This I Believe - a review

[dailybitsofwisdom]

I was recently updating a social network site profile, going through the normal fields of name, high school, college, job, and hometown, when I came to religion. Usually I choose ‘Spiritual’ or ‘Other’ when it comes to this section, but this time there was another option I rarely see: undecided. When I first saw it I was unsure if that really pertained to me since I follow principles from many different religions and am not overly spiritual. That initial response made me think “Well if I’m unsure I’m undecided, then I’m undecided.”

Since then I’ve gotten a few emails from friends who saw the change asking me what I believe in. Considering undecided is a relative synonym for Agnostic, many people still thinks I believe in some form of God. And while I would like to entertain the thought of a force that permeates every corner of the universe, the truth is that I think I shouldn’t know what I believe.

At this moment, I believe that I’m too young to make a decision that may under mindedly influence what decisions I make in the future. While I’ve taken all the religious and spiritual teachings I’ve learned to heart, I don’t for one minute treat them as self-imposed laws I must obey. Like the great physicist Albert Einstein, I question everything I’m told. Not necessarily to get to the truth of the matter, but to learn the options available to me.

These email conversations left me wanting to know what other people believe; more importantly, from some of the world’s most prominent figures. That’s when I was told of a book titled This I Believe: the Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, edited by authors Jay Allison and Dan Gediman. The book, which is based off a popular radio series of the same name launched by Edward R. Murrow, an American journalist during the 1950s, showcases 81 essays from everyday people around the world describing their personal philosophies. Each essay is only 500 words in length.

The radio series, which was revived on NPR from 2005-2009, was a daily 5 minute radio broadcast with featured essayists reading their beliefs. When the two earlier mentioned editors decided to try a book format, they searched through over 11,000 essays. Within the final cut are contributors such as Gloria Steinem, Warren Christopher, Helen Keller, John McCain, Eleanor Roosevelt, John Updike, and Newt Gingrich.

At first I was skeptical whether I would like the book, afraid that these people would be pushing their beliefs on me. But in actuality the essays are what Jay Allison refers to as “personal credos”, where contributors tell stories of how their own experiences have shaped their values. Caregiver Elivia Bautista says, “I believe that everyone deserves flowers on their grave.” We also learn how a gay son in a Catholic family believes “the right story is the one that helps me to love myself the most, to create the most, to love others and to support them in their creations.” And we are comforted by astrophysicist Alan Lightman’s belief in “the power of the unknown” that sometimes it’s best to leave some mysteries unsolved.

I think it’s only through sharing our thoughts on life with one another that we are able to grow as human beings. And that doesn’t mean being lectured a set of rules we must follow, but simply having time to sit down and tell stories.