Thanks for taking the trouble to respond, Billy. I guess one of my beliefs is in the techniques of listening used in counseling and psychotherapy. I have kind of trained myself OUT of that "healthy disrespect" for others' beliefs, into an acceptance that people do depend on their beliefs as props. And a principle of this kind of counseling is "unconditional positive regard", which is love by another name.
Our beliefs are what we use to make sense of the world we live in, but of course they are not fixed. 'Fragile' was perhaps not a good word to use. What I wanted to say was that we believe things based on what we are taught, what we have experienced, where and how we were brought up and so on. I am one of those who believe that our essence is something more than those "accidents" of circumstance. I know others may think quite differently.
You mention that we humans feel a sense of superiority to others because we feel our beliefs are universally applicable and the others are wrong. As a premie I used to feel that way, certainly, and as I mentioned in a post below ("finding positive values and beliefs") it has been great to escape that way of being and feel that I am NOT superior to anyone at all. The buzz from ego fulfillment is very inferior compared to the buzz from participating in Oneness. I don't mean that the sense of "Oneness with all that is" is some state of consciousness that can be reached through psychedelic drugs or meditation; though that is a reason why some people try these things.
But I did become a premie, all those years ago, precisely to feel the reality of soul, and to experience a Oneness. I can understand that a premie today may not wish to abandon his or her ideals and that is what makes him or her cling to a hopeless cause, i.e. a "master" who can not be rationally defended.
