Volume
Vol. 6, The Alchemy of Happiness
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Stages of Belief in God
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2. Belief in Authority
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Vol. 6, The Alchemy of Happiness
Stages of Belief in God
2. Belief in Authority
Then there is a second step towards belief, and that is belief in an authority, as with people at the time of a dictatorship. They believe in a leader. They say, "I will not believe in the ordinary man, in my neighbor, in my colleague; I believe in that man whom I trust." This belief is one step higher, because it is a belief in somebody in whom one has trust. When a person says, "I am a Christian", it means a belief in Jesus Christ and his teaching. It is a belief in someone, not in an abstraction. One might think that people do not believe in authority today, but this is not so. For instance everyone accepts a discovery made by a scientist before having made investigations about it. Investigations come afterwards. When somebody comes forward and says he has discovered something, everyone accepts it. Perhaps another scientist will produce something else one may believe, but the one who says a thing with authority is believed by the multitude.
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