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Yesterday, on a drive to Wollumbin with S, we passed the gateway to a non-sectarian retreat center. A sign had been nailed up:
Are beliefs of any kind necessary?
How tempting to rush in with a yes or a no or a maybe, inevitably meeting the question with our pet beliefs and conclusions, and kidding ourselves that we’re having a profound dialogue…
But the question isn’t pointless. It has beauty in its potential to act as a pointer to the utterly imperative, yet impossible, question:
Who, or what, is asking?
If you tell me ‘you’ are, I’ll ask you to show me a ‘you’ that’s a stand-alone entity.
If you can’t, I’ll ask you how come you believe you are one when you can’t prove it.
With a bit of luck we’ll both end up falling in a heap laughing so hard we weep.
echoes from emptiness 