Hamsterism vs. Existentialism.

In Business Communication today, we discussed impediments to our success.
As usual, we got slightly side-tracked.
The amount of involvement that was shown when the topic of faith and spirituality came up was surprising, and the idea of personal fulfillment from belief was given great importance.

I'm a firm believer in freedom of religion in the purest sense of the term.
If you were to tell me that you worshipped your pet hamster as an omnipotent being, I would acknowledge that as your right.
(However, I would certainly question the amount of introspection and thought that went into this decision.)
It can be difficult to respect the beliefs of others sometimes, regardless of what spiritual category you fall under; acknowledging that someone else's view may be equally as valid as yours can be challenging when the arguments are polar opposites.
The views of others can also be useful to you, however.

I feel that in order to be genuinely valuable, your belief has to be questioned.
If you find yourself believing (or refusing to believe) in something, ask yourself why on a regular basis.
Better yet, discuss the subject with someone who has a different take on it.
I think the best way to reach a conclusion on life is not to reach it at all - once someone considers their view as a final 'conclusion', they are essentially becoming a vessel for that idea rather than the idea being an accurate projection of their true thoughts.
What we once saw as being correct can, and probably will, eventually develop into an adapted version of itself - sometimes in an almost unrecognisable form.

It is easy to say you are a Christian, Muslim, Atheist, or Hamsterist at heart.
It is not so easy to actually be one.

On life and meaning, I find myself agreeing with the likes of Sartre and Camus in their existential views.
I believe in the idea that existence precedes essence, and that universal meaning is not an inherent component of life.
With that being said, their work should not be misinterpreted as an indication that life is 'meaningless'; rather that meaning can be derived from existence in itself.