Beliefs determine how we see, interact and experience the world around us. Beliefs are ideas that are made after repetition and contemplation, that are accepted as truth and reality and therefore impact how we see life.
Belief and knowledge are often in conflict. The difference might be subtle, but substantial. Knowledge is something that you and others, who might be considered experts in that field, consider to be true and there is reasonable, plausible, and provable scientific explanation for that knowledge.
A belief on the other hand is founded on personal experience or only on faith.
Too many people require you to accept their belief based on blind faith. Belief is not knowledge and therefore usually not provable beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Remember, its wasn’t long ago that people believed the world is flat, and that we thought women were witches, hunted them down, and then burned them.
Welcome to belief, which is based on superstitions, or ignorance.
Ignorant humans who once believed that the Earth was the center of the universe, and that it was flat. Really demonstrated that what really was FLAT was the human ability to think outside the box and perceive something that others could not observe.
When scientists discovered great things, hundreds of years ago, they were imprisoned, tortured and murdered. The Catholic Church did not want people to see clearly, and therefore stopped the voices of these researchers.
Actually, during that time in history it was thought to be common knowledge that these ancient flat world beliefs were true. Even though humankind was sincere in its primitive beliefs, those beliefs were not true and by not believing as the others told you to, you were subject to arrest, imprisonment, and torture which often lead to death.
Times have changed. Today, things that you believe have changed, and you may believe in something so firmly that you count it as knowledge. When, in fact, there may be considerable evidence from the past experience that a particular belief is a truth,” its only truth for you from your personal experience. Just because you believe it is true, does not make it true. Although it might become a truth for you personally, by believing it you are limiting yourself by holding on to self-limiting beliefs.
The trick is to pull back the veil and see the real truth. That is one that is universal and does not need to be believed, it just is. These are referred to as universal truths. They exist and work beyond our own self-limiting beliefs. They forge and work through the universe and in our lives.
Gravity is a truth. Believe in it or not. Its still a real truth. If you drop something it will fall to the ground. If you trip, and fall, you could hurt your butt. You can only fall DOWN, you don’t fall up.
Now this is only a truth that exists here on Earth under normal circumstances. There are other forces that can resist this law such as a strong wind. You may have been programmed since childhood to conceive things that you thought to be true – but, once you realized that they were not true, you may have wondered why you wasted time and energy believing in them at all.
Take the case of Santa Claus. You thought that he was real. You believed that by some mystical miracle he went around the world in one night and brought presents to every well-behaved child. You may have further believed that he ate the burnt cookies you left for him, and he drank that horrible lactose free milk. You believe that it was all related to your doing good things and not bad things, and that Santa was well, almost like God!
There was strong evidence to your belief:
Your parents told you he was real. (You trusted your parents unquestionably)
The cookies were eaten and the milk glass was empty. Even the crumbs disappeared.
There were presents under the Christmas tree in the morning.
You saw Santa at the supermarket, and you had a picture of Santa to prove it.
Your cousins believed in him too.
All of this evidence pointed toward knowledge, you just knew he existed. It pointed to a truth in that not only did you know he existed, everyone around you knew also. This belief as you found out was not true. It had shaped your view of the world as a child and still may have a lingering impact on your current belief system.
The point is that there are other things that you may believe are true, but are not. You have been told things all your life for a variety of reasons: to make you feel better, to be funny, to hurt you, because other people believed it was true, and for other noble and not so noble reasons. You made the choice whether to believe what was being told you. You weighed this information and decided whether it fit or not into your already existing belief system. You either rejected the idea straight out, accepted it as part of what you already believed, or it changed your belief system.
Beliefs are very powerful, and they do shape our reality. If you believe in something strong enough, it becomes real in your life. There is a universal law that states that likes attract like. If you believe in something strong enough it not only becomes your reality, it attracts similar things in your life.
Suppose you believe you are clumsy. Your parents said you were clumsy, your coach as school did and so did your friends. They told you that you were an accident waiting to happen. You thought this to be true. Your whole life you tripped over your shadow. Not only did you believe this, but you also created the reality and circumstances of being like that.
Examine your beliefs and draw back the veil. “Well, I’ll be. They seem to have repeatedly hypnotized me to trip myself up — all my life” well, I’ll be! And, then you don’t have to be! It’s all your belief.
Dr. Jay Polmar, author of Thinkright, was a teacher and instructor at colleges and universities in the Southwest and Hawaii about the quality and power of Thought being an active force in creating the alignment of your life. Learn more in Thinkright.
Strengthen your own belief with ThinkRight ThinkRight and have a great life!, and ThinkRight and have a great life!