OUR BELIEFS GENERATE THEIR OWN REALITY, EXPECT FROM OTHERS

Our beliefs may generate their own reality. Discuss. Also explain do we get what we expect from others?

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true. Mainstream psychology and related disciplines have traditionally treated belief as if it were the simplest form of mental representation and therefore one of the building blocks of conscious thought. Philosophers have tended to be more abstract in their analysis and much of the work examining the viability of the belief concept stems from philosophical analysis.

The concept of belief presumes a subject (the believer) and an object of belief (the proposition). So, like other propositional attitudes, belief implies the existence of mental states and intentionality, both of which are hotly debated topics in the philosophy of mind whose foundations and relation to brain states are still controversial.

Beliefs are sometimes divided into core beliefs (that are actively thought about) and dispositional beliefs (that may be ascribed to someone who has not thought about the issue). For example, if asked "do you believe tigers wear pink pajamas?" a person might answer that they do not, despite the fact they may never have thought about this situation before.

HOW BELIEFS ARE FORMED

Psychologists study belief formation and the relationship between beliefs and actions. Beliefs form in a variety of ways:

·       We tend to internalize the beliefs of the people around us during childhood. Albert Einstein is often quoted as having said that "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." Political beliefs depend most strongly on the political beliefs most common in the community where we live. Most individuals believe the religion they were taught in childhood.

·        People may adopt the beliefs of a charismatic leader, even if those beliefs fly in the face of all previous beliefs, and produce actions that are clearly not in their own self-interest. Is belief voluntary? Rational individuals need to reconcile their direct reality with any said belief; therefore, if belief is not present or possible, it reflects the fact that contradictions were necessarily overcome using cognitive dissonance.

·        The primary thrust of the advertising industry is that repetition forms beliefs, as do associations of beliefs with images of sex, love, and other strong positive emotions.

·        Physical trauma, especially to the head, can radically alter a person's beliefs.

However, even educated people, well aware of the process by which beliefs form, still strongly cling to their beliefs, and act on those beliefs even against their own self-interest. In Anna Rowley's Leadership Theory, she states "You want your beliefs to change. It's proof that you are keeping your eyes open, living fully, and welcoming everything that the world and people around you can teach you." This means that peoples' beliefs should evolve as they gain new experiences.

OUR BELIEFS MAY GENERATE THEIR OWN REALITY

Our personal beliefs play a huge role in how we view our own life. Your estimation of your successes and failures will depend entirely on the framework of your personal beliefs. Our beliefs provide a structured process through which we evaluate everything in our lives.

We develop our personal beliefs about reality based on how we interpret the world around us according to our observations and experiences. There are two major components or aspects that contribute to your personal beliefs, an emotional component and a logical component.

THE BLENDING OF LOGIC AND EMOTIONS

In some cases, a belief starts out much like a theory. Assumptions are made based on logical observations and deductions. In other cases, a new belief grows out of an emotional viewpoint that seems to be supported by logic.

It’s the blending of these two major components that form the basic structure of our personal beliefs. Through the window of these beliefs, we try to make sense out of the things going on around us. We also use them to form assumptions about probable future results.

 ACCEPTED AS FACTS

Once established, beliefs are accepted as fact and are rarely subject to scrutiny. They become our “personal operating system.” Much like the operating system on your computer, our beliefs control how we sort and file every bit of input data.

Everything we see, experience, think and feel is adjusted to fit with our beliefs. In other words, our version of reality is a creation of our beliefs. Our personal operating system disassembles and reassembles all input data to conform to what we believe.

THIS IS NOT A CONSCIOUS PROCESS

Many of our beliefs were established in childhood and have outlived their usefulness. Others are leftovers from situations and circumstances that are no longer relevant. Why is this important?

Well, imagine trying to run your current software on an ancient version of windows, or some other obsolete operating system. The results would not be very satisfying. The same could be said of obsolete belief systems that are still influencing how we evaluate everything in our lives.

BELIEFS NEED TO BE UPGRADED

As we learn and grow, many of our former beliefs will no longer serve us. They have outlived their usefulness. In the final article in this series, we will look at some effective techniques for upgrading your beliefs. Before we get to that, it’s important to understand how our beliefs impact our current perspective.

Understanding that the mind is only creative can help us grasp the power of beliefs. George Orwell once said that “myths which are believed in tend to become true.” This is especially true on an individual basis.

By now, most of us realize that our perception of reality is heavily influenced by our beliefs, but the full extent of this influence is often underestimated. Each of us has a variety of methods for altering our reality so it conforms to what we believe to be real. Each of us is a reality alteration expert.

YOUR INTERNAL MAP OF REALITY

From the moment you entered this life, your subconscious mind has been busy collecting and processing information. Combined with your experiences, this information is used to create your beliefs about who you are as a person, and how you fit into the world around you.

 

Because these beliefs are based on your evaluation, and emotional conclusions of your personal experiences, they are accepted by your subconscious as being absolutely true. Your subconscious mind then uses these personal “truths” to construct your personal version of the real world. In other words, your beliefs become the foundation of your internal map of reality.

TO THE MIND, YOUR MAP IS REALITY!

The way in which your map is constructed will determine many aspects of your life. It will be a major determining factor in your success or failure, your happiness or unhappiness, and your satisfaction or dissatisfaction with your entire life experience.

Remember when people believed that the world was flat? That belief completely changed the way they viewed and interacted with their world. It didn’t matter that the world was really round. They believed it was flat and that belief had a powerful influence on their version of the real world. It changed the way they interpreted the facts.

WE CUSTOMIZE THE FACTS TO FIT OUR MAP

If we have created a map where opportunity is everywhere, that’s what we will see. When our map is based on opportunity, we won’t view challenges as obstacles because that wouldn’t harmonize with our map. So we interpret the facts in a way that allows them to fit in with, and support, our internal map of reality.

Here’s the catch. For most people the way the map creates their reality on a day to day basis is completely outside of their conscious awareness. And because the process takes place on a subconscious level, they don’t see how they are creating their own reality. Instead of feeling like something they created, it seems like it’s coming from an external source.

THE MAP IS NOT REALITY!

We also create an emotional attachment to our map. It’s our personal version of what is real and we have a vested interest in verifying its accuracy. We want it to be real because it’s familiar, and that makes us feel safe and secure. This is why we are willing to distort, or even ignore, almost anything that might undermine our map.

Despite our best efforts though, sometimes our map of reality comes unraveled. Usually this involves emotionally charged events that don’t fit the map, and can’t be ignored. It’s like basing your map on a flat world, and then discovering you were wrong. Now your world doesn’t make sense anymore and your map falls apart.

YOU ARE NOT THE MAP

For personal growth to occur, the map needs to be redrawn from time to time. The reason this change feels scary is because most people don’t realize that it’s only a map. They feel like their actual reality is imploding. Like their life is coming completely unraveled.

What is actually happening is their map is being updated to include new information. Being aware that it’s just a map, and not actual reality, makes it much easier to just let it happen. We know that the old map no longer serves us, and that the new one will. But this awareness requires the acknowledgment that we are not the map, and that we create the map based on past beliefs.

DO WE GET WHAT WE EXPECT FROM OTHERS

The more you expect the more you get less. This is a very common logic answer to what I see around me. If you are less demanding the more you get attention. I guess this is just but natural in people in their relationship with other people. From parents even if we don't expect from them, as parents they think it is their moral obligation to help their kids for as long as they alive which makes a difference between human parents and animal parents. From friends or relatives, it is much better to expect the least because once you expect more the more you get disappointed, so yes less expectation less pain. But then again for as long as human live, they will always expect things to happen that is why he never stops even reaching beyond the universe to get what he wants, to reach for his starts even at the expense of others..sad truth!

THE BELIEF-EXPECTATION CYCLE

To better understand the Belief - Expectation Cycle, consider this example:

·         Experience.  Teacher embarrasses you in front of others.

·         Belief.  I’m not smart and/or teachers are mean.

·         Expectation.  I’m stupid and/or teachers will always treat me that way.

·         Behavior.  Refusal to study, i.e. What’s the point of studying for a test because I’m stupid? (and/or) I’ll act up in class since teachers will embarrass me anyway.

The way to stop the Belief – Expectation cycle is to intervene between the Experience and the Belief stages of the cycle. We must choose God’s truth as our new belief. When we replace the old lie with God’s truth, then the other parts of the cycle will change.

Think of an example of an ungodly belief that has operated in your life. What experience got this belief established? What expectations and behaviors come out of this belief? Are you ready to change this belief? Let’s do it!