Finding the roots of a fervently held belief isn’t easy. They’re stealthy. We’re fed values and opinions from the moment of our birth. Culture delivers norms and customs that drive our behaviors. If I parse a belief down can I find its origin? Is it so foundational other certainties are built on it? If I choose to modify a foundational belief, will my life fold like a house of cards?
These are questions that if examined deeply and honestly impact my self-concept, which my ego depends on for my identity. But if I ignore them I could be just a collection of habits, repetitive acts, routines and duties.
Beliefs can be benign like: body weight goes up and down depending on how much I eat and how often I exercise. Personal experience, critical thinking and recognized health experts help establish evidence this belief relies on.
Some beliefs are trickier; like politics. Someone told me they belong to a particular political party because they’re fiscally conservative. They couldn’t easily substantiate their belief with accepted facts or personal experience, but were confident in their stance.
Faith can be a conviction that requires fealty not facts. The question I may want to ask myself; am I okay with the world reflected around me? That world has a direct correlation to what I believe. If I don’t like what I see, maybe a deep and honest look at things is warranted.
Reading the works of Neville Goddard has me reflecting on the concept I have of myself.
“. . we illuminate or darken our lives by the concepts we hold of ourselves.”
“Because life molds the outer world to reflect the inner arrangement of our minds, there is no way of bringing about the outer perfection we seek other than by the transformation of ourselves.”
“We can rely absolutely on the justice of this law to give us only that which is of the nature of ourselves.”
On an external level I know who I am. I understand many of my motivations, intentions and desires. Could I tell you where they came from? Perhaps. Maybe I could identify their origin, but unless I investigate how can I know if they’re true to me or a default product of my upbringing and environment?
Using the reflective mirror of my life allows me to scrutinize what I see, and if I don’t like it – dig deeper; determine what doesn’t serve me and consider making a change.
“A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to.” – Byron Katie
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