Beliefs Matter

Issue 33

hcz.org

Beliefs matter because they create our experiences, our realities. Beliefs themselves are nothing more than the thoughts we think over and over again — sometimes consciously, often not. (And, for the record, it’s the law of attraction, not me, that explains how repeated thinking creates reality.) Sometimes our beliefs are derived from conclusions we make about what we experience. Mommy and Daddy fight all the time, just like Grandma and Grandpa. I conclude: couples always fight; relationships are hard. I’m only three, four, five, but those beliefs are locking in, without me or anyone knowing it.

When I’m 25, 35, 45, struggling with intimate relationships, I’m wondering why. I’m inclined to blame my bad experiences on the wrong people showing up. It’s their fault. Obviously. Friends and even some therapists will support me in this. Or maybe I’ll learn from someone more “conscious” that I’m responsible for what I’m creating in my life. I’ll be shown that it’s actually the beliefs I have — that couples always fight and relationships are hard — that explain why I chronically have the experience of the wrong people showing up to create, with me, hard relationships rife with fighting. I’ll learn that when I change those beliefs, my experience(s) will change, too.

Other times we come to our beliefs when parents/family members, teachers, clergy, friends, community, society, media, and other influencers tee them up, repeatedly, for us to swallow whole. Money doesn’t grow on trees. Life is unfair. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Boys don’t cry. The world is a dangerous place. Ours is the one true religion. Got it. Thanks.

In politics the dynamic appears thusly: I am passionate about and committed to “greening” our lives, but I don’t believe it’s going to make much of a difference. I am passionate about and committed to ending poverty, but I believe there will always be poor among us.

Before we continue, let’s stipulate that everyone out there has a right to whatever beliefs they have. And because we don’t ever know what experiences they’ve had or what conclusions they’ve made about themselves and life, or who their teachers and influencers were, we don’t judge/we offer compassion. That my conclusions about life made complete sense when I was five is not the point. That nobody checked to see what beliefs I was forming back then is not the point. That I don’t really agree with my family or society on everything is not the point. The point is, the question is, can I get to where I want to go with the beliefs I have? Can I be well-compensated for a job I love doing if I have a belief that I can’t have what I want or that good jobs don’t pay well? If not, we conscious folk learn to keep our foot on the gas of what we want (the good-paying job) and get our foot off the brake of what doesn’t align (I can’t have what I want).

It’s the same when it comes to beliefs we share collectively. Continuing in our judgment-free vein, beliefs are neither right nor wrong, good nor bad. Simply, they serve us or they don’t. In politics the dynamic appears thusly: I am passionate about and committed to “greening” our lives, but I don’t believe it’s going to make much of a difference. I am passionate about and committed to ending poverty but I believe there will always be poor among us.

Personally, I can’t imagine ever telling anyone what to believe. That’s not my job. It is my job, however, apparently, to always encourage us to know what it is we do believe. If it was as forthright and simple of a process as it seems, I wouldn’t hear “I had no idea I had that belief” as often as I do. And going from “I was not conscious of having that belief” to “I choose what to believe” is what “being conscious” is all about. Here are some beliefs, then, from the ethers of society, presented for your review with two intentions: 1) to get used to the language of beliefs/what they sound like and 2) to encourage greater awareness of what we do/don’t believe. Often all we have to do is see/hear a belief that we absolutely do not ascribe to, to understand more about the ones to which we do ascribe. Please add any of your own to this not-exhaustive, in-no-particular-order list:

You can’t fight city hall.

They’re all crooks.

The government is evil.

We’re too polarized.

It’s their fault.

Clinton was the worst president ever.

Someone else will do it.

You can’t fight city hall.

The 1969 moon landing was a hoax.

Liberals are crashing our economy.

Conservatives are crashing our economy.

Politicians can’t be trusted.

Other people are:

I’m stupid when it comes to politics.

Government is the solution.

Government is the problem.

Nothing will change.

People don’t vote in primary elections.

Elections are/aren’t fair.

The party holding the presidency always loses seats in midterm elections.

It doesn’t matter what I do or say.

It’s a lost cause.

Taxes are for suckers.

We all believe all the time. Conscious politics practitioners believe on purpose.