When you say that something should be one way or another, you are imposing. Should is a judgment that allows no argument. Where does should come from? It comes from past beliefs. Beliefs are opinions, usually strong opinions. Because you believe doesn't make it so. Your belief has nothing to do with it. Sometimes your belief in your beliefs is like the story of cutting the feet to fit the bed.

You can believe in something all you want, but that does not make it so. I exist, but I do not exist because you believe in Me. I exist because I exist.

The world thought the earth was flat, but that belief did not change the curvature of earth.

Do not try to make the world match your beliefs. That is an attempt at ultimate control.

A belief imposed is a judgment. A judgment is an altercation. It is a denial. It tries to erase what has already transpired. Trying to erase says it was a mistake. It may not have been to your liking, but you do not know enough of life to say it was a mistake.

Some so-called mistakes have been great blessings. Much good can come from what you call mistakes. Is every try that doesn't accomplish what you think it ought — is it not a step?

Be wary of your strong opinions. Why must an opinion be strong? Why must it be a conviction or a long-held belief? Why must your thoughts be like gavels that come down hard?

Why must your toast always be buttered?

Why must all your beliefs be so? What is at stake, do you imagine?

Beliefs come from the past. Beliefs are a holding on from the past. Beliefs are not inviolate. They are not a one-thing only.

Openness comes from the present.

Let in what comes in today. You do not have to buy it all, but you can consider. When you go into a marketplace, you do not condemn the items you don't want to buy. You buy those that make sense to you.

But let Me tell you this: There is no belief you need. Beliefs are not what you need.

Awareness is what you need. Awareness is what I give to you. I do not give you beliefs. If something is true, it doesn't need belief in it. If something is not true, all the belief in the world doesn't make it true. Beliefs are commonly-held world thoughts. Beliefs may not be dependable.

But Truth can be relied on. Truth opens itself. It is not a closed book. Truth, unlike beliefs, does not go only so far. Truth goes to the ends of the earth. What is true is true everywhere.

Do not mix up facts with true. What you call facts are pieces. Truth is always whole.

Beliefs are names for certain ideas, just as you name a certain range of time as yesterday or Wednesday. It is a name. It is not inviolable. In another country, the same frame of reference has another name. But those names serve a universal purpose. No one believes that the name made the fragment of illusory time.

Concepts hardened become beliefs. Do not believe so much in beliefs.

Bringing others to your beliefs — what does that accomplish? Does that confirm you are right? Another person's opinion bolsters yours?

Jesus did not look for bolstering. And he did not try to make people believe. He tried to reveal. He said, "Here God is." He said, "Come out of the darkness, and see what is right before you."

Once you see, you have seen. What you have seen cannot be upturned. Maybe you do not see it today, but you did see it. Can you pretend you did not? And yet you have done that. You have pretended away and submerged your own vision.

Even to see truth and the beauty of truth may seem like a revolution. But truth is not unheard-of. It has been heard of, and it has been seen. You have seen it.

Look for awareness, and not hardened beliefs.