DAILY SLICES OF LIFE

 The Nature of Negative Beliefs

 “The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday they might force their beliefs on us.”                 

          This dramatic and powerful warning was delivered by Governor Mario Cuomo, the 52^nd Governor of the State of New York in 1984 in a landmark address he made at the University of Notre Dame. In saying this, he was defending the right of women to seek abortion, even though he himself, a practicing Roman Catholic, was personally opposed abortions. In spite of his own personal preference, he was insisting on the right of individuals to hold their own beliefs without having to be concerned about any kind of restriction or interference from others who disagreed with him. Even more than this, by this action he was publicly identifying the right of each individual to entertain his own beliefs without having to obtain permission from anyone else. The statement was further intended as a direct warning that by trying to force others to accept our beliefs, we might be encouraging them to feel free to force their own beliefs on us, against our will.     

          The overwhelming power of belief on human behavior is as old as man himself. Throughout the ages philosophers have tried to find reason without success, except to note, as Plato had done, in the 4^th century BCE, the fundamental fact that:

“What you believe becomes your truth.”

Over time, the truth in this statement has been tested on endless occasions, and under a variety of contrasting situations and conditions, without ever faltering. Even at a personal level, every one of us has, at some time or other, found ourselves holding firm to and accepting implicitly a belief as the truth, even as the objective evidence seems to be strongly disagreeing. In fact, history has readily demonstrated that such a tendency has always been a major shortcoming of human nature in general, and has been the source of untold suffering and pain experienced by humanity over the centuries. Brian Tracy, the very successful Canadian motivational speaker and prolific author, offered a convincing explanation when he observed:

 “Whatever you believe with conviction, becomes your reality;

 whether or not it is true or false.”

          Indeed, wrong beliefs are, and have always been, mankind’s major shortcomings, and the ones that have caused more disharmony and conflict than any other actions in human relations. Because of our basic tendency to develop faulty or inadequate perceptions of stimuli we do not understand, we end up creating our own paradigms in our minds, using our distorted lenses. And then, we proceed to firmly believe them, irrespective of the truth, and we even try to persuade others of their validity. Unfortunately, because of our basic human insecurity and vulnerability, we tend to deliberately change the truth to suit our own purposes, or to satisfy an overzealous desire to control and to dominate. When this belief becomes entrenched, it distorts any attempt at reason or logic, and may even become an obsession. This has led to an endless number of interpersonal, family and group disagreements, as well as local and international conflicts, all of which could well have been preventable, if reason and understanding had been allowed to take place.

          Beliefs define how we see the world, and how we choose to act in it. Everything we do, or think of doing, or try to avoid doing, is a direct reaction of one or more beliefs drawn from our belief bank. More than anything else, this ability differentiates the human being from the rest of the animal kingdom. For, while the entire animal kingdom will spend its whole life on earth just responding to instinct, survival, and to need, the human being will spend most of his life on earth trying to satisfy his beliefs, even when these override his instinct, survival and need. Unlike the other animals, the default state of the human brain is to accept, so that to believe always comes much easier than having to doubt or reject. This clearly may not be the most efficient way to get the best opportunities out of life, but it is understandable, when one considers that man has evolved from exceedingly primitive beginnings. It also explains why our beliefs are more often based on the uncritical acceptance of subjective receptions, and not on the obviously better way of using abstract thinking such as reason and idea:   -We tend to act as we feel, and not as we should!

         The impression that our beliefs are generally based on knowledge is not strictly correct, for while knowledge is objective, belief is predominantly subjective. In fact, the actual basis of knowing something is true, is completely different from believing it to be true. Knowing relies on understanding the appropriate sensory stimulations received in order to arrive at conclusions, while, in belief, there is always a leap-of-faith component that causes its unique and special characteristic. The fundamental difference between having knowledge, which requires input from both the senses as well as reasoning and logic to arrive at a conclusion, but belief, adds the extra component of emotion, so that, ‘if it looks and feels right, then it is right.’ A person who looks at a mirror knows that the image he is seeing on the other side is a reflection of himself, but if, for any reason, he believed that the image was not himself, he will try to reach it by going around or through the mirror. Henry David Thoreau, the 19^th century American author, philosopher and a leading member of the transcendental movement, placed this in the right context when he noted:

“It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you see!”

         Beliefs therefore, should never be seen as merely the result of wrong attitudes, teachings or influences. They are, in fact, the result of a complex interaction of multiple factors that combine together to produce the effect. They depend on not only personality, emotion, cognition, past experiences, attitudes, but also some degree of reason and logic. When any one or more of these are faulty, the final result will be distorted and appear as belief. Once established, this becomes embedded in the person’s psyche as an absolute truth, so that anything else will only be perceived as a reflection of the belief, or rejected as untrue. But beliefs are certainly not all meant to be malicious, nor are they meant to deceive. In fact, in the great majority of instances, well-founded beliefs have served as the cement that binds communities together, and encourage growth and expansion. They serve also, the very important role of providing a meaning to living, supplying answers for their concerns, and supporting social organization and common identity. The world’s religions stand out as particularly good examples of the great benefit of common beliefs. They have survived and thrived in every single culture, held together by common beliefs and by the sense of attachment, particularly during times of uncertainty and confusion.

         Many respected psychologists have suggested that beliefs are essential requisites for survival within a diverse society, where to survive, requires finding ways to express or conceal one’s feelings, so that they avoid having to conform. A very good example is the current controversy over denial of the effect of vaccination. The people who express this, even against all evidence or reason, do so, not out of malice, but rather as a subconscious need to hide their own fears and insecurities, by using language that reflects attention from their failings. To them, the deception is not meant to be malicious, but the only way they know to achieve some notice. Steve Case, the enormously successful entrepreneur, founder of AOL, and a master at the art of denial, placed this in the right context when he stated:

“It is not how to get started, but how to get noticed.”

         There is no doubt that beliefs can hinder or help what a person experiences, how he feels and what he thinks. They inform and dictate what we do and to some extent, what we become and how we relate with others. But since the great majority occur at a subconscious level, we are largely unaware of their existence, and therefore not able to objectively determine their effect. But still in fact, beliefs are thoughts and thoughts can be changed, with the right kind of milieu and with understanding, even the strongest belief can be altered. This, I believe is what Bruce H, Lipton, an American biologist and authority on the biology of belief, was trying to explain when he advised:

“The moment you change your perception, is the moment you rewrite the chemistry of your body.”

-This indeed, is the dilemma caused by negative beliefs. Once established, they will continue to grow by a process of perseverance, by becoming receptive to proof that supports it, while sieving out any information to the contrary.

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