It’s impossible just to consider that even the wisest of philosophical books had similar success; in the value systems of millions of people a new smartphone and tablet computer rank significantly higher. Because of this millions of people, unsatisfied with their lives, try to struggle with circumstances rather than changing their worldview, despite the fact that it specifically is responsible for all their major problems.
We would do well to touch upon this question, despite the fact that we personally would really like to quickly move on to the presentation of interesting facts and revelation of the methods for obtaining happiness. But we well know that all “solid” facts and precise recipes will inevitably shatter upon one’s system of conceptions if it contains contradictions. For this reason, please exercise a little more patience and try to attentively follow the entire path of our reasoning; that way the facts and recipes can be properly understood and will bring maximum benefit.
And so, everything depends on one’s worldview, which consists of a system of firm views, principles, values and beliefs that define our attitude towards reality as well as our understanding of the world as a whole and of our place within it.
Under identical circumstances, one person will be happy, another not. It’s like in the famous parable about two travelers in the desert, dying of thirst. When they meet a man who offers them each a half glass of water, one cries out with joy, having seen a half-full glass, while the other is greatly upset, having paid attention only to the fact that the glass is half-empty.
Billions of people found themselves in a similar situation in 2008 when they were hit by the world economic crisis. The crisis hurt everyone, but people reacted to it very differently.
On January 6, 2009 in Germany, billionaire Adolf Merckle, one of the richest people in Europe, committed suicide by throwing himself under a train.
“The desperate situation of his companies, caused by the financial crisis, the uncertainties of the last few weeks and his powerlessness to act, broke the passionate family entrepreneur and he took his own life,” stated a press release distributed by the family of the deceased.
In Chicago, on February 23, 2009 another billionaire, Steven Good, CEO of the company Sheldon Good & Company Auctions International, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. His company auctioned off real estate.
These are just two examples from many instances of suicide by people who lost significant parts of their estates during the crisis. Others rejoiced at the fact that they hadn’t lost everything. The difference between the first and second is only in their belief systems regarding the significance of money in a person’s life and, ultimately, the meaning of life itself. If it consists of hoarding billions then of course their losses become serious grounds for suicide. And ignorance about what awaits those who commit suicide after death transforms those grounds into action.
When reality begins to contradict one’s personal belief system, a personality crisis occurs. For this reason it’s important to clarify when, how and by what a person’s belief system is formed.
This process starts with the parents. It is precisely from them that a child receives the first, incredibly important information about him or herself and about the surrounding world. These founding concepts and values take shape through childhood and for many people remain fundamental throughout their lives.
What defines a person’s religious identity? Only a few individuals make a conscious choice during adulthood; everyone else receives religion from their parents. The famous Russian researcher of beliefs and religions Victor Nyukhtilin writes in his book Melchizedek:
“Having examined the believers around us, we unfortunately see that more often than not each person’s faith is nothing more than automatic participation in the club of some faith on the basis of birth, locality or observance of tradition. Christians everywhere don’t know the meaning of their holidays, Muslims don’t know that Allah is that same God who is in one instance Jehovah and in another the Trinity, don’t know one line of the Koran and consider Christ the enemy of Islam, though Christ is considered by Islam to be one of the great prophets of Allah… Once, having asked some Buddhists from Kalmykia, the only Russian republic where the official faith is Buddhism, to explain the difference between the first and second turnings of the Wheel of Dharma, I was met with merry laughter: we didn’t become Buddhists to fill our heads with such nonsense. Well then what for? Adherence to a faith most often is defined from childhood and takes a form based on external characteristics involved in religious patriotism rather than a sense of God within oneself.
For this reason it makes sense for each person to ask him or herself, how well do I understand my faith and how do I live out my connection to God and not the inescapable traditions of my fathers, which I accept as an established part of my life and in my mind, but not in my heart. To what extent is my faith the state of being of my soul and not the national style of my life?
And on the other hand, shouldn’t at least a slight discomfort arise at the thought that if you were born, for example, just five hundred kilometers further south you would be a Muslim and not a Christian? And if faith had carried your parents just a little closer to the equator and a little further to the right, you would be a Buddhist. And if you were an atheist lost in a big city, addled by a nervous disorder, and on a straight path to the Jehovah’s Witnesses…
In practically every one of these situations, a person has no choice! He receives his religion, so to speak, along with his birth certificate… Religious denominations seem to have sort of divided the Earthly sphere into spheres of influence, and those born in one of these spheres immediately acquire a faith not of their choosing during childhood.
And the important thing is that many of those people have religion but don’t have Faith… “Inhereted” religion, unfortunately, doesn’t require Faith, but is limited to observation of rituals” [14].
During a person’s adolescence, the formation process of his or her worldview is influenced by teachers, friends, mass media, books, films… Some information is rejected immediately as it is received, some partially settles in, and a few parts take on the status of worldview. It is only natural that of the ocean of information found in the world a person receives only droplets and remains ignorant about the rest. And when questions arise during life, the answers to which lay beyond the bounds of one’s personal knowledge, a person inevitably makes mistakes.
In many families parents and children are in conflict with one another. Taking this into account, few know that there are many so-called “indigo children” among those born in the last two decades. Indigo children are unique people: their level of immunity is many times higher than normal and their IQs significantly exceed the average. In fact, this is a new race that is set apart from us by their very genetic code. Interacting with them requires special knowledge, the absence of which leads not only to conflict, but to tragedy; in the eyes of these children, wise beyond their years, who have come into the world already understanding many truths, normal adults appear stupid and undeserving of respect. And when these “stupid people” begin to “raise” and even punish their unusual children in an attempt to make them like everyone else, indigo children show aggression; there are marked incidents of these children’s violence against their “uncomprehending” parents.
On the Internet there are already dozens if not hundreds of sites that shed light on these uncommon children, in book stores there has appeared special literature which gives insights that are simply necessary for normal interaction with indigo children. But have many parents and teachers delved into this knowledge? Assuredly no. Our experience,