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Date Posted: 15:04:56 08/07/01 Tue
Author: Mark van Dyk
Subject: I wrote this today

To those of you who have heard me preach just a bit, you might as well skip this. You've probably heard it before. To those others, read on...


To those who would have me believe as they do:


When we talk about beliefs, we must first define what beliefs truly are, not in the
dictionary fashion, but what purpose beliefs serve for human beings in the grander sense of
the Universe.
Our world is made up solely of beliefs. They permeate our thoughts and our
societies. They are like fuel for the machine. Above all else, however, the true purpose of
beliefs is to provide the comfort of certainty to those who feel afraid and uncertain. Like
blankets in the dark, beliefs serve to comfort us from that which is not known. The more
the uncertain person can learn and feel certain about, the better, for in some sense he feels
safe, coccooned in his beliefs that things work a certain way, that there are certain
promises and rewards for acting in accordance to rules for which he has no love, but
submits to out of his all consuming need for safety.
I have spent many tired hours conversing with those who would have me believe
as they do, think as they do, act as they do. I can only think that this serves them in some
better stead in their ability to predict me and take comfort in the fact that they can always
expect me to do just what they would have me do in any given situation. These sorts of
people are at heart the most frightened creatures I know. They are victims of future
thought, of prediction and certainty of outcomes. They watch the weather channel every
morning to know whether it will rain, they promote laws that stifle others and themselves
for they fear their own potential. They fear themselves above all, the sleeping angers and
rages and hates and murders that they perpetrate every day in their minds. They must
close these off, for in some sense they see these as wrong, though they are only natural
occurrences of a natural organism and body at work.
These sorts of people will argue until death and will attempt to convince you with
that tireless sort of zeal that is found only in the truly stupid and fearful. How ironic that it
is the stupid and fearful that end up making the rules for those who do not fear and can
think for themselves! This is what frightens the rule makers and the convincers most of
all, of course. When a man begins to think for himself, he steps apart from that which was
formerly believed and by his very existence he challenges all the beliefs that he left behind.
The believers as we might call them will do anything within their power to bring the sheep
back into the fold, for they cannot bear the existence of someone who may be happy
believing other than they do. They would rather be sheep, miserable and blind, than to
have any one else rise above their tired, ring-a-round-the-rosy world. They enjoy the
comfort of belonging to a group that does not challenge them, that does nothing for their
spirituality. They would rather swallow pills full of lies than step out of what is so
comfortable and safe as the “known”. They take comfort in the fact that others believe as
they do, for they will say there is power in numbers, they will say there is safety in
numbers, they will say that the majority rules, as if the majority had the wit to rule and
make intelligent decision, as if they believe in the power of agreement between as many
people as possible.
These are the sorts of people that are desirous of being told what to do, who love
rules and hate those who break them. These are the hypocrits of the world, for it is not
the “other” that they fear so much as their own apathy, their own promise and power
which they make excuses for, which they clothe and hide in vestments of holiness and
righteousness. They would much rather beat down the truly transcendental than pick
themselves up out of the quagmire of self loathing. These are the people who crucify what
they fear. These are the people who need a good dose of death, for that is all that will
cure them. They must come to grips with their own mortality before they can understand
the man who does not seek comfort.
What is comfort? Does the soul seek promises and lies? Does the soul seek
enlightenment via a road with fences and restrictions, where police pull over those who
are seeking to drive too fast or put their arms out of the windows no matter the danger?
The people who would have me believe as they do are the ones who talk the most
for in their hearts they believe what they are saying the least. They are pathectic shells of
human beings that feel comfortable only in the company of other shells, who share their
fears, who seek to live with their fears by telling themselves lie after lie after lie rather than
overcome their fears by seeking the truth that not one damned person is right or wrong,
not one damned person is better or happier or more holy than another. That none of us
are on a road to hell or heaven simply because we choose to believe in the color of
rainbows rather than the candy coated verses of some book. We are all correct. We all
know everything that there is to know already. Life is not a test and there are no answers.
So, to those who would have me believe as they do, I will say this. Wisdom and
peace are found in silence. The answers to all your questions and your pain and your
frustrations lay just beyond the last word of your sermon. Amen.

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