Do Our Belief Systems Need a Good Spring Clean?

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Do Our Belief Systems Need a Good Spring Clean

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Where do our beliefs come from? Are some more helpful to us than others? If they are actually causing us (or others) harm, is it possible to change our minds?

As individuals, we canconsider which of our beliefs contribute to our personal happiness and quality of life.If our beliefs include: "I am useless, hopeless, worthless and one of life's victims,"we can perhaps see thatit might be a good idea to let go of those now and replace them with a different set, such as: "I am as good as anyone else, I am ready to have a go, I do have some strengths and talents I can use and life's pretty OK on the whole." Self-help books abound with advice on how to do this.

What might be a little more challenging is for us tore-examine the beliefs that affect not only ourselves butall of us and the world we live in.
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When some kind of thought or idea arises in the mind - maybe as a result of something we heard from a parent, a teacher, a friend, the media or some other source - we may become attached to it and take ownership of it so that it becomes our "own opinion", even without any evidence to support it. We may then screen out any evidence to the contrary and seek support for our opinion from other people until it becomes a belief.

Any new thoughts, experiences and ideas may then be influenced by the beliefs we already hold until we become so entrenched in our particular world-view that we are prepared to do more or less anything to defend it;perhaps evengoing to war and killing other people who hold a different set of beliefs.

If two people hold different religious beliefs, for example, and are prepared to go to war because of them, it's worth asking: would their beliefs have been the same if they had been swapped at birth and each had grown up as a member of the other's family and culture? If not,are those beliefs reallyworth fighting for?

Are we stuck with our beliefs or is it possible that we can change them if we choose to do so?

Is it possible that some of our beliefs arise from the fear of not having them? Even if we know that they are not actually based on logic, scientific evidence or anything in our own direct experience, might we still hold on to them as a kind of insurance policy to protect ourselves from the threat ofwhat might happenin the unlikely event that they do turn out to be true?

It may be that much of our prejudice against people who do not share our beliefs comes not from our desire to convert them to our way of thinking but from our fear of the possible actions that we think they might take as a result of their beliefs; actions which we imagine may put at risk our lives, our loved ones, our livelihood, our lifestlyle or our standards of human decency. Whether or not this perceived danger actually exists, perhaps the fear of such consequences may be so powerful that it overrules reason and causes us to act in the very ways we feared that they would act.

When our beliefs are the kind which compel us to behave in ways that are harmful to ourselves, to other people, to other species or to the planet we live on, then perhaps we might want to think about taking a fresh look at them and asking if there might be other viewpoints which could be more helpful to us, as individuals and as a species.

The following are a few examples of some beliefs for you to consider. It's not an exhaustive list. For each of these "A"s and "B"s you might think of your own"C"s and "D"s but, just for now, think about the ones that are given here.

This is not a question of which are "right or wrong" or what we "ought to" believe. We can simply ask ourselves which of the following are the most helpful to us if we choose to ensure the continued survival of our own species and of life on this planet.

A) We are completely separate from the world and from each other.

B) We are all one, made of the same "stuff" and interdependent.

A) It doesn't matter how we treat each other.

B) When we hurt each other, we hurt ourselves, since we are not separate, we are all one.

A) The universe is made of matter, which is mostly lifeless and inanimate and floats around in an empty vacuum.

B) The universe is a continuum composed of "light matter" which we can see and "dark energy" and "dark matter", which we can't see. On a subatomic level, all of it is made from vibrating energy, including own bodies which constantly renew themselves by exchanging energy (as food, heat, air etc.) with their surroundings. The atoms that make up our bodies were created in the hearts of suns. We are not just in the universe, we are part of it. We are one with the universe.

A) Only the human brain has sufficient complexity to allow it to be aware of its own existence. Mind is an "epiphenomenon" arising from matter inside the brain.

B) Since the universe includes all human brains as well as everything else, then it must, by definition, also be complex enough to be aware of its own existence. Perhaps matter is an"epihenomenon" arising from mind.

A) Everything happens by random chance and there is nothing we can do about it.

B) Quantum Physics has shown us that events at a sub-atomic level are influenced by the presence and intentions of an observer. There may be much that we can do to direct the flow of change and alter our experience of reality.

A) Mankind was given dominion over the Earth and therefore has a right to exploit and use its resources for his own purposes.

B) As the one species with the freedom of movement, skills and intelligence to affect the global environment at will, mankind has the responsibility toprotect and respect all life and to preserve the beauty of the earth for its own sake as well as for future generations. What we do to the Earth affects us. We are one with the Earth and with all living and non-living things.

A) Some people are superior to others and can use and exploit them as commodities on the basis of gender, race, class or any other reason they consider to be valid.

B) All human beings have equal value and none have the right to harm or exploit others. We can rejoice in our diversity while at the same time knowing that we are all one and behaving accordingly.

A) There is a God who is separate from man and can be loving but can also be vengeful and jealous and who needs and requires us to do particular things to keep him happy and to earn his rewards after we die, and this may involve killing other people.

B) If there is a universal field of fields which is conscious of its own existence and from which everything arose, then we are all part of it and are one with it. If we call this "God" then God is everything and, being everything, God needs nothing. Nothing is required of us. However, if we choose to be happy and to survive as a species, we must require of ourselves that we live in peace with each other.

A) We will either be rewarded in heaven or punished in hell after we die, depending on how we behave in this lifetime.

B) We create heaven-on-Earth and hell-on-Earth by the way we behave in this lifetime. This is not a divine reward or punishment, it's the natural consequence of the choices we make.

A) People are born sinners and atonement is the way to seek forgiveness for those sins.

B) The word "sin" was originally an archery term meaning "missing the mark". The evil acts we do are only possible because we see ourselves as separate and our own needs as more important than anyone else's. Sin is normally overcome by "at-one-ment."

A) The best way to change people's behaviour is to punish them, take away their freedom or threaten them with violence or eternal damnation.
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B) Since the actions of people arise from their beliefs, the only way to encourage people to respect each other and live together in peace is to enable them to widen their viewpoint to include the possibility that we are all one.

Imagine a world in which a majority of children grow up with the beliefs that are mostly "A"s.

Imagine a world in which a majority of children grow up with the beliefs that are mostly "B"s.

Which would you choose?

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