“What’s in it for me?”
As human beings, I believe one of our inborn qualities is to be selfish, and that though our intentions may be good, our finite minds tend to make us believers in scarcity which then drives us to “provide for ourselves”. We often act out of fear and insecurity that we are not being enough, getting enough or doing enough. Since we can only hold one belief at the time, we miss the possibilities of Abundance, Eternity, and Unconditional Love.
I was at an interesting event last week in Chicago called “Elements” and the conversation was about “humanity’s innate need to believe”.
Two men, Heman Mehta, author of “I sold my soul on eBay” and JR Kerr, Q presenter, founder of the Aitreini group.
These two great men with very different beliefs were discussing some of the most fundamental questions we may ask, such as: “Where did life begin? Is there a God? What is the purpose in our lives? Why do we have such longing to believe in things?”
Paraphrasing a few of their points:
JR Kerr: Having no faith is a faith of itself. When one says: “I do not believe”, one is limiting themselves to having that experience. This restricts them from experiencing the value that faith may bring to their life. I’m motivated by the concept of greater purpose, and I don’t see how that can exist without a creator. If there is no ultimate authority then everything is relative and there is no absolute right or wrong.
Heman Mehta: What motivates me is to give and make a difference in peoples lives. If I can leave this world a better place when I leave, then great, but I don’t think anyone can have the answer to where life truly began or what truly is our purpose - it is what we make it, so we might as well choose to do something good in the world!
Both are men that are up to making a big difference in peoples lives. Both want to make this world a better place, but they have fundamentally different views on how to accomplish that. They enjoy having deep conversations about their differences and encourage people to ask more about each other’s beliefs and values.
They both talked about how atheists and believers often put each other into a box and assume various things about the other without actually having open and honest dialogue, truly seeking to understand the other.
A quote from St. Francis comes to mind:
“O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned…”
