Do you ever feel like you don't know what to believe?

I think to start on this topic, we have to know what a base belief is, and how to find it or strengthen it if you aren't sure if you have one. I think to be a strong, confidant person, you need a base belief, or beliefs. A base belief is the base or the root of your very soul. It helps you to know what you even believe. It determines how you react to any situation you may encounter. It is what we go to when we have to respond to a theory against our base belief. Say, religion for instance. If you have a base belief in your religion, it wont be easy to convince you otherwise without changing that base belief. Sadly, not a lot of people these days even have a base belief. Why?

Peer-Pressure

There is so much peer-pressure that so many, don't even know who or what they are following. Everyone wants to fit in, and be with the popular crowd so much that they adjust the way they act and respond to other people without even realizing it sometimes. Everyone wants to feel like they are a part of the group or feel included. This sounds like the story "The Emperor's New Clothes." In this story, the King is very vain and loves new clothes. His favorite thing to do is go in his dressing rooms and change and then parade off his clothes in public. He holds parades often to show of his newest fanciest clothes. When these two men come into town claiming to be tailors, (the greatest in the land) the king has them brought to his court and they make him promises of creating the greatest robes of all time, robes that are invisible to anyone that is not worthy for their job or pure of heart. The King hires them and they start immediately, pretending to weave the invisible magical cloth.

When the King asks how his new outfit is coming the royals can't see the cloth, but don't want to seem unfit for their jobs or impure of heart, so they pretend that they can see it and exclaim over to the King. When it is delivered to him, the King does not see it and thinks, "Oh no! I can't see it. I must not be suited for the Kingship." He pretends that he can see it and parades in public in his "magical robes." None of the villagers can see it either, but they heard that the robes are invisible to anyone impure of heart so they awe over the nothingness. It takes a little boy in the crowd saying "But, he's not wearing anything!" for everybody to wake up and be like "Children, of all, are pure of heart and he doesn't see it either." Everyone realizes how foolish they were acting, while the "tailors" made away with all the wealth and materials used in "making the outfit." The point was that they all ended up looking bad because they were trying to be included in the group of people that looked good, because they thought everyone else actually saw it and didn't want to look stupid, unfit for their job, impure. It took the innocence of a child to show them how ridiculous they were being.

The tailors basically represent somebody trying to sell something that they don't care whether it actually helps you or not. Whether it be religion or a hair product, they are often in it for themselves.

Searching for the Truth and the Facts

I do not think everyone without a base belief go around like Zombies just doing what everyone else is doing, wanting to fit in. I think everyone at least some point in their life, wants to know the truth. They don't understand what is going on and they want to find out. They don't know what they believe, so they go around, looking for someone who does. When they find someone who sounds knowledgeable on what they are talking about, is someone they respect, or is someone of authority, they borrow from that persons beliefs, and add it to their collections of beliefs. Having a collection of miscellaneous beliefs is not the way to a strong, confidant belief base. It is a good start to go out and look for the facts, though. In my experience, if I search for truth, I will find it. If I don't care about the actual truth, and just care about what is in it for me, or is what i want to find, I won't find the truth. I have to be want to know the truth.

How do we separate the truth from the words of "Tailors?"

There are always going to be people out there that will try to tell you what to believe and what they think is accurate, and they will try to convince you that your perception of reality is false. If you have a strong base belief, challenge it with your knowledge on the topic? With the Bible for example, if someone is telling you something that isn't necessarily in the Bible, but is maybe a conclusion they came to, don't just take their word on it because they seem like someone who knows what they are talking about. Most importantly, test it with what is in the Bible and what God says. This is your most powerful and useful tool when someone challenges your base belief. And then, test it also against what other people say. Ask the opinion of someone else you look up to. Take it to a spiritual or thought provoking leader. Maybe your father, or your mother or a church pastor. Someone you respect as a second voice. If that all matches up, and it lines up with the bible, then I would say that is something wise to base other opinions and beliefs on.

Find out what you believe

I'm serious. Do some research on our own. Come up with your own opinion. Cross reference as many sources as you can. So if someone asks you your opinion, you can give it and know that you are saying what you believe. You can tell them all the research you did and looking into the topic you have done. Then it is up the them to either take your word and research for it or go and do some research of their own.

Possibility of sending someone in the wrong direction

Don't ever tell someone that you have all the facts. It is up to them to decide what they choose to believe. If you don't give them the truth, or if you give your opinion as truth, and they aren't sure what they believe, you could have just given them a basis for their beliefs. If you haven't done your research to the best of your ability, it may be better to not say anything at all. If you do say something, only give what you do know. Give it only as your opinion or as far researched as you have gone.

I wanna say, there are almost no times that you can say "I know all the current facts on this topic." I was talking to my father about this article and he gave me some very wise insight. He said "You never want to tell someone that you have all the facts, because we don't. The only time that we have the authority to say we have all the facts is when we are the Author. Only the Author can say what is known till that point. Like with the first human sized plane. Who would you go to for questions about flight? In that day, you would go to Wilbur and Orville Wright. They were the authors of mechanical flight. They knew everything till that point about mechanical flight. They invented it. They created the engines and the plans and they actually built it. Today, we have power plants and more advanced technology for flight, but at that time, they had all the facts on it." They could go to anybody and say "I know all about this, I built the first one."

The only one who knows everything about everything, is the author of everything. He is the Author of the Idea, He is the Creator of the plans, He is the Mechanic who built the parts, and He is the Builder of it all. He is the only one who can tell you everything till this point, at this point, and what the end will look like. He is God.

Thank you for reading!