how do you find what you, “your self” believe in?
 

Hello all
how do you find what you, “your self” believe in?
I am having trouble doing this, I feel I have always had this trouble. let me explain a little, I could read something and feeling like that makes a lot of sense and then I could read something that goes against the first thing and say that makes a lot of sense and then read a third thing that says the first two are wrong for even attempting to answer something like that and then (i know a lot of "and then but bear with me) read a fourth idea that says that all three are right. some times (like today) its all so maddening that i wont to say forget all of them and let me find my own answer. now my problem of finding my own answer is that I don’t know who I am. that is a problem I know consciously I have had since I was 6 years old. i had a moment where I question, “what do i do as me?”. “how do i walk?” “how do i talk”, and I got a feeling of emptiness when i asked that question so long ago.
now what prompted me to ask that question was a fight I got into with my cousin. he was/is my best friend and not having a father he is where I picked up a lot of mannerism from and when you start to act out those mannerism eventually those believes come with the mannerisms. I would watch how he interacted with people and the response he would get and that for me gave me my map of how to get through reality. so when i go to my own social circle I would do what I saw to achieve the same results, with a fair amount of success. but one day we came into disagreement, what the disagreement was I do not remember. but I remember thinking that I did not like who my cousin was. but i did not know how to stop acting like him that’s when I ask myself “who am I” but never found an answer.
Anyway life goes on and i use the only social mechanism that i knew of. That was mimicking those who got the best result and I still use that to this day. Which has lead me through various religions, occult practice, television programming, ect. and today I watched Religulous. when the movie ended I had a bunch of conflicting emotions.
like “religion is useful to some people because it helps them reach their highest potential and change the world for better or for worst depending on the perspective” and “ his message is to spread doubt and that is the programming that the controllers of this society wants so that way they can usher in this one world control in the new world order under a new unified religion of some occult order”
then I though what if he is right and I am using new world order schemes as an ego shield to block the message and I am buying into some other doctrine that is not my own and upon reflection would not believe in. then I though what if religious is the new industry and that people in the major religions are dying out and people like Steve and bashar and people who made the secret were now promoting the new religion that our children will come to believe in” or what if we are reaching that said evolutionary period where an idea of oneness and unconditional love can actually exist. And then the cop out answer of course the answer of life is a paradox and all these answers are true comes to give so rest to a mind that may be going of track.
I realized these thoughts go on and on like this because I don’t know who I am. I let Religulous do its job and create doubt and i am not mad at it for doing that, but I am frustrated that I can not watch a movie like that and go into myself to find my own answer. Every answer I come up with is from the lips of some one else, even the ones that give me that emotion of rightness. and I am no longer satisfied with the answer of another man bringing me clarity on something so important as truth, specifically my truth. because I don't think that I can reach my highest potential of true contentment or happiness until/unless i find that simple truth that is me. that when I here it in my head it sound like my voice, i can imagine my mannerisms while saying it and when some one ask me do you believe that no matter how crazy it may sound I can say yes I absolutely do. Now I know this post is contradictory (probably in more ways than one) in that i am posting on a public forum about something so personal. That also could lead to me once again hearing an answer and going o that sounds right let me adopt that idea as well. But I though I might share this to get it off my chest, and I’m also curious to see what you all think.

bravo!! i feel youre on track!
this is one of the pit falls of 'keeping an open mind'
because youre open to every idea there is.
a time comes when youre like spewing words words words definitions parables analysis theories thoughts ideas blah blah blah its a whole load
and you feel yourself drowning in this huge sea of -words thoughts ideas
but the intellectuals they need to go thru this.because only when one sees the emptiness does the real search begin!of.....application!
ho ho youre on your way!

I consider that once true self is realised, then there is nothing to believe in.

Ego believes in just about everything and yet none of it ever lasts, so that can't be it. True self is here and now, just covered up in everything it is not.

I think the one thing that seems true is the only truth..........I exist right now.

There is an 'I' but it's not ego. :rolleyes:

Judge

The reason why these existential questions never seem to find answers is that they are directed the wrong way. The self you are attributing knowledge to is illusory. The ego works relatively. You can think yourself through flaming hoops your whole life, but you won't get any closer to the truth. It's not the answers you seek, it's the quality of questioning which you need to refine.

You question seem to be whether there is really a God, being that there are so many religious concepts and varying beliefs.

I do believe there is a God and that as God, He is very capable of communicating with us. When I had similar questions concerning the accuracy of conflicting doctrines, I made the step of faith and asked God Himself to teach me, to somehow get the truth to me in a way that would satisfy my questions. He did that a short time later in a very dramatic way that erased any doubt that God does indeed hear and answer.

To experience that was so precious and life changing to me, to "know" a truth about God that I didn't come to by studying or figuring out.
I would hope you would seek and experience a similar encounter with God.

In my opinion, Bill Maher is speaking from ignorance about something he knows nothing about. He regularly disrespects people who say they have felt or heard from God, as being lunatics, even sometimes to their face. How could he possibly know the truth about what is going on in the spirit of another person between them and God? It is only an opinion that his relationship with spiritual matters has led him to believe.

I have had different experiences from Bill Maher that have led me to a different conclusion and to the Christian God of the Bible. While I can understand the viewpoint of others, even those who don't believe there is a God, it doesn't change what I know and have experienced for myself.

I know there is a God, a personal God, who has spoken to me many times, who guides my decisions if I listen to Him, who has often intervened in circumstances and life in ways that He has told me He would beforehand. I know Him as a God who is always loving, always forgiving, even if I get angry with Him or act like a spoiled demanding brat. I know from experience that He will allow me to go my own way but also that He stood ready to guide me back to Him and restore me when I got too far away from His will or principles and reaped the consequences of that.

Although I don't know anyone who has perfectly followed Christ and neither have I, I do personally know hundreds of other people who know this same God, in these same ways. And I have read the words or listened to the accounts of thousands of others who have experienced the God of the Bible as a real and tangible force, in ways similar to mine and to those of the people in the Bible.

What I have said above, should mean nothing to you, zip, nada, except as it rings true in your spirit, now or at some future time. I don't post to defend what I know or to prove anyone else wrong in their beliefs, even Bill Maher. I post to share what I know can happen for those who ask God to show Himself to them so they may respect and follow the truth.

It's all about the attitude and about what a person is seeking because the Bible said we will find what we seek. The most important part of knowing the truth about God is to be seeking the truth above all else. Some people seek peace through acceptance by an established group and some seek to be known as one of the enlightened, as discovers of new things and new ideas about God. They may find these things but it may not be the truth. But we can't judge another person for their beliefs because only God knows whether we are honestly seeking the truth. Sometimes we don't even know what's in our own hearts and may not be fully aware of our own motives.

Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." Not the smartest or most educated, not the most revolutionary thinker, not even the most pure in body or deed. But by the pure at heart, Jesus says God will be seen. That brings all the questions down to a level that is just between you and God, your creator and His creation.

You decide. You take all the information and ideas available and you sift it 'til it's something that makes sense to you. Then you add to it as you go, being willing to modify as more insight is gained. Not too tough.

Belief is the only activity that requires free will.

That's confusing an open mind with being broadminded. Open-mindedness means you will at least look at or try something before you accept or reject it.

Broad-mindedness means that you will accept just about anything.

Words mean something.

How to know what you believe? I suspect it has something to do with seeing how you react to circumstances or how you behave. Like if you believe fire burns you, you will recoil your hand away from flames. If you believe something you act in accordance to what that belief means. The tricky part might be to know what "acting in accordance" means.

Then I think some beliefs show up as something you just "know". When I ask a born again Christian why they believe what they do, they say they just know and feel the holy spirit is with them. If one is trying to believe in something and wondering if it makes sense to believe it, and then tries to act as if they believe it - that is not going to make you believe it (imho). Actually that's what a lot of religious people are doing. Acting as if, but really don't know. There's a name for that kind of worship that eludes me. But it's like going through the motions without having an inner feeling or knowing about what the motions are. Almost like pretending or doing all the right things just in case the beliefs are true.

i want to sincerely thank all of you for responding i didn't expect such powerful response and want you all to know that i am paying attention. now of course i have question but i would like to just take a little time and reflect on what was said here before i ask. 1. so i try to understand what was said and 2. explore those answers in my imagination to see what response i get but once again thank you all very much! to any one else how may want to share their opinion negative or positive please do.