What is a belief?
I can find a few different ways to talk about it, from my own experience.
OUR SYSTEM HOLDING A THOUGHT AS TRUE
Most simply, a belief is our system holding a thought – a mental representation – as true.
Our conscious view may align with that belief. Or it may not align with it, but our system – somewhere – holds it as true which colors our perception and life.
Often, it’s held as an exclusive truth that excludes other perspectives.
And it does involve some blindness, at a visceral level, to the nature of thoughts: As questions about the world. As mental representations, different in kind from what they point to (unless they happen to point to mental representations). As a map that, by necessity, simplifies and highlights some aspects of what they point to and leave much out. As a reflection of a very limited insight. (What we know is little and what we don’t know is infinite.) As provisional guides for our attention and life in the world.
IDENTIFYING WITH THE VIEWPOINT OF A THOUGHT
A belief is identifying with the viewpoint of a thought.
Any mental representation – words, mental images – come with a viewpoint.
When the consciousness we are identifies with the viewpoint of a thought, it takes the form of a belief in that thought.
We operate as if we are that viewpoint, and as if it’s true.
SENSATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THOUGHTS
A belief is created by the mind associating certain mental representations and certain body sensations.
The mental representations give meaning to the body sensations, and the body sensations give a sense of substance, solidity, realness, and truth to the mental representations.
In order to hold a thought as true, the bodymind needs to tense up certain muscles in order to create a more steady sensation in that area of the body. This, in turn, lends solidity, substance, and a sense of reality to the thought. If a thought is to be held as true over time, it leads to chronic tension and muscle contractions.
A WAY TO FIND A SENSE OF SAFETY
Beliefs are a way to find a sense of safety.
They may tell us something stressful or uncomfortable, and yet, at least we have some sense of safety from telling ourselves that we know. We know how it is.
In reality, there is no safety to find in mental representations. They are always questions about the world, whether we notice or not.
A DEFENSE AGAINST LOVE
Beliefs are a defense against love.
My nature is love. When my nature notices itself, I find I am (what a thought may call) love.
It’s not a love dependent on feelings or states. It’s a love that comes from the consciousness I am noticing itself, and noticing that the world – as it appears to me – happens within and as what I am.
It’s the love of the left hand removing a splinter from the right.
Beliefs requires identification with a viewpoint, in opposition to other viewpoints. It requires identification with something within the field of experience. It requires a release our of my nature noticing itself.
It’s a kind of defense against love, against my nature noticing itself.
CONTRACTION
A belief is a contraction.
It’s a contraction from what we are – that which the whole world, as it appears to us, happens within and as – to taking ourselves to be a part within the field of experience.
It’s a body contraction, since chronic sensations – supporting chronic beliefs – are brought about through chronic physical tension.
It’s a mental contraction – from finding fluidity and limited validity in a wide range of viewpoints to identifying and holding onto one or a few viewpoints as true.
It’s an emotional contraction – it brings about discomfort, reactivity, and defensiveness.
A WAY FOR CONSCIOUSNESS/LIFE TO EXPERIENCE SEPARATION
Beliefs are a way for the consciousness I am to experience separation. It’s a way for life to experience separation. It’s part of the play of consciousness and life.
As soon as a thought is held as true, the consciousness we are identifies with the viewpoint of the thought and – in its own experience – “becomes” that viewpoint. There is identification with something within the field of experience, and that immediately creates an experience of duality. I am this, you andthe wider world are that.
This is a remarkable achievement for consciousness and life, and adds to the richness of how consciousness and life experiences itself. It also comes with inherent stress, discomfort, and either low-grade or obvious suffering.
INHERITED AND PASSED ON
Mental representations are passed on, as is the habit of holding some of them as true.
They are passed on from our birth family, culture, subcultures, and so on.
We learn them, take them on, make them our own, and pass them on to others.
They are far less personal than they may seem.
For instance, just about every stressful thought is simple, universal, and shared by a great number of people.
Also, every thought was once made up by someone and passed on, modified, and eventually came to us.
EXPLORING THIS
These are just a few ways to look at beliefs, and they all reflect what’s here in more direct noticing.
How can we explore this? How have I explored it?
In the initial oneness shift, it was very clear that thoughts cannot even beging to touch reality. Thoughts are pointers and questions about the world. They cannot hold any final, absolute, or full truth. They have a temporary and practical function only.
Since then, I have explored thoughts through different forms of structured and guided noticing, also known as inquiry.
The Work of Byron Katie helps us identify and examine thoughts that our system, somewhere, holds as true, and find what’s genuinely more true for us.
The Kiloby Inquiries is a modernized form of traditional Buddhist sense-field inquiry.
The Big Mind process is a version of Voice Dialog and parts work that adds aspects of our nature, and it’s a way to explore viewpoints and their relationships.
The Big Mind process and the Headless experiments helps us notice our nature, and to recognize the nature of thoughts as well, along with their gifts and limitations.