I am sorry I am so late coming to this thread. I haven't been around much lately.

First, a big hurrah to sqrl for this post. When I read your stuff it reminds me I am no where near as smart as I think I am lol. I think that the ability to question one's one beliefs is the key to understanding them. Suspending your beliefs is the key to open-mindedness and the elimination of prejuidice. When you ask questions, the answers can improve your understanding and perhaps provide you with an enlightenment you might not otherwise experience. You don't need the dali lama to experience spiritual enlightenment. When you suspend belief, you open your mind to new possibilites, never before considered. To me, that's a good thing.

It's no surprise to me that such a philosophical question as, "can you suspend belief long enough to immerse yourself in a contrary view?" should evoke a response about fatih. Philosophy and religion are intertwined. I guess I just see the whole thing in a different light.

I find that I spend most of the time awash in a sea of facts, opinions, theories, and beliefs. I'm like a blue whale on this sea, filter-feeding on the constantly in-rushing stream of information, extracting whatever I can of relevance, and only when I have need, collect it together to form an opinion. I am able to judge the extent of my own knowledge by the strength of the argument I present to support my belief. If i know my argument is weak I won't comment until I obtain more information.

Hummmm... what a bunch of hoo-haw. And to think I mainly just wanted to say that whenever you can open your mind to new possibilites, in effect, suspend your beliefs, it is in itself an form of enlightenment, beneficial to your mind and your spirit. When you see things in new ways you achieve an improved understanding of your unquie perspective of the universe as an individual. I really think that is at the heart of sqrl's original post and I embrace it whole-heartedly in my own life as much as possible.

So good to read your musings again sqrl. I hope you are doing ok. I'm hangin' in there.