As American president, Donald Trump has irrefutably had a detrimental effect on all fabrics influenced by him: economic, political, diplomatic, military, environmental, societal. Yet this pathological liar is still believed by a loyal following. This extreme example demonstrates a more pervasive point.
Those who still have faith in Trump are those possessing faith in spades: ill-educated Caucasian fundamentalist Christians. They are whites with black hearts. They must be to swallow Trump’s lies and feed on his divisive pandering. Aside from lip service, Trump, who has an extensive track record of betraying what have historically been considered Christian values, has done nothing to deserve such devotion.
More generally, to believe is to put on blinders. After all, belief is faith without fact – trusting in what are only symbolic constructs in the mind, without foundation in actuality.
Belief is the hallmark of spiritual ignorance. Belief is the sine qua non state of being a lick-spittle slave to the mind.
No one with a lick of sense doubts that the mind deceives. We all have had innumerable experiences of our mind playing tricks on us, most punishingly in the form of false worries and fears. Yet fools continue to believe what their minds tell them.
As a practical matter, abandoning belief is essential to being on the path to wisdom. The term enlightenment embodies shedding what is undesirable; belief being chief among them. True spirituality is the epitome of practicality. To enlighten yourself further, read Clarity: The Path Inside.
Source:
Jennifer Rubin, “More bad news for the survival of the Republican Party,” The Washington Post (18 October 2019).