 2013 at 3:23 PM

    I likes this post very much Jacqui.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Blog of BeeFebruary 23, 2013 at 1:04 PM

    People don't ask enough questions. They learn something as a child and cling to that for the rest of their lives. That's one of the reasons that this Retreat was so refreshing apart from the fact I haven't done a Lenten retreat for years - always working on them, Do you know there are some people who still believe that there was an apple and a talking snake? And that the needle in 'it is harder for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle' is a sewing needle. Many do not know that the needle Jesus was talking about is a gateway!

    ReplyDelete

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