A vintage napkin from 2004 that went into my youngest daughter’s lunch during her final year of high school.
One thing I tried to teach my children as they grew older is to recognize what they desire and how that can create a belief within them. If, for example, you need to believe you will see a favorite grandparent in the afterlife, chances are you will believe in an afterlife. It doesn’t make your belief true or untrue. It just means your inclination to believe something comes, in part, from your desires and needs.
Another example could be your need for things to be fair. If you have been treated unfairly or had seen injustice as a child, you could easily have fairness as an overriding theme of your life. That desire could be part of the reason you believe in a God of justice, that vengeance will prevail against people who have been unfair to others. Once again, it may or may not be true that God is like that.
The point is to be aware of how this happens in your life and, in turn, be able to have understanding and compassion for others and what they believe.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
Quote by Marcel Proust (full name Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust), 1871-1922, French writer
