All the reasons we wear clothes can be applied to “beliefs” and sometimes we wear those beliefs on our sleeve.
We wear clothes to protect us from the rain, the sun and the cold. There are different clothes for weddings, funerals, the beach, going into space, going to the depths of the sea or to the tops of mountains.
There are special clothes for the bedroom and for dealing with mosquitoes.
Lawyers, priests, cowboys, ladies of the night, and sports teams all wear special clothes.
Clothes have artistic and symbolic meanings. We use body piercings, tattoos, head scarfs, masks, see-through clothes and peacock hats. All of these adornments have meaning, no meaning, or even meanings we are oblivious too.
Beliefs similarly are rampant with ritual, but they add levels of importance that cannot be supported logically.
When our clothes wear out, no longer fit, or result in wardrobe malfunction, we adjust accordingly after hopefully avoiding too much embarrassment. We wear clothes because we are required to per social norms–but with that we are firmly in the grasp of belief, even if you lived through the 60’s.
Ask a child to let go of their cherished security blanket after it finally dies in the washer. IT IS ONLY A BLANKET!
But it is a blanket with power to make the universe OK.
War, prejudice, social intolerance and greed are the result of being in denial about how our clothes no longer fit.
The whole world could use a change of clothes—or at the very least, not take their beliefs as seriously as their clothes.
There is tremendous amounts of blood, sweat and tears to wash out.
Charles Buell