Everything that we each individually know about our reality is this intricate combination of things believed and known, and frequently, the line that distinguished between known and believed is blurred or even non-existent. Anything in our personal reality that is based on incorrect belief creates gaps in our understanding of reality. These gaps give rise to the illusions that generate our internal confusion and make us vulnerable to external manipulation.
There are certainly similarities in everyone's concept of reality. Differences exist in each individual conception of reality because there are innumerable subtle nuances of our respective interpretations of reality on top of the broad brush similarities making everyone's particular situation unique. Thus, there is no one size fits all solution for everyone's unique personal journey of self discovery. Everyone has to create their own personal reality perspective, and belief is an important part of that process.
Belief is one of the most important things that we have to do, and it is a relatively difficult undertaking for which no formal instructions exist describing how to do it correctly. The consequences of poor choices can be dire, but when it comes to making belief choices, the burden of responsibility for that belief choice rests solely with the individual who made or accepted that choice.
While it is true that there are many forces at play trying to manipulate what you believe, it is also true that everyone ultimately believes what they choose to believe. As such, everyone bears the burden of responsibility for those things they have chosen to beliefs. This simple matter of being honest about belief degree of certainty is very important.
Passive believers are those persons who just adopt notions as beliefs without adequate questioning or verification. These people are basically inclined to believe things they are told by persons they regard trustworthy, and their threshold for trustworthy can in some cases be quite low. Lower thresholds of trustworthiness tend to create a much greater risk of vulnerability.
There are two huge problems with this passive approach. First, manipulation of passive belief is the primary (perhaps only) mode of operation of external manipulation. Passive belief can render someone utterly defenseless against their assault. Secondly, it is also by far the least useful (as in not useful at all) in the process of evolving your understanding of anything. Intellectual evolution requires the thinking and critical analysis that are not being used in passive belief. Thinking and critical analysis are important steps in believing effectively, and believing effectively is required to ultimately discover the core truth of existence.
There is another approach to believing where the individual believer is actively involved in the process of deciding what to believe. Active believers are those persons who question everything to carefully and rigorously test the validity anything being consider for belief. Everything including input from highly trusted sources are subjected to rigorous scrutiny. Active believers expect every beliefs to ultimately become knowledge. If it cannot stand the rigorous scrutiny, it is eventually discarded.
There are many advantages to the practice of active believing. Certainly, the chances of being manipulated by others are significantly reduced, and adoption of correct beliefs greatly increases the likelihood of happiness and success in life. It is also the only approach to believing that can be used to really understand the truth about anything and especially the ultimate truth about everything.
The key to active believing is an approach that is structured around these guidelines:
1) Believe in your intuition: Everyone has some intuitive ability. Common phrases like ‘I had a hunch’ and ‘It just didn't feel right’ implies that intuition is a common human experience to some degree. Be cautiously open to intuitive impulse, and believe with reservation what your intuition leads you to believe. Just like muscle mass, if you don't use it, you lose it. Just never forget that these things intuitively believed could be wrong. Challenge them relentlessly to establish their validity, and always remember, the intuitive mind and rational mind are a team.
2) Don't be foolish: Too many people are all too willing to accept baseless notions on a blind faith basis (belief without question). Blind faith is foolish on so many levels, and by its very nature (the suspension of ongoing verification analysis), it incapacitates any possibility of forward progress which is not a good thing. Consider whatever you think is inspired by your intuition, take ideas and recommendations from trusted others into consideration, but never accept anything on a blind faith basis. If it is worth believing, it can withstand intellectual scrutiny.
3) Avoid Package Deals: Be wary of collections of ideas that are taught as a package deal. Frequently with package deals, you end up 'believing' in something that you didn't even really know because you didn't read the fine print in all the doctrine. Large package deals are impossible to rationally consider and are rarely worthy of consideration.
4) Beware Threat and Intimidation: Ideas that can’t stand on their own are frequently marketed under some threat of dire consequence if you fail to believe. Any idea promoted based on fear typically has no merit. Pass it by.
5) Challenge Your Beliefs: Always have a clear understanding of those things you believe and distinguish them at all times from the things that you definitely know. The inability to distinguish between belief and proven fact is the root cause of so many hurtful things. As beliefs are successfully challenged over the course of time, it will become more and more trusted, perhaps even to the point of clearly being known to be true. Never rush that process of verification.
Belief is the only starting point mechanism available to get to the truth about our reality, but done incorrectly, it is also the mechanism that can cloud our perception of reality to create the various illusions that impede our progress.
It is one matter to intellectually understand this concept of the nature of belief, but it is quite another to actually experience and know it. It is only by actually knowing and experiencing the truth of this concept that we are freed from the illusions and bondage that results from these gaps in our understanding.
Don’t be afraid to believe incredible things, but don’t be foolish. It is fine line to be tread between the liberation of truth and the bondage of illusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment