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From the movie, “Second Hand Lions”: Quote:“If you want to believe in something, then believe in it. Just because something isn’t true, there’s no reason you can’t believe in it. Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most: that people are basically good; that honor, courage and virtue mean everything; that power and money mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; that true love never dies. It doesn’t matter if they are true or not. A man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.”
I really love this, Ray. It speaks deeply to my humanistic side. Belief should always move us forward both individually and as a group of humanity. Hence, love God (self) and love neighbor (humanity) seems like a pure belief that is “good” and “true”. I really like this too…but I guess I would qualify it somewhat. I can believe in something that I want to be true if the idea or the principle is a good concept and something we can strive for, even if it isn’t true that it always happens. But I don’t think I can believe in something that is false just because I want to and that will lead to good results. For example,
Quote:that good always triumphs over evil; that true love never dies.
I have to be careful not to build up literal interpretations that lead to unrealistic expectations and then frustration or disappointment or dissonance. But I can stay optimistic, and believe that while love will sometimes ebb and flow…if I put forth effort to love someone, it won’t die completely. Although bad things will happen to good people, and evil people will sometimes get away with things…eventually living a virtuous and good life will in general leave to greater opportunities for happiness in this life or the next.
But a lie, even if I believe it with all my heart…is still a lie.
My own take is that I have to identify the ideal and take regularly scheduled time to think about ways to reach it – all the while understanding that it probably won’t happen and not being crushed or even disappointed by reality. Fwiw, there have been a handful of times in my life where I HAVE acheived an ideal – and they make the thousands of non-achievements worthwhile. I also know I would not have had those handful of experiences if I hadn’t spent time thinking about achieving them.
Old-Timer wrote:From the movie, “Second Hand Lions”:
Quote:“If you want to believe in something, then believe in it. Just because something isn’t true, there’s no reason you can’t believe in it. Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most: that people are basically good; that honor, courage and virtue mean everything; that power and money mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; that true love never dies. It doesn’t matter if they are true or not. A man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.”
Probably not surprisingly, I love it as well! Ray (Chooroo), you might also relate to this…I remember on my mission (Japan, Kobe) a few times in discussions I would ask about certain Buddhist teachings. Of course, very good legends with great messages. I would ask if the story really happened, and they would say “oh I don’t know…does it really matter?”
At the time (of course) I said “well we ‘know’ these things happened in our faith….” and felt all superior to them. Today, I can completely respect and relate to their way of thinking.
This is why we need mythology. Sometimes we need ideals. However they shouldn’t be confused with history. SamBee wrote:This is why we need mythology. Sometimes we need ideals. However they shouldn’t be confused with history.
Exactly! That’s the point…much in eastern spirituality is viewed as lore, story, legend — probably some truth, much exaggerated, but it is understood that it may not be historically accurate, but that’s not important. We can relate to the story and learn from it. I really see Mormonism behaving this way in the future.
But it will take time to evolve, like everything does!
A great example of that concept Ray. Thanks for sharing it.
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