Unlike many other creatures, humans come with very little
in the way of hard-wired behaviors.
Rather than being guided by instinct, we humans rely on learned
behaviors and we learn those behaviors from other humans. This process begins in utero and continues
throughout life. Most of our core ideas
are laid down before the age of six when we begin to develop critical thought. So, who we are today mirrors the psyches of influential
people that we met as babies. Our
assumptions about the world were installed then. Being assumptions, they are invisible to us
but they run our behaviors just the same.
When I look back at my life, I see some repeating patterns
that I don’t like. I’d like to change
them. I know that deeply held beliefs control
my thinking, choices and behavior. The problem
is that these beliefs are unconscious. They
were laid down while I was unaware and incapable of individual choice. They are invisible to me.
I’ve learned a way to surface these beliefs. I bring a pattern of outcomes to mind, like
my tendency to keep myself financially minimized, and I ask the question, “What
would a person have to believe to get this outcome?” Then, I start to imagine
possible answers to my question until I sense that I am getting close to the
truth. This is all theoretical but it
can get me to the point where I can begin to install remedies to those
undesirable beliefs and change my outcomes.
Sometimes, awareness alone is enough to pop these
beliefs. When the infantile thought
meets the light of day it may be so out-of-sync with my adult self that it is
laughed off the stage.
One thing I found that can help is affirmations. It takes a bit of discipline (which sometimes is elusive for me) but they do work.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Affirmations, along with visualization are the main tools that I have found to overwrite those old beliefs. Persistence pays off. I can tell that my efforts are working when I see changes in what I'm getting in life. In terms of what my beliefs are, my life is my printout.
DeleteIn your very first post - seeing the world through your own filter - is the key I believe. If you only foster thoughts that support the existing belief you will continue with the same results. Instead, believe that everything you do is guiding you on the path that you seek and you are already surrounded by the final destination...
ReplyDeleteBingo! We agree. Your ending comment about being surrounded by the final destination is pure gold. Emotionally experiencing the final end result of a desire, "as if" you are already there is the most powerful way to get there.
DeleteThis is exactly why I am unable to separate the world inside of myself with the world outside of myself. They seem to be exactly the same. As within so without.
ReplyDeleteTaoist philosophy would say that within doesn't work without without, and without doesn't work without within.
Look at those words.!!! They work perfectly well but so odd and revealing. Our Language sometimes uncovers concepts out of the depths of our attention. I feel so with- the in and also so with- the out. This is also why two things that Joe said caught my attention. The First; "The solid world exists only in our perceptions", diminishes the without to a virtual reality disconnected from the very within that creates it. The second; "Thoughts become Things", more accurately describes the connection between inner and outer. Where the shape of our consciousness influences the shape of our lives we can predict that the shape of our lives has an influence on the shape of our consciousness.
Within and without are two sides of the same coin. "Within" is my consciousness. "Without" is the manifestation of the world. There is a reciprocal relationship, a feedback loop, between the two. My consciousness, my thoughts, are mirrored in the seemingly external world that I experience. If I am paying attention, I will observe the outcome of my thoughts in the world and learn from it. That may cause me to change my thoughts and, therefore, the world that I experience. I think that's what you just said.
ReplyDeleteYou and I use different terminology at times but, I think we are in essential agreement.
We Agree.
ReplyDeleteI just become frustrated when the world is considered an illusion and my senses false. My perceptions may not directly experiance everything but what i do perceive is true.
That's a good point. Our experience of life is mainly what we access through our physical senses and very little else. The whole magnificence of that has an integrity that cannot really be argued. It is our personal truth and, as such, it IS true. The fact that we are sometimes able to perceive truths through subtler means than the senses does not diminish their gifts. Those truths merely enhance our experience of reality.
ReplyDeleteThe only reason for accepting the idea that our reality is not what it seems is to allow us to consider the possibility that something as insubstantial as a thought, a pattern of energy, can have any effect on the substantial reality that we perceive. Realizing that reality is composed of patterns of energy, we can intellectually entertain that idea and act on it without relying on mysticism or the supernatural.
In my opinion, there is no such thing as the supernatural. We humans just hang that term on things that we have not yet been able to understand. Everything in creation is lawful whether we have been able to comprehend the law or not.
It is correct but misleading to state that solid things vibrate. It is more accurate to say that vibration causes solidity.
ReplyDelete