John Lennon in his song “God” makes a list of things he doesn’t believe in to then say to all - he, who was the idol of his time - that he only believed in himself and Yoko.
So here’s my question : do you think that in order to believe in yourself you have to renounce first to all other beliefs?
I beleive that in order to beleive in yourself you must first Love yourself enough to have faith in your beliefs no matter what faith you choose to belive in… You must also love others enough to respect their beliefs and know that we are all just pieces to a beautiful mosaic called “Life”….
Absolutely not. A belief system is a part of who we are, so first denouncing a belief system for the sake of denouncing it or simply to have better self-esteem is ludicrous. It would be equivalent to saying you need to deny that your arm is a part of you.
Having said that, questioning the validity of your belief system is necessary. Self-esteem stems from a profound understanding that who we are and what we are offers value to the world around us. You cannot achieve that understanding without profoundly knowing what is it that you believe (or don’t believe in some instances).
For me, it is interesting that this question comes from this Lennon song. The song, at least for me, represents a profound rebellion of his own fame, a mockery even, not an ego-trip. That is the beauty and sadness of his songs. They are open to incredibly wide interpretations.
Thanks for the question!
Une amie m’a demandé quel était le personnage auquel je m’identifiais le plus dans “La sorcière de Portobello”.
Je lui ai répondu la sorcière.Elle est une,elle est multiple.Pourquoi ne pourrait-il y avoir une et des croyances?sans ordre fixé…
There is no need to renounce other beliefs to believe in ourself. Detached attachment or attached detachment will be enough.
For me, having other beliefs strengthens my belief in myself. When my son was born the weight of the responsibility crashed down on me. I’d thought I was prepared, I had no idea what I was getting into. Looking back I realize I must have been suffering from postpartum depression. But the turning point came when I realized that the baby was not mine, but God’s. That realization gave me the strength to believe in myself and be the parent my son needed.
I think that this is ‘blasphemy’..I am not a narrow minded person, but the first thing that Jesus -who was God- has taught us, was to be humble. He rode the donkey in order to go to Jerusalem.., we all know the story..
Where is John Lennon’s humility?
Of course, to know ‘who’ you are is important, but we must never lose sight of the End of the road.
Love,
Thelma
No, but I do think that believing in yourself is more important than anything else, and perhaps some people find it easier to believe in themselves when they renounce themselves from other beliefs.
No.
One is a composite of so many things.
Of learning, events, thoughts, influences.
Because these are intrinsic, they ARE the “you”- No.
Negate all, and what will be left?
i don’t know which is better: to believe in yourself or to believe in others. if they are exclusive, right now i’m tending towards the latter.
though i guess the latter only comes with the former.
Olá!
Não acho que para acreditar em si mesmo, deva renunciar a todas as outras crenças. Creio que acreditar em si reforça nossa crença em todo o resto, principalmente em Deus!!! Afinal, o exercício da crença é ter fé, e a fé primordial vem de Deus, se temos fé em nossa existência consequentemente temos fé na origem!
Beijos
I think that God its not a man sitting on a cloud ;-)
But I do respect that other people can believe in what they want as long as it leeds to that we don´t harm another person.
But I do believe in a higher consciousness. I can´t find the right word for it ..maybe there are no words for it ;-)
This energy or light is inside and around us.
But are we willing to listening to our inner voice? Sometimes, sometimes not ..somtime our ego try to destroy our faith in love, but that only creates fear which doesn´t lead to any good.
But we are all humans and i believe that we all struggle
with our own “demons”.
We are all one in a sense. Where do we self end, and another person begin?
I think that we all have to believe in our self (our inner voice) in one way, but you cannot exclude the rest of the world ..because it´s a part of you also.
Love Jessica
Hello Mr. Coelho:
I would have to say the answer to your question is, no. Believing in yourself is the result of acknowledging and accepting all the other beliefs in your life. The end result of having those beliefs or morals or faiths tested is the person you see in the mirror. And I believe a person gains greater confidence in themselves AFTER being tested and proven worthy of those foundational elements that make up who they are.
Great question!
Dear Paulo,
I love The Beatles but it is complete nonsense !
John Lennon might have been one of the idols of his time but mostly because of The Beatles. Idol of his time, like Bob Dylan or Mick Jager, with his early and violent death, he reached further then alive.
It does not matter if you believe in God, Higher Conscious, Mother Nature or that algebra’s 2 + 2 makes 4….to believe in yourself !
So my answer to your question is : Definitely not !
Love and self-esteem are essential and respect for others.
With love,
Luce
No. You don’t have to denounce all your othr beliefs in order to belive in yourself as long as they’re not in contradiction with each other.
Beliving in yourself (for me) has nothing to do in your other beliefs because you sometimes get ste=rength for your beliefs in order to gain self confidence.
Belief in our life force and ourselves goes hand in hand and need each other….kind of “source and expression”
hahaha,
this morning I asked myself this question as i was pondering the thought of renouncing everything that I have put a label on. But I found it hard to drop my belief in Christ, in Love…. My heart told me that I believed in those things because I am apart they are apart of all that i am made including this thing called Universe. So of course I asked God, would you be upset with me if I decided to try this out (trying to drop everything that I have learned through conditon and start from scratch)? Then of course I got this FEAR that appeared instantly saying “of oh my would I have to learn everything over and started like a baby I will get hurt bruised become dumb”. Ok i feel like i’m rambling. I haven’t a clue what the answer is but I’m sure if I renounced my belief so i could find belief in myself I would find belief in others later…
John Lennon had some great songs but also a huge ego which attracted his tragic end. If he believed in himself so much and in Yoko, how come he wasn’t able to protect himself, if he was “God” like… This is a proof of a great pride in the negative sense of the word.
I have an ex-colleague who always used to believe that it is O.K. to offend people, especially when you are right, to yell at them in order to feel superior. Anyway, any kind of complex, of superiority or inferiority comes from fear. Now I met her again, saying that she had severe problems with her stomach, that she was stressed, people avoiding her and all that. I asked her whether she changed her mind about her attitude towards others. To my amazement, she admitted that she realized that it is not O.K. to make people feel bad, to offend them, even when they are wrong or when they don’t have the same opinions like yourself and she had health problems because of that.
So, in order to respect yourself, you should respect others too because they are your reflections. I believe in God first of all, then in myself and others. You should have the three of them fulfilled, it’s an ecuation and its elements go together.
Even if people treated me like a fool sometimes, I still believe in the power of good and I will always believe because this way I feel that I believe in myself, the true Self, the Light of the Spirit, unconditional, eternal, Love.
Lots of hugs and appreciation,
Carmen Larisa
It still based on the same principle whether he believes in God or himself: Faith. I don’t know what John was smoking…
No, I don’t think so, but it is said that we could reach a state where belief is unecessary when you are yourself.
I think it is important to question all beliefs, especially within ourselves. Was the belief fed to us, and we bought it without thought? In other words, did we consciously choose to believe this or that?
I had a husband who told me one day that he hated cats. I asked him why? He then repeated what every one says who doesn’t like cats. I asked if he’d ever had a cat. He told me no. Then how did he know he did or did not like them? He finally admitted that he didn’t like them because his father never liked them. It was his father who said all those things about cats. This man liked to believe he was independent of his parent’s beliefs. That he was his own man. I asked him if he’d like to try having a cat so he could decide for himself. What could he do but say yes? He was caught between 2 belief systems! So I brought a cat into the house. He found he enjoyed them immensely. In fact, when our relationship came to an end, he asked if he could keep the cats!
Who is it that decides what I believe in or don’t? Me! So perhaps that is all John is saying. Perhaps it’s not a question of believing in myself, or anything else. Perhaps it’s a matter of listening to myself instead, and trusting the answer I find there. And if I don’t know, like my ex husband with cats, I will hopefully have the courage to be open to a new experience to find out what I believe.
No, no hay que renunciar a las creencias pero aveces creemos en todo eso y no en nosotros mismos.
Es precioso que su amor por Yoko esté por encima de todas las creencias quizás sea por que el amor le hace sentirse fuerte, único y pleno, esa es la energía del amor.
Un beso Paulo y Feliz Cumpleaños.
No, sometimes we can actually FIND ourselves through our beliefs. But, I do think it is important to remember that, other peoples beliefs or truths are not ours. The path to truth can be found anywhere or experienced anyway. We just have to find it and experience it for ourselves.
I guess it depends on what you believe. If you believe in routine and habit, I mean, if you believe that it can bring you happiness - you have to put these beliefes off.
But believing in love, in beauty, in the Creator, the beauty of creation - how could that disturb believing in yourself? Believe that you were created to do something in your life and you automatically believe in yourself.
I love this song.
When we would listen to the sound of each believe we could hear the silence of all coming from the same source…
So what’s believe without being the source?
We can keep on dreaming in every believe that we choose for…but after all we are one.
love
All Ways
Hildegarde
I agree with some of these comments here -but for me I believe in God first and foremost ,and seeing the father and I are one - that means I believe in myself too .I also respect others beliefs, plus I also love and believe in all of Gods childrens .And all we need is —-just to be …Blessings Tania
bo0om paulo,
the first true words that resonated in my mind was Imagine,
that was pure weed indeed Healer, its a warning of what is happening today.
why are we behaving so much anti ourselves ?
for who ??
for what ???
the world today feels so crazy,
a shiver runs down my spine,
and this constant pain of sadness,
of what we can be and are,
and of what we are now in the moment.
bo0om
fLUXman
I agree with all the responses so far. Yoko probably wrote this! No. Kidding. If I remember correctly, John Lennon also said at one time about the Beatles; “We are more popular than Jesus now”, which outraged a lot of religious people. To me, I love John Lennon, and his songs, and as an artist, I cut him a lot of slack, and my impression is, he always has a little smile behind his controversial opinions. To me, John Lennon and Yoko believed in peace and love, and what they tried to say was, all that people believe in, it isn’t representing good enough peace and love. We need to do better. In this song, he sounds pretty convinced that he and Yoko had found something better than what everybody believe in. And may be they did?
Of course I don’t believe literally, that John Lennon mean every word in this song. He is trying to provoke, wake people up, we have to do better. To me, John Lennon is a martyr. He stood for peace and love, and was brutally shot down and killed.
Now. Do I think to believe in myself I have to renounce other beliefs. No. I will turn it upside down. Unless I have other beliefs, I will not be able to believe in myself. I see newborn, babies and toddlers in interaction with their parents all the time. There is no way those little children would learn anything about peace and love, unless that mother and father started to interact with them, attach and bond with them. So, in the beginning is; other beliefs.
However, to believe in yourself, to become an individual person, I agree with John Lennon, one have to renounce other beliefs. Have you heard about “the Terrible Two’s”? It is exactly what those young children do, to tell everybody, I want to do peace and love in my way. Also as adults, we have to separate ourselves from everybody/everything else, to develop our very own personality. I do not believe John Lennon means to hate the Bible, Hitler, Jesus, Kennedy’s, Buddha, Yoga, Kings, Elvis. He was just critical to a system suppressing the individual freedom.
Eu acho que a gente tem que acreditar no faz com Amor e com quem vive o Amor, no caso que ele sempre exaltou e Amou muito a mulher dele, mas não precisava ser tão radical quanto ao que ele achava “resto”. Mesmo porque as pessoas que ele cita também marcaram presença na vida e na mente dele, a ponto equivalentes, da comparação do comentário.
Mas…cada um é cada um…
Beijos,
Mari Raphael.
I think John L. was alittle high on himself, I def. think some humility was in order
There is a level of truth to this statement if perceived from the precept of recognizing and understanding one’s subconscious. The only time you will achieve ultimate pure clarity and be able to know yourself is to denounce all preexisting beliefs. This is the only way to truly and fully achieve enough consciousness to believe IN yourself , BE yourself and truthfully liberate your mind. There is a difference in understanding, respecting, appreciating other beliefs and simply Believing. So yes I agree that to truly believe in yourself you must denounce other beliefs. Ever heard “to know god you must know me”?
Ok I forgot something…I believe youu need both…
No, not at all!!!
Si es correcto…conocete primero a ti mismo, si aprendes a controlar tus pensamientos nunca necesitarás ayuda…todo es un invento que ha sido formado para darle sabor, color, sentido y adrenalina a nuestras vidas…vivimos mas en un sueño que en la realidad…actuamos como simios..la creatividad esta cada vez mas inexistente en nuestras vidas….todo este ruido que nos programa para actuar y pensar de una determinada forma, porque es de esta forma como nos sentimos confortables, todo es acerca de como nos sintamos…todos estamos leyendo a Paulo Coelho, para buscar una respuesta a todos estos ruidos…esta es la respuesta…Live is a dream…
There is a context for this lament: Lennon´s doubts about a decadent system using powerfull symbols for masses domination. I´m a catholic, but there are priests abusing children; there are banks at El Vaticano, meanwhile millions of people around the world are starving.
Is Jesus guilty for this decadent system? Absolutely Not!
If Lennon blames Jesus is because Jesus is the only One there.
Yes, without believing in God there’s no…you; there’s no light around you and inside you.
“I’m the Light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12
love
Agnieszka
Absolutely you must be open to the idea that all you have been taught is based on myth and superstition,, How vein to believe that YOU had been chosen to be taught…. the Ultimate Truth,, I believe you must break free some how and free your mind enough to know that if there ever was a creator we are what we are because of him,,,, warts,,, questions ,, denial and all…
but this is only the beginning of understanding the amazing mystical thing that is conciousness…
Sorry excuse me…. or HER!!!:)
Of course not.
Paulo,
Parabéns!!!
Que Deus continue te dando inspiração para nos dar prazer em ler seus livros.Saúde e Paz.
Mônica
I believe that God is faith…
We just have to have passion for whatever we do in this
wonderful world and always keep in mind to come back to the present
moment and enjoy a great cup of coffee or tea…
Amor y Paz para todo el universo…:)
I am sorry, but either I don’t understand the question, or I don’t believe in myself. The one and only thing about myself I totally, undoubtedly believe is that I exist. And there ends it.
Everything else, is a story, an illusion, a time-pass.
One story I do like about myself is that I am a screw. In a big machine. Which basically means that a screw does what it is supposed to do. Not, what it wants to do. It cannot unscrew itself, it cannot pull itself together, it cannot ask questions, ‘why am I a screw, and not the whole machine?’
When my guru, Shri Ramesh Balsekar, told me that I am a screw, yes, I had to disregard all my other beliefs : an un-obedient daughter, a sexy girl, a writer, a film maker, a soul, etc, etc, that this world had loaded me with.
How does one understand about ‘believe’ if not for what they reflect from others. Surely Lennon must have seen believe somewhere in order for him to believe in ‘believe’.
Can we survive without believing in anything but yourself? You believe in yourself but not to others?
I respect Lennon’s and others decision to believe only in themselves. But I chose to believe in God, magic, miracle, people and myself. It’s too lonely to do it yourself.
Dear Paulo,
I can honestly, say that yes, I believe in myselftoday. And it hasn’t come easy- so many losses, so many doubts, so much heart-break , pain and guilt along the way. It’s not like the Scriptures don’t quote that but to be able to realise what self-belief really means, well, I think my suffering was needed.If we could just obey and follow all that has already been written, understand that so many greats have already walked the path before and learn from their wisdom, all would be so easy. But that never is the case, and definitely not my experience.
And, when the understanding comes, it feels really good inside.That there is you and there are others and it is the same God who made us all but allowed us to understand Him and ourselves in our own way and in our own time.
Hugs,
sheela
India.
in order to believe in ones self i think one has to embrace all the manifestations possible of the higher being and accept that the universe works in mysterious ways and with this basis, let go of control, have no expectations and love unconditionally following the signs along the path. true belief of one self is only found in the knowledge that we are perfect beings with all possibility, potentiality and infinite love. accepting all beliefs ones and everyone elses, as to collect tools to fulfillment.
May be so. In order to believe in yourself, you simply have to empty yourself. free man. love
God is in everything and everything is in the God. Denying to believe in yourself is to deny to believe in God (you reject His creation). Denying to believe in God is to deny to believe in yourself being a God’s creature. The Atom is part of the molecules of your body. Will the Atom deny your existence? Or will he proclaim him self being you? If you don’t believe in the God’s existence so you in the most cases believe in something else, outside you - the Nature, the Chance etc, so you believe in a Major Force that you just don’t want to call God. Denying everything outside you and really believing in yourself forces you to take care you obvious cant resolve. And after all, Lennon couldn’t save himself from the bullet or we should admit he made everything that way by his own will?
As others have said our beliefs are part of our identity so we don’t need to renounce them, it would be like renouncing ourselves.I have heard people saying they don’t believe in God they don’t believe in anything..If they are telling the truth I admire them because I can not think of myself not believing in anything.I would be sad and desperate.For me it’s a need and a consolation.It gives me strength to believe in something superior or in a value..Personally,I started to believe in God when I desperately needed to believe in something..
Love,
Lia
I believe in my potential. I believe that if I develop in m mind universal compassion and love I will change the world into pure land but that implies that I believe in good qualities of compassion and love and that I believe that pure land is possible.
I tend to think that for most people to renounce is much more easiser than to accept, though it depends on many factors certainly..but just imagine, it’s way more simple to ignore something than to love it, to take care of it, to protect and support not only the subject of admiration but also your belief in it, as it’s clear that sometimes we face the lack of faith that we have to deal with. It’s humain, it’s natural.
Anyway, I’d say that a person should be enormously brave and strong inside to accept noy only himself, but the unity of what surrounds him.
- Todo es Nada. Nada es Todo.
- La vida no es un juego; “cuidado”
- La Fé mueve montañas.
I think it’s really important to remember that the person who wrote this song had been elevated by society to the status of “godhood” for him it was absolutely necessary to separate himself from the external views of other mythical (ie: humans or systems that have a subjective charge). As a human he needed to do this as well as remind his listeners of this. Most humans do not need this level of ego anniellation(sp) as they never achieve that level of almost universal acclaim. For many of us the first steps at least are accomplished with the aid of a connection to something or someone we perceive “greater” than ourselves.
Buenos dias desde Grecia…!
A very good question, which yes it may be considered as debatable…
not due to the fact that John Lennon said it, but it is a fact. Many people who dont have the inner stength of admitting their beliefs and who they are in general, feel lonely and depressed. Usually, they tend to oppose every option which is contrary to theirs.
Someone who admits his beliefs,[religious,humanitarian,political and even sexual],for me, is considered as a hero. Because not only he dares but also he decides to live life…
Even though, sometimes its hard to announce some beliefs, that does not mean they must not believe in themselves..
From personal experience if you dont accept yourself and feel confident about your decisions then, even if u say ur beliefs worldwide, you shall still feel lonely and empty.
words and thoughts, are linked very easily. You may say something because you might have thought about it, but you cannot think if you dont say something..
Quite confusing the previous quote.But its true. You may speak out and talk about everything, but if u dont feel it and say it just to be heard then inner darkness comes and we feel lonely.
so, to conclude, since its been a long response.
Yes, you must feel in yourself, not only to admmit something or to state your beliefs, but because like that you will know thats your decision and you feel good with your personality. In order to live life i think its vital to know who YOU are, and once we feel like this we shall be the winners :)
With respect,
Juan
Greece
The idea of “believing in oneself” to me primarily denotes confidence. “Belief” in a religious/spirituality context suggests doctrine, whether mainstream or alternative.
To me, the two appear independent: there are both self confident and underconfident atheists and theists.
Dear leafytunes, you said it all, it is as simple as that, Love, Paul
(if you don’t love & believe in yourself, you can’t expect others to love & believe in you - and so on - it’s a circle of love & belief)
i love john lennon songs is because of the truth and his honest.
well i guess he just mad with the killing in the name of god,killing in the name of pride,killing in the name of love, killing in the name of power.
When you believe in yourself it means you automaticly believe in Universe, in God, in Love and everything in this world,because you are part of this planet, where we the people live.
what goes around, comes around and this is love, what we call -believing….
Irina
“So here’s my question : do you think that in order to believe in yourself you have to renounce first to all other beliefs?”
Believing is difficult and belief in one thing is probably never independent to itself. In order say “I believe in God”, you have to assume that “I” means something even if you don’t believe that “I” is important outside of the “God” concept.
Some people find faith in self through faith in something else: “Without God I am nothing.” Others find faith in self through denouncing faith in outside forces: “No higher power exists, so I must take responsibility for my own life.” Depending on one’s individual inclinations, s/he might argue that one path is more fulfilling or more true to “ultimate reality”, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be one way or the other.
It feels to me, however, that belief is the key to the equation and not so much the object of that belief. Belief is where the true power lies.
Thank you for the guidance you give in your books,
Scott
i think you don’t. I think believing in yourself means that you have accept yourself in every way, as an individual, as part of the human kind but most of all as part of god’s plan and accepting that your life has a proposal as we were created as his image…
A fé normalmente vem atrelada à idéia de divindade. E acreditar em si mesmo é uma espécie de endeusamento do ego…tenho meus conflitos particulares quanto a isso: Quando tenho uma crença absoluta em mim penso estar afrontando a Deus. Então me volto para Ele, suspirando perdões. Nem sempre há otimismo nos resultados de tais embates, frequentemente sinto que Deus apenas observa. É uma espécie de abandono, um tipo de espera. Não justifica a minha certa indolência, mas quem tem cicatrizes demais conhece melhor a dor dos golpes da vida. E se até mesmo Jesus duvidou (”Pai, Por que me abandonastes?”), eu me vejo no direito de retornar ao ciclo vicioso de fé-própria e culpa. De repente, Deus se compadece. Ele já se compadeceu uma vez. Estou esperando o próximo milagre.
bo0om paulo,
feel a glow deep in my heart 0->
we must always remember…
that we belong to the universal vibration___
and not we who own it …
love you all,,,my friends…
every word another sound of forever___
bo0om
fLUXman
But what is wrong in believing only in oneself……if God exists in all the grains of sand and every dewdrop, doesn’t believing in my own self mean that I believe in God ??
Love
M
I believe that we must first realize that life is a series of fleeting moments in reality. Once one understands that, one is able to realize that blank pages or an infinite universe exists. Then one must take into account history/herstory that have filled the pages of the universe prior to ones initial epiphany that, blank pages exist. In understanding the “book” up until the present moment one is able to recognize ones “self” as a possible author. So my answer is, no you do not have to renounce ones beliefs in order to believe in oneself. I believe that one must come to the understanding in the infinite beliefs so that one can understand where in the universe one stands so that one can understand the potential in the world. Optimistic I know.
To be able to believe in yourself, u must first of all believe in dreams, wishes, fairy tales…and God.
It would be too childish to say that the only thing you believe in is urself.
I don’t think so because those beliefs make me who I am. They construct my identity.
Shall we understand belief as “doctrine?” A set of propositions or commandments or laws to adhere to? Then one has to renounce on set of beliefs in order to hold others or they have to find a way to integrate them in order to avoid the void of contradiction.
However, if we understand “belief” from a Biblical perspective then we are referring to a way of living. The God of Jesus and the prophets was concerned with a new heart expressed in a new way of living. New meaning different from ways that are destructive and chaotic. In this way of “belief” there really is not need to renounce God in order to affirm my personhood. God seems to be wanting us to find the person and way of living that God created us to have in order to live in a peaceable kingdom with one another and to be able to reconcile with one another after conflicts.
But then it is harder and not as interesting to argue over a way of living than it is over a set of doctrines. A way of living is a witness of my experience. A set of doctrine is a way to decide who is right and who is wrong.
I dont even know the meanig of believing in myself. I am the action of believing in myself and i dont need to comprehend the actions that i do to do them. What its worth is to believe in reality not me because i am just a word.
I dont think that you have to not believe in everything to believe in yourself. I do however believe that you must first believe in yourself to be able to accept everyone elses beliefs and allow yourself to be present to yourself by having beliefs of your own even if no one else believes the same things. “the truth doesnt need anyones help to be true, it simply is” We are that truth.
Não mesmo, all comes together.
Believing yourself comes first and then all other believes follow.
If you believe that an apple is an apple and not poison given by a satanic snake in order to make paradise, the garden of eden fall, apple is just an apple.
I believe in truth, in Jesus, in Mary, in Buda, in Oxala, in Xango, in Ogun,in Oxum, in Iansa, in Oxossi, in Iemanjá and little tricky Exu.
I dont know what paradise was or the garden of eden but i know that apples continue to grow in this planet. Also doctors have not yet found a way , poison or remedy to cure a simple cold. But an apple a day keep the doctors away.
(last time I came here to write I was feeling lonely and boba and wrote loads of besteiras, desculpe)
I don’t see a connection between believing in oneself and renouncing other beliefs.
In order to live in harmony with one self one should accept each person as a hole with all there history and beliefs as long as they don’t cause harm to other creature.
a person has all the right to think , act and live in the way that make him or her happy and balanced.
Nour.
I think is a mistake,because we have to relate ourselves to something that is outside us.Is strange,and hard for me to understand him,Is that idea an effect of using drogs?
I agree relligion is a most personal thing,but how poor would be our life without religion,magic,things that can raise our consciousness above to animals.I dont blame religion for the mistakes of men,if it is used for other means,that is not a reason for not believing in God.Me,I believe,and I have good reason for it,hope everybody could see the beauty of a pure Faith,the approach of The Guardian Angel,feel that is not alone in this Universe.Maybe Lenon was trying to say that he and Yoko were forming an perfect world togheter,completing each other so well,that they need nothing more.So,they represented Love in itself,the greatest treasure in the world.In that way,I can understand.
I think the words or sense of this Lennon´s song was not about denying values we believe in or, on the contrary, fight against but about expressing how deep his feelings to YOKO are. I mean all he wanted to say was: Everything in my life is something I can put into a question or think and rethink about it again and again, but I am never unsure about my love to the woman of my life. For me, this song is about love, commitment and hope. It is about the power of love which transcends everyting. And believing in you and your soulmate create the love and understending for the others. And also, creates a hope and faith. By this provocative lyrics he only wanted to alarm his listeners and made them polemising and thinking. In fact,his words should be understood in a very opposite way. By questiong the things we take for granted by living our lives we express how deep our faith in life (and every single part of it) is. And also the power of our mind to be so strong to give an answer. The only beleiving one is for me the one who is not afraid to ask.
What is the self? In our infinite selves are we separate from that which we call God, from the earth, from creation?
What is a belief? Is it a a core inner knowing that leads to a deep and joyous experience of life or is it a mental construct?
When are our beliefs merely a result of programming and how do we tell which are which? Is what we believe truly ours or is it someone else’s that we have merely adopted?
If these are what John Lennon was talking about then yes I let all those beliefs defined by others go in order to make my own relationship with God, creation and this world. How else can I be authentic and true to myself? And if I cannot be authentic and true to msyelf how can I be authentic and true to anyone else - including God?
Love and blessings
Rebecca
the love for yoko aswell as for himself, are together as one, which is a direct connection to God, no matter which way you try, as long as you walk in love, you walk on the path of God anyway…
Certainly not.
Believing in oneself does not necessarily constitute to the rejection of other such believes. Simply due to the fact that as long as there is no presence of contradiction and irony, it is perfectly ideal and acceptable to have different believes.
Believes should be fostered and crafted into a “personal mix” which contains various believes that the person himself holds value and believe in.
It is thus ideal to be open to different believes as well was various fields of exposure.
Cheers,
Kenji
no.
the only thing is that you must love yourself before you believe in yourself.
My short answer is no, it depends of what is going on. The important this old saying ” To thy one self be true”.
My longer answer is I think that at certain times in life it´s a complete necessity to be willing to let go of all beliefs that we´ve been taught from our family, upbringing, cultural moral codex, even what we ourselves have lived by up till then…if it´s so that a call from deep inside our selves is telling us to let go of every belief we´ve held as an authority in our lives until then and surrender to a deeper level inside ourselves. I believe Jung called this individuation which is trully standing on our own two feet and being grown up on an inner level.
This I believe also opens up to our own access to the depth and vastness of our inner nature. And this allows for our direct experience with the spiritual part of our nature and for us to find our own guiding star from within. From here on it becomes increasingly real for us that intuition is teaching from inside - there is a level of our consciousness that teaches us about our own steps more and more clearly.
At other times in life it´s a blessing to find and bask in a way to hold beliefs or a spiritual path that is so in line with our own nature, that this particular spiritual path describes steps - taken by many others before us - that are natural and necessary for our own spiritual unfoldment to happen safely. At such times our willingness to surrender to the wisdom of a teachers or a teaching´s advice can be the step that can open up for completely new expereince of life and of ourselves in life.
And about renunciation it´s my experience that our personality can have all kinds of reactions towards whatever we´re renunciating. Our body or our emotions or our thoughts react to whatever these parts of us see as a loss in the renunciation. But if we´re detirmned about whatever we´ve decided to renunciate and complete the process we end up experiencing that we did not loose anything whatsoever. But opened up a level of experience that otherwise would have remained out of our reach were we not willing “to pay the price of renunciation” - that is let go when it´s the right time to let go even if it felt like or seemed a loss.
John Lennon obviously needed to be very clear about his beliefs at that time with this song.
Somewhere else he said: .. “the answer is love and you know that is true… ”
In my eyes he was a visionary and a poet pioneer that reached a global audience thru Beatle´s music in the “Make Love Not War” generation.
Now it´s “Be Love Not War” that´s a question posed to us….
I think you can believe in yourself only if first you believe in the world (the contrary of what John Lennon said).
In fact I think that the world is bigger than me and I’m a part of it. What can I be if I’m a part of nothing?.. A part of a big lie?.. if thy’re unreal why am I thinking?..
No I believe the only logical and true answer is: first believe in the world; try to feel yourself as a part of something good, positive, real, and then see what you can do according to your goals.
have a nice day
No, I strongly believe that you do not have to renounce all other beleifs to believe in yourself. In fact, I think that the beliefs you have help to shape the belief you have in yourself.
Oh! My GOD! Blood of JESUS have POWER.
I think The Beatles make a big mistake when write this music.
Jhon Lennon lost your life when was yanger yet.
He don´t have life after your murdered.
He is dead. He will be the second…murdered…your spirit is dead.
GOD BLASS YOU MY DEAR PAULO COELHO.
I am not my body. I am not my thoughts, perceptions and beliefs. I am not my feelings or my consciousness. I don’t need to renounce my beliefs or my thoughts. I simply need to recognise that they are transient and emphemeral and do not form the substance of the I that I am.
I think that one thing carries the others, and there is no a exact order. Some times we are alone in the darkness and we need to believe in ourselfs first, but if we loose the others beliefs we are going to loose the pathways of leaving that bad situation and We will stay there forever. So, the believe in ourselfs depends of other beliefs, then, they are all together at the same web. Therefore, my answer is NO.
si es cierto esta vida es un sueño por eso buscamos respuestas en libros, en religiones, en idolos para darle una explicación a todo lo que nos sucede, pero dentro de este sueño tambien existe una realidad, que es creer en nosotros ante todo y como john lo dice: en el amor, y si creemos firmemente en eso ,no sera suficiente para seguir……………
saludos!
One can only beleive in oneself. Everything else in life is static and rapidly changing. External. It can only take a moment for an outside influence to shatter a belief or expose a flaw in it. Be it another person who betrays you or a religious beleif which no longer provides solace. Internally, we too are static and are changing rapidly, but every new thought becomes one with who we are before we even know it. Sometimes we don’t even know it has happened and think we’ve always had this belief. So it is only yourself that you can beleive in, as your beleifs are woven into the fabric of your soul.
Perhaps believing in yourself is the first step in believing something beyond. When time becomes irrelevant, when I am fully in the moment, that is when I feel spiritual. To achieve this state of being I must first strip away the egoic assumptions and historic labels that clutter my spirit and thought. For me, it is only when the slate is blank that I can begin to contemplate my place in the universe.
still need some smart person’s advice. Please send this out to all your contacts.
My Journey
By Gabriel do Amaral
Hi my name is Gabriel do Amaral and this is my story. First I want to tell you about myself. I was born in Sao Paulo Brazil on November 21, 1987. I came to Canada when I was six, right after a big storm in February 1994. I have only one younger brother who is 12 years old. I live with my mother and father in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. First and foremost I need/want to say thank you to God and then to my family because like my God and Saviour they have not left my side. I don’t want you to just delete this because this is NOT another chain letter. I put my heart and soul into this, not to mention I can only type with only one finger now. I DO want you though to send me an email to gabeaquinodoa@hotmail.com, I need you to tell me your location, if you know me, and if you’ve heard my story before also you can tell me if my story has affected you somehow. I’m just a bit curious to know where this email has gone to. I can’t say I’ve ever had trail mix thrown on me in the shower or been caught in an elevator LOL. But I can say my story is a bit interesting. I tried to separate by paragraph the different hospitals I was in, so that’s why they are so long.
It all started for me on Nov. 12, 2006. I was all ready to go on my five month vacation to Brazil which was on Nov. 30, 2006. I had done one full year of Forensic Science at UOIT, but I took a year off to do drywall and grow up. If you know me I wasn’t living my life the way I should have been living it. So I’m almost 127% sure God used this to change my life. If I continued in this lifestyle I’m also 127% sure I would up have ended up totally doomed. I really don’t want to go into how messed up my life was. So I was out with some friends, watching a movie, usually I was up to no good, but I decided to go home because I was feeling tired after a weekend of partying. I had to lie to my friends and say I wasn’t feeling good. You would understand if you knew how convincing Bryan Curtis is with his high pitched “Come on…” So my buddy Alex Brown gave me a ride home. He had left his home, so the last thing I told him face to face was that a 17 year old shouldn’t leave home.
I went down to my basement and I found my father and little brother. I asked what was for dinner and said I was going to shower. After I took a shower I had dinner and that’s when it all started. After I finished eating I started to feel sick to my stomach, so I got a big cup of water. I drank some of my water but I still started to throw up. The funny thing was I only threw up the water I drank and not the food. My vision began to go fuzzy and I threw up again. I don’t really remember much after this, but my parents have filled me in. As some of you might know, my father was a military nurse, you would think that this would help in a situation like this, but after I passed out he blanked and just screamed, “My Son, My Son!” over and over again. I thought I was in bed figuring out a lot of the things that were wrong in my life, but I was actually in the hospital between life and death.
First they took me to Lakeridge health in Oshawa. The doctor who was working on me decided to do a CT scan (I had a nipple piercing on my left side, a nurse took it off and it was never but back in. So now I have a scar there because it closed up). The doctors saw a giant haemorrhage in my brain, but they couldn’t do anything there so they sent me to Toronto Western via ambulance. I was later told that I had an A.V.M (artery vein malformation, only one in 100.000 get this and the chances of survival is 2%). I don’t really know exactly what this means, but I know that my artery and vein were twisted and my blood pressure went through the roof and they exploded. I never had any signs of this. If any of you know me I was VERY athletic. I did many things like snowboarding, skateboarding, played soccer, and MANY other things. I arrived at the hospital and an operating team was ready for my arrival. Before anything Pastor Putt was there to anoint me. The first thing the operating team did was clean off all the blood that had pooled in my skull from the haemorrhage. The doctors said I was in a very serious and critical condition. Then they put a drain in my skull to releave the ICP (Inter cranial pressure) that was present from the massive bleed. I wasn’t in a coma for any amount of time, but I was induced into a coma for three weeks. They gave me some medicine to induce me into the coma. The doctors also hooked me up to a cooling machine where my blood was cooled from 36 or 37 degrees Celsius to 32 degrees. This was done so there would be little activity in my brain. There was a small incision made around my right knee area, so the cooling machine could be connected.