Beliefs.
We all have them.
Those ideas, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes that we cling to as inherent to our very beings.
Beliefs can be connected to many aspects of who we are:
gender
ancestry
generation
sexuality
race
ethnicity
class / economic position,
phenotype / appearance
profession
religion
culture
language
faith
spirituality
nationality
political persuasion and position
and on and on…
What I’m talking about here is the kind of core beliefs that guide our daily thoughts, shape our attitudes, color our words, and fuel our interactions. The beliefs that inform our biases and prejudices (which we all have). That guide our responses to stimuli in all its forms.
Core beliefs.
Which become ideologies.
Worldviews.
Positions.
Those things that we feel represent who we are and our place(s) on the planet.
As I sit at the deeply complex intersection of Blackness and Jewishness watching recent atrocities in Israel / Palestine / Gaza, I’m paying attention to what various folks are saying and doing. The positions they’re taking. And the ways they’re showcasing their beliefs.
I’m not saying much in public spaces because far better people than me are sharing views. Their positions. Their beliefs. If and when I believe I have something new and helpful to add, I’ll speak up. But, as always, I’m far more interested in actions than words. And frankly, the complexities of this intersection are far too much to try to explain to folks who don’t sit in this spot. The weight is immense. The pain is intense. And this is no simple one-dimensional binary, especially for those of us who are Both / And, whose roots are in two Diasporas, and whose president and tax dollars are helping to fuel the conflict.
Our beliefs can be self-imposed prison cells, or they can be the keys to our liberation.
I’m also not saying much publicly because my goal is not to debate or argue with anyone over whatever they believe and however they interpret this unfolding nightmare from which millions of people cannot wake. I am here to learn. To better understand the many beliefs at play and how they intersect, connect, conflict, collide. To try and comprehend the organizations and governments that choose to rain terror, tragedy, and unrelenting trauma upon those whose humanity they believe is less than their own.
For me, that keeps coming back to the ways that our beliefs come into play during times such as these. The things we believe so deeply that we would lay our lives on the line. The things we believe so profoundly that we would not tolerate any other position or opinion. The beliefs so fundamental to our sense of self that we would deliberately choose to harm others. The ways that our beliefs can connect us to or divide us from other humans—people who are like us and people who are different.
Terrorism. War. Genocide. All can be said to be rooted in beliefs, right? The belief that because I subscribe to this narrative, then ______________________ is required, mandated, justified. The belief that because I am _________________ and the other person / people are __________________, then we can’t get along, live together, find ways to replace forms of conflict with peace, compromise, and co-existence. The belief that what I believe justifies causing others to suffer and / or die.
Then there are the countless ways in which beliefs are rooted in, shaped by, and shaded by history (and that’s always about whose version you subscribe to), and by facts—which might or might not be objective. Because objectivity is also determined by our beliefs. And can beliefs ever truly be objective? Are facts more or less valid based on their sources?
These beliefs of ours contribute to our sense of wrong and right. Help to shape our moral codes. And in times of conflict, they are bound to be tested.
What belief of yours would you fight for? Die for? Fight for? Harm other humans for? Cross whatever you perceive to be “enemy” lines for? Be willing to learn, evolve, and grow for?
Beliefs can move us to take positions for and against various things. What happens when you get to the end of the road for a particular belief, when it dead ends and you can’t move forward in any direction? And then, just beyond, you see a crossroad where you can decide whether to stay the course of your belief or consider something different? Will you double down or opt to grow?
One thing that is guaranteed: life and the world are going to challenge our beliefs, again and again and again. Each of us will have opportunities to hold our beliefs up to the light and examine them. Maybe they served us well but are no longer useful for this stretch of our journey. Maybe they’re outdated and need to be discarded, or maybe they can be recycled into higher learning. Or maybe we’re so attached to them that we’ll never, ever let them go.
This “dystopian hellscape,” as Black Jewish author, chef, food historian, and cultural activist Michael W. Twitty so aptly describes the current carnage in Israel / Palestine / Gaza, provides ample opportunities for us to examine our beliefs and the entities behind them. The systems that inform our beliefs, and the ISMS from which they spring as well as those that they feed.
I don’t know whether having and holding so tightly to our various beliefs is one of the things that distinguishes humans from other life forms, but what I DO know is that our beliefs—whatever they are—have the potential to imprison us. They can narrow our minds, calcify our opinions, constrict our hearts, and straitjacket our spirits.
Of course, our beliefs can also set us free.
But for that to happen, we have to leave our comfort zones. Face and embrace our deep fears. Step into the stormy waters of uncertainty. Risk the discomfort of growth. Stretch our minds, loosen our opinions, expand our hearts, and liberate our spirits.
To quote my dear friend, the brilliant and multitalented artist / author / activist Rain Pryor,
How do our beliefs impact the value we assign to other folks’ lives? And the value we assign to our own? These are the kind of questions I’m pondering from this very intersectional place.
And in this season of reckoning, we are all being challenged to consider and reconsider what we believe—and why. Whether or not you live at this specific intersection, you might be facing a crossroads (or two) of your own.
What will you ask? What will you ponder? What will you cling to? What might you gain if you believe a new thing? How might you grow?
Our beliefs can be self-imposed prison cells, or they can be the keys to our liberation.
It is my hope, my desire, and my fervent prayer that we ALL take a moment to examine our beliefs, determine who and what they’re serving, who they might be harming, and consider how we can level up to better recognize and serve humanity.
As Parliament Funkadelic taught us with the title of their second studio album in 1970, which is still relevant to all of us spiritual beings having a human experience: “Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow.”
I believe if our beliefs jeopardizes the freedoms of others, they are not beliefs but illusions based on fear.