Why Are We Afraid To Examine What We Believe?

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Our lives are founded on beliefs. We believe the ocean is deep. We believe the earth moves around the sun. We believe hardships can be blessings in disguise.

Examining our beliefs puts us into a vulnerable position. It’s like inspecting the foundation of our lives, and we may be afraid our foundation isn’t as solid as we thought.

So, it’s easier not to analyze anything and to put up defenses when anyone asks us to do otherwise. But what I’ve found is, sometimes examining your beliefs is the only way to make them stronger.

Leaving Extreme Conservatism Behind

I mention in my post How Do You Know It’s Time To Go on a Journey of Rediscovery? that I’ve gone through a phase of extreme conservatism I’m still working to pull myself out of. But it was because I started examining my beliefs that I was able to begin the process.

For a while, I was so convinced that God was asking me to change myself that it was relatively easy to let the changes happen. Now that I realize it was the religious voices in my head speaking to me and not my loving Heavenly Father, it’s easier for me to ignore those voices and live the life I want to live.

Sometimes they can be obnoxiously loud, though, so it can be a challenge to ignore them. But being aware of what I believe makes it more feasible.

This is why it’s so important for you to discover or rediscover yourself when you need to. You have to be able to distinguish your beliefs from fluff, lies, and random thoughts. To do this, the foundation of your life has to be solid.

And it can’t be solid built with other people’s beliefs. Your foundation has to be built with your beliefs. And to discover what you truly believe, you’re going to have to analyze what you now believe.

Changing My Belief System

I’ve made some radical shifts in my belief system as a result of my journey of self-discovery and rediscovery. I won’t go into the details now, but I will say that I like myself better as a result.

Now I’m able to be more open to different ways of thinking. And now I’m more accepting of other religions. I used to be so close-minded that it terrifies me to think of who I might have become had I continued down that path. Though I still have a long way to go before I feel like I’m fully myself, I think I’m headed in a good direction.

To get to this place, though, I had to ask myself some scary questions about my beliefs. And I’ve had to unlearn a lot of what I’ve been taught over the years. But this difficult work has been necessary for me. Now I feel closer to God than I’ve felt in a long time. And every day I’m trying to develop an even closer relationship with Him.

A Note on Word Choice

I considered titling this post “Why Are We Afraid To Question What We Believe?”, but I realized that the word “question” implies doubt. The kind of self-discovery and rediscovery work I’m asking you to do is more about examining what you believe and analyzing whether those beliefs line up with your core values.

This isn’t about doubting what you believe. It’s about making sure your beliefs are really yours. So, I thought the word “examine” was more appropriate for this circumstance.

Final Thoughts

I’m not asking you to give up anything. I’m not even asking you to change. I’m just asking you to make sure you have a reason you’re comfortable with for believing what you believe. “Because someone told me to believe this” isn’t a good enough reason for me, and I don’t think it should be for you either. But that’s for you to decide.

Now it’s your turn. Why do you think people are afraid to examine what they believe?

~ Ashley C.

Last updated: June 23, 2022