Beliefs (Author unknown as of yet)
The Problem with the world is that the stupid are cock-sure and the intelligent are full of doubt." --Bertrand Russell\
The
most powerful aspect of our being, our belief systems, is basically
ignored when it comes to real life. Belief systems--are preprogrammed
ideas, upon which our life is based. They are so conditioned, so subtle
and so automatic that they can completely run our life without the
least thought on our part. Any condition in our life or any feeling in
our hearts that occurs over and over is rooted in a belief. Our outer
life is just mirroring our inner beliefs. No matter how real they may
seem, or how long they have run us, all Belief Systems are B.S.! The
only thing that stands between us and a fully functional life and
radiant health is our B.S. Our beliefs predetermine our future
outcomes. Freedom begins when we realize that we have no chronic
problems, only chronic B.S. The ignorance of our inner beliefs solves
the mystery as to why the same problems--chronic headaches, constant
stress, relationship conflicts, career mishaps, self-doubt, etc. plague
our life year after year. Getting in touch with our inner beliefs so
that we can heal our outer life is a lifetime process. Any time we feel
stuck in a negative feeling or bound to a negative condition, it is the
belief that first must be changed.
Because a belief is
generally accepted by many other people we buy it as an accurate
representation of the truth. This method is not ultimately reliable
however, because the herd instinct can often lead to a social consensus
which is the exact opposite of truth, as can be seen in the examples of
Nazi Germany, the Grand Inquisition in Spain and slavery.
Beliefs
are subtle but powerful; they tie us up in knots until we are so caught
in our own B.S. that we believe it is who we are. Until we sharpen our
inner vision, we are virtually blind to our own B.S. Belief systems are
so instinctive that until this happens, we rarely see them coming.
Beliefs are on automatic pilot. Belief systems are as subtle as they
are treacherous; they write out the script to our life and before we
know what happened, we are completely playing the part. Beliefs can be
changed--facts can't. We can move mountains by changing our thinking.
By the same token because of a stubborn belief, the tiniest of
molehills can keep us imprisoned for years. Beliefs cannot discriminate
between negative and positive, one is no more difficult for a belief
than the other. Wonderful relationships are just as easy for a belief
to attract as painful relationships. Abundance takes no more effort for
a belief than struggle and hardship. We can just as naturally radiate
with health as we can suffer with illness. If the problem is within our
own head, then so is the power. There is only one healing power and no
one nor any thing can ever duplicate it. Our job is to find a way to
allow it to finally flow. Healing works the same for the mind as it
does for the body. As we continually and consistently remove the inner
blocks (beliefs), both the mind and body are healed. The healing power
can only do its job when we do ours.
An Inside Job
As
we understand mind/body oneness and we see how a new image or a release
of an old hurt literally transforms the physical body (right down to
the DNA), we will feel greatly at ease. The fear of illness that
drained the life force out of us will begin to slip away. When we are
actually living the principles of mind/body oneness, we make sure that
thoughts, images and feelings of the mind are in conformity to what we
want in the body. As we work more from the mind, we will just naturally
move away from the backward, totally physical approach, that believes
healing comes from the body. Those who ignore the mind are out of their
mind! While healing is not from the body, technically or spiritually
speaking, neither is it from the mind. Healing flows through the mind
and is transformed by ease or dis-ease therein. Healing is a spiritual
process that is higher and deeper than anyone can imagine. Healing is
the nature of the universe, as well as the nature of our own being.
Daily, regardless of the current health of our body, the spirit of
healing needs to be foremost in our minds.
Beliefs
Just
what are beliefs? They're the conscious and unconscious information
that we've accepted as true which fill our structure and form the basis
for our behavior and ethics. Our beliefs imprison us and deny us access
to what is real. A filter of misconceptions prohibits truth's passage
and we see only what we want, and reject all else. Truth can never be
revealed to the so-called "firm believer." He does not want to
recognize anything outside of his beliefs and sees everything with
which he disagrees as a threat. To protect his beliefs, he builds a
wall around his world. The "firm believer" has no option to change his
mind. This makes him ignorant. He can only recognize what lies within
the walls he has built around himself and is prevented from exploring
the limitless truth which lies outside the wall. What he fails to
realize is that truth is always greater than any structure built to
contain it. Belief and faith are not the same thing and should not be
confused. Unlike belief, faith is not totally limiting. It recognizes
there is much to discover and know, and that one must always seek to
unfold more and more of the truth. With faith, all things are possible.
The "firm believer" always thinks he knows the answer. The person with
faith, aware that he knows very little, constantly seeks enlightenment.
Intellectually, we may agree that we should change but we almost always
feel that our situation is different from everyone else's. We avoid,
resist and, forcibly reject any idea which threatens our beliefs. Take,
for example, the alcoholic. From his viewpoint of life it seems
rational to continue drinking. The drug user, the compulsive gambler
and the compulsive eater all feel the same way about their respective
"addictions." They rationalize their actions based on their present
level of awareness, however faulty it is.
Every person has
been hypnotized to some degree either by ideas he has accepted from
others or ideas she has convinced herself are true. These ideas have
exactly the same effect upon behavior as those implanted into the mind
by a professional hypnotist. No one can be involuntarily hypnotized as
each person collaborates in the hypnotizing process. The professional
hypnotist is only a guide who helps the subject accelerate the
phenomenon. There's no limit to what a person can or can't do when s/he
is hypnotized; the power of imagination is limitless. Many people think
they can change their lives through sheer will power. This is not true.
Negative ideas in the imagination cause them to defeat themselves.
Regardless of how hard they try, it's no use. They've accepted a false
belief as fact. All their ability, good intentions, effort and will
power are of no avail against the powerful false belief they've
accepted as truth.
Once a person believes that something is
true, whether or not it is, he then acts as if it were. He will
instinctively seek to collect facts to support the belief no matter how
false it might be. No one will be able to convince him otherwise,
unless, through personal experience or study, he is ready to change.
Hence, it is easy to see that, if one accepts something, which is not
true, all subsequent actions and reactions will be based upon a false
belief. This is not a new idea. Since the beginning of time, both men
and women have been in a kind of hypnotic sleep of which they were
unaware but which great teachers and thinkers throughout the centuries
have recognized. These people have perceived that humankind limits
itself through its "mistaken certainties" and have sought to awaken us
to our potential for greatness which goes far beyond anything we can
possibly imagine.
Mistaken certainties are things you are sure
are true but which, in fact, are not. They are generally based on
wishful thinking which distorts reality and leads to self-deception. We
want things to be, as we would like them to be rather than as they are.
We look at the world through rose-colored glasses, which permits our
wish for the ideal to blind us to what is real. You can only change the
world to the extent that you can change yourself. And you can only
change yourself to the degree that you become aware of your mistaken
certainties. Most of your troubles arise from expectations, which have
not become realities. And most of your disappointments from what you
think you "should," or "ought" to do, or be, according to your present
level of awareness. This is known as resisting reality, or fighting the
Universe. Emerson said, "We are what we think about all day long."
Everything that is happening to you right now in your mental, physical,
emotional and spiritual world is the result of what is going on in your
mind. You accept, relate or reject everything in your mental/physical
environment based on your present level of awareness.
Your
present level of awareness is determined by your education,
environment, family life, childhood experiences, successes, failures
and religious beliefs. You should not assume that what you now hold as
truth is, in fact, really the Truth. Instead, you should proceed with
the idea that you are presently hypnotized by false beliefs, concepts
and values that are keeping you from being totally healthy and
self-confident. We are primarily the result of what we have been told
and taught; what we have been sold and bought. The average person never
comes near reaching his or her unlimited potential because they are
living under the false assumption that they already know the truth.
They believe what their parents have told them, what their teachers
have taught them, what they have read, and what their religion preaches
without actually proving anything for themselves.
Millions
upon millions of people have blindly followed the rhetoric of so-called
"knowledgeable people" without making sure that the principles these
"experts" expound stand up to the realities of life. We further limit
ourselves by holding onto these concepts, values and beliefs even after
we have actually evolved beyond them. Your first job is to awaken from
the hypnotic condition that is keeping you from being the person you
want to be. The degree to which you awaken is in direct proportion to
the amount of truth you can accept about yourself. In the words of the
Master, "Know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free." If you are
sincere about changing your life for the better, you must have an open
mind. You must understand what is being said without the necessity of
believing it. In order to construct a new "functional" building on a
site where one that is "inefficient" exists, you first have to raze the
old structure. This must be done by shattering those "mistaken
certainties" which have held you back from expressing the unlimited,
abundant, wholesome life you desire.
Freeing Yourself
The
major stumbling block to changing our faulty awareness is that we do
not want to recognize and accept reality, or what is, because our
"mistaken certainties" distort our perception. This is why it is
important to challenge our beliefs from time to time, to see if we're
operating from the wrong viewpoint. The beliefs of a person who has a
normal, wholesome personality undergo a constant process of
reorganization but the neurotic personality clings to his beliefs,
false and distorted though they may be. Usually the only way the
neurotic will change is when a major crisis forces him to alter his old
self-defeating habit patterns. If your mind has been programmed or
conditioned to believe false data and distorted concepts and values,
you will develop a lifestyle to justify them. Then, seeking to prove
you are right, you will collect and make the facts fit. You become like
a dog chasing its tail. One false belief leads to another until you
can't function rationally. Your number one priority in life is your own
well-being and the expansion of your awareness. By expanding your
awareness, you will remove the "mistaken certainties" which have been
keeping you from being the self-confident person you would like to be.
You do this by:
1.
Ceasing to automatically and arbitrarily defend your personal
viewpoints of "right" and "wrong." Defending them makes you unteachable
and blocks the reception of new ideas. You must learn to screen the
entries but still keep the door ajar.
2.Reassessing your concepts, values, beliefs, ideals, assumptions, defenses, aggressions, goals, hopes and compulsions.
3. Reorganizing and understanding your real needs and motivations.
4. Learning to trust your intuition.
5. Observing your mistakes and correcting them; being aware that herein lie some valuable lessons.
6. Loving yourself and others.
7.
Learning to listen without prejudging and automatically thinking, This
is good, That is bad. Training yourself to listen to WHAT is being said
without the necessity of believing it
8. Noticing what you are usually defending.
9. Realizing that your new awareness will provide you with the means and motivation to change for the better.
Before you can change your life to a more positive experience, you have to get the total picture of yourself.
|
|