Belief: Navigation System.

The only thing missing here is a time-keeping element.

In my explorations and my thinking about the function of Belief in people's lives, I've variously referred to it as a compass, then a gyroscope.

As my more careful studies continue to develop, I'm recognizing that having a compass is of no point unless you have a map. When I've said compass I've assumed the existence of a map. Silly me. The map is the necessary element. What does the immediate terrain look like? Where are you going? What ways are available for you to get there? Where are you right now?

Morning ritual.

This morning over grapefruit Claudia and I were continuing our conversation about a film series we're watching on Tuesday evenings with a study group at our mountain church. We've just watched week five of a six-episode series called Time of Death, produced for Showtime. Claudia observed that the people who appear to have the most comfort, the least anxiety, with their end times seem to have some set of beliefs that guide them. Imagine me perking up with a comment like that!

We continued our conversation long enough for her to examine where she was going, but I admit that for a few minutes I was less focused on her comments as I struggled to contain my Aha! moment, put enough flesh on it to come back to it.

Aha! We take comfort from our beliefs. They give us a sense of where we are, where we're going, how we might get there. Some predictability in a vastly unpredictable world, exploring totally new territory by reference to familiar methods and signposts.

That's when I realized we're talking Navigation System, not compass. Not a single piece of technology, essential as it might be, but an entire set of related elements that interact with each over time, with a history and a future.

I know a bit about systems.

In fact, I've referred to Belief Systems. Mostly I had in mind at the time something closer to the System we call Religion. Related, with differences and similarities yet to be explored, is an individual's personal Belief System.

Accurate map, reference points available for physical  verification and validation, compass/gyroscope, dividers, straight edge, pencil, historic record--all the pieces, interlocking, serving each other, operating to maintain itself, requiring input and producing output, in a self-balancing way.

And so I arrive at another point of reference in my own scheme of managing my own existence on this planet: maps and geography are a central element in my life.

Space. And Time.

Our family clock. Past, present, future.