What are some of the benefits of belief? Of taking a story as true? Of identifying with its viewpoint and the identity that comes from it?
One obvious benefit is that it helps channel attention and action, often with an element of compulsiveness.
We also get to explore what is inside of the story, the world and options available within that story.
We get to notice what happens when we take a story as true, the dynamics of taking a story as true.
We get to filter the world in a particular way, adding to the richness of experience.
We get to filter the world through a sense of an I with an other, and also the viewpoint of the story and its corresponding identity.
Of course, most of this can happen when we use a story as guide for attention and action, even if it is not taken as true. We can still use it to channel attention and action, we still get to explore the world through its viewpoint and identities. We still get to add to the richness of experience through it.
The difference is the drama and reality that comes when the story is taken as true. The story and what it creates – including a sense of a separate I – seems real and substantial, and we act as if it is. And that is the unique benefit of believing a story.
What otherwise may appear as a game (lila) is now taken as a real death-and-life drama. That is the real and juicy gift of beliefs.
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outline….
- the benefits of belief
- channel attention and action
- get to explore what is inside it
- get to notice what happens when take a story as true
- get to filter the world in that particular way, adding to the richness of experience
- get to filter the world through an I with an other + the viewpoint of the story and its corresponding identity