Belief and skepticism
Two sides of the same coin
All dualities always go together. There is no day without night, no pleasure without pain, no like without dislike. Another such duality that plays in the human mind in an insidious manner is belief and skepticism.
The one who believes has suppressed skepticism and therefore always suspects skepticism outside even where it doesn’t exist. The one who is a skeptic has suppressed belief and therefore suspects belief outside even where it doesn’t exist. Skeptics threaten the believers, believers threaten the skeptics. This threat plays out in a very subtle way, so one tries to hold on stronger to belief or skepticism by attacking the opposing viewpoint.
What we fear within, we suspect without.
This fear and suspicion of one side and holding tight to the other side is all projected by who? The ego of course. Am I the ego caught in this duality or that which is aware of the very duality playing out? When asked about all the doubts rising up within during self-inquiry, Ramana Maharshi said simply, “Doubt the doubter”. And elsewhere he said doubt the believer too!
Freedom is therefore to transcend all such dualities of the ego and especially this pernicious duality of belief and skepticism.
When asked whether you believe in God, Carl Jung replied beautifully, “I don’t believe. I know.” We don’t know in what exact spirit did he say those words. But we know he was exposed to the pristine teachings of Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna etc. that radiate Godliness here and now, not as a belief or an experience, but as one’s very nature through inquiry and surrender to the Infinite Order that is the omnipresent God.
This is the essence of the teachings of Ram, Krishna, Buddha or Jesus. To taste a mango, we don’t have to know which tree it came from. To get the essence of their teachings, we don’t have to either believe or doubt their historicity. Now, it certainly seems based on all evidence available, that their main story arcs are historical and they embody the teachings perfectly. Thus the teaching and the teacher are nondifferent which brings the teaching more alive. But it’s also likely that many myths have been superimposed onto them later. We can never know for certain about all the details. But we can know our true Self certainly. There we meet the real Ram, Krishna, Buddha or Jesus.
To know or to realize is the essence of true religion. Belief and skepticism are both obstacles in that journey.