Change your mind, and your will change your life...
Change your life, and your will change your mind...
~*~ Introduction ~*~
Now days we can find tons of sources that promise us anything we dream about
(The Secret is one of them), and all of them speak about transforming the beliefs we have,
in order to accomplish the desired.
While the idea itself might be valid,
the process and implication of changing the beliefs is not presented by those sources
wholeheartedly and accurately.
My goal is to gather the existing studies of beliefs
and present it on these pages, in addition to sharing my personal experiences of transforming
the beliefs. The hope is to shed the light on this subject and to acquire the deeper authentic
understanding of the belief system.
I don’t promise that this will get you anything you desire
and I’d suggest that you run away from those promises, it is pure marketing business. Nevertheless, I believe, at the end of this “intensive”,
if you sincerely follow it, you will get your hands on valuable knowledge of your belief system.
~*~ Day 1 ~*~
For the next few days I will be posting the definition of "belief"
presented by different sources.
The information that is out there is abundant, so I will narrow down my search to
the most appealing and descriptive sources.
The idea is to look at it from different
angles, and at the end summarize and come up with the definition
that will be used in further discussion of "belief".
Contemporary analytic philosophers of mind generally use the term "belief" to
refer to the attitude we have, roughly, whenever we take something to be the
case or regard it as true.
To believe something, in this sense, needn't involve
actively reflecting on it:
Of the vast number of things ordinary adults believe,
only a few can be at the fore of the mind at any single time.
The distinction between acceptance and belief can be supported by appeal to
cases in which one accepts a proposition without believing it
and cases in which
one believes a proposition without accepting it.
~*~ Day 2 ~*~
Our brains and nervous systems constitute a belief-generating machine, a system
that evolved to assure not truth, logic, and reason, but survival. The belief
engine has seven major components.
The man of intelligence does not believe in anything and does not disbelieve in anything. The man of
intelligence is open to recognizing whatsoever is the case.
Only in a non-believing intelligence can truth appear. When you already believe,
you don’t allow truth any space to come to you . Your prejudice is already
enthroned. You cannot see something that goes against your belief.
A clear mind is needed, an intelligence is needed that does not cling to any
belief. Then you are like a mirror: you reflect that which is; you don’t distort
it.
An intelligent person is neither an [atheist] nor a [religious fanatic]. An
intelligent person does not believe, does not disbelieve. That is not his way.
He looks into life and whatsoever is there he is ready to see it. He has no
barriers to his vision; his vision is transparent.
"Only those few people attain
to truth."
Belief Quotes
I feel most deeply that this whole question
of creation is too profound for human intellect. A dog might as well
speculate on the mind of (Isaac) Newton! Let each man hope and believe what he can.
Charles Darwin
I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish
Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems
to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father,
Brother, and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished.
And this is a damnable doctrine.
Charles Darwin
What a man believes may be ascertained not from his creed,
but from assumptions on which he habitually acts.
George Bernard Shaw
“For those who believe, no proof is necessary.
For those who don't believe, no proof is possible.”
Stuart Chase
“It is not disbelief that is dangerous to our society; it is belief”
George Bernard Shaw
“I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.”
Bertrand Russell
These then are my last words to you. Be not afraid of life.
Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.”
William James
~*~ Day 4 ~*~
Belief and Skeptical thinking
Skeptical thinkers must realize that because of the survival value of
beliefs, disconfirming evidence will rarely, if ever, be sufficient to change
beliefs, even in "otherwise intelligent" people. In order to effectively change
beliefs skeptics must attend to their survival value, not just their
data-accuracy value. This involves several elements.
First, skeptics must not expect beliefs to change simply as the result of
data or assuming that people are stupid because their beliefs don't change. They
must avoid becoming critical or demeaning in response to the resilience of
beliefs. People are not necessarily idiots just because their beliefs don't
yield to new information. Data is always necessary, but it is rarely sufficient.
Second, skeptics must learn to always discuss not just the specific topic
addressed by the data, but also the implications that changing the related
beliefs will have for the fundamental worldview and belief system of the
affected individuals. Unfortunately, addressing belief systems is a much
more complicated and daunting task than simply presenting contradictory
evidence.
Skeptics must discuss the meaning of their data in the face of the
brain's need to maintain its belief system in order to maintain a sense of
wholeness, consistency, and control in life. Skeptics must become adept at
discussing issues of fundamental philosophies and the existential anxiety that
is stirred up any time beliefs are challenged. The task is every bit as much
philosophical and psychological as it is scientific and data-based.
Third, and perhaps most important, skeptics must always appreciate how hard
it is for people to have their beliefs challenged. It is, quite literally, a
threat to their brain's sense of survival. It is entirely normal for people to
be defensive in such situations. The brain feels it is fighting for its life. It
is unfortunate that this can produce behavior that is provocative, hostile, and
even vicious, but it is understandable as well.
The lesson for skeptics is to understand that people are generally not
intending to be mean, contrary, harsh, or stupid when they are challenged. It's
a fight for survival. The only effective way to deal with this type of
defensiveness is to de-escalate the fighting rather than inflame it.
Becoming sarcastic or demeaning simply gives the other person's defenses a foothold to
engage in a tit-for-tat exchange that justifies their feelings of being
threatened ("Of course we fight the skeptics-look what uncaring, hostile jerks
they are!") rather than a continued focus on the truth.
Skeptics will only win the war for rational beliefs by continuing, even in
the face of defensive responses from others, to use behavior that is unfailingly
dignified and tactful and that communicates respect and wisdom. For the data to
speak loudly, skeptics must always refrain from screaming.
Finally, it should be comforting to all skeptics to remember that the truly
amazing part of all of this is not that so few beliefs change or that people can
be so irrational, but that anyone's beliefs ever change at all. Skeptics'
ability to alter their own beliefs in response to data is a true gift; a unique,
powerful, and precious ability.
It is genuinely a "higher brain function" in
that it goes against some of the most natural and fundamental biological urges.
Skeptics must appreciate the power and, truly, the dangerousness that this
ability bestows upon them. They have in their possession a skill that can be
frightening, life-changing, and capable of inducing pain. In turning this
ability on others it should be used carefully and wisely. Challenging beliefs
must always be done with care and compassion.
Skeptics must remember to always keep their eye on the goal. They must see
the long view. They must attempt to win the war for rational beliefs, not to
engage in a fight to the death over any one particular battle with any one
particular individual or any one particular belief. Not only must skeptics'
methods and data be clean, direct, and unbiased, their demeanor and behavior
must be as well.
You're in the middle of a meeting at work, but your mind keeps drifting
to the parent-teacher conference you have tonight ... and the car you have to pick
up at the shop on the way home ... and how you wish you hadn't skipped lunch because
the rumbling in your stomach is driving you nuts. Then, suddenly, you're back in the moment,
hoping nobody noticed your brief "departure."
It may seem as if your brain is always on the go. And it is. The brain not only controls
what you think and feel, how you learn and remember, and the way you move and talk, but also
many things you're less aware of — such as the beating of your heart, the digestion of your food,
and yes, even the amount of stress you feel.
Brains can be extremely complex. For example, the human brain contains roughly 100 billion neurons,
each linked to as many as 10,000 other neurons.
The brain is made up of three main sections: the forebrain, the midbrain, and the hindbrain.
The forebrain is the largest and most complex part of the brain. It consists of the cerebrum — the
area with all the folds and grooves typically seen in pictures of the brain — as well as some
other structures beneath it.
The cerebrum contains the information that essentially makes us who we are: our intelligence,
memory, personality, emotion, speech, and ability to feel and move. Specific areas of the
cerebrum are in charge of processing these different types of information.
These are called lobes, and there are four of them: the frontal, parietal, temporal,
and occipital.
The things we've done, learned, and seen are first processed in the cortex (the hippocampus), and then,
if we sense that this information is important (I'll write about it in the next article) enough to remember permanently, it's passed
inward to other regions of the brain (such as the neocortex) for long-term
storage and retrieval. As these messages travel through the brain, they too create pathways
that serve as the basis of our memory.
Memory consolidation, broadly defined, is the process by which
recent memories
(short-term memories) are crystallized into long-term
memory. The term "consolidation" is used to refer to different
levels of organization:
Molecular consolidation: The molecular process by which long-term
conductivity of synapses is affected. Memory consolidation occurs after training
(e.g. an exposition to a stimulus-response pair).
Network consolidation: Many researchers believe that episodic
memories are initially stored in the hippocampus
and are slowly moved (or 'consolidated') into the neocortex.
Hippocampus – an area of the brain involved in navigation and the initial storage
of memory known as a short memory.
The neocortex is thought to be responsible for permanently storing most long-term memories, including those
required for higher-level cognitive functions, such as language and complex thought.
The neocortex is part of the cerebral cortex. It is the newer portion of the cerebral cortex
that serves as the center of higher mental functions for humans.
Brain = behavior, there isn't anything else
"a person's mental activities are entirely due to the behavior of nerve
cells ... and the atoms, ions, and molecules that make them up and influence
them" ... Francis
Crick, The Astonishing Hypothesis
"it never ceases to amaze me that all the
richness of our mental life - all our feelings, our emotions, our thoughts, our
ambitions, our love life, our religious sentiments and even what each of us
regards as his own intimate private self - is simply the activity of these
little specks of jelly in your head, in your brain. There is nothing else" ...
Vilayanur
Ramachandram
Conceptual knowledge is an example of the short-term memories.
Beliefs are consolidated memories
in the neocortex, thus, beliefs are "hard wired" (molecular) connections of 100 billions of neurons.
Neurons are the basic information processing structures in the central nervous system.
Yes, that is exactly how many beliefs we store in our brain/neocortex during the lifetime, mostly,
when we are young.
Before we see how neurons process information, (and what that means), you
need to know a few things about the structure of neurons. (coming up next)
~*~ Day 6 ~*~
Belief and Neurons
Except for germs like viruses and bacteria, just about every other
living thing on Earth is made of cells. This is probably why cells are
called the building blocks of life. It is estimated that the
average human adult body contains about 10 trillion cells.
Neuron is the main cellular component of the nervous system, a specialized type of cell
that integrates electrochemical activity of the other neurons that are connected to it
and that propagates that integrated activity to other neurons.
Neurons are the basic information processing structures in the central nervous system -CNS.
The function of a neuron is to receive INPUT "information" from other neurons, to process
that information, then to send "information" as OUTPUT to other neurons.
(Synapses are connections between neurons through which "information" flows from
one neuron to another.) Hence, neurons process all of the "information" that flows within,
to, or out of the CNS.
All of it! All of the motor information through which we are able to move;
all of the sensory information through which we are able to see, to hear, to smell,
to taste, and to touch; and of course all of the cognitive information through which we are
able to reason, to think, to dream, to plan, to remember, and to do everything else that
we do with our minds.
Processing so many kinds of information requires many types of neurons;
there may be as many as 10,000 types of them. Processing so much information
requires a lot of neurons. How many? Well, "best estimates" indicate that there are around
200 billion neurons in the brain alone!
And as each of these neurons is connected to between 5,000 and 200,000 other neurons,
the number of ways that information flows among neurons in the brain is so large,
it is greater than the number stars in the entire universe!
Things
that are learned early in life are the hardest to change or unlearn.
Early conceptions of the world, even if lost to consciousness, remain
a part of our memory and may influence our behaviors in some very
interesting ways.
Children
attempt to explain and make sense of their world in terms of their
experience. By the very nature of their limited number of years,
their experience is not very wide or deep. Their interpretations of
the world, why things happen, is extremely limited and often very
inaccurate. Nevertheless, these early interpretations are often the
groundwork upon which later, more accurate and sophisticated
explanations are based.
People
seem to have a need to repeat unrewarding situations in the present
that are remarkably similar to unhappy situations and relationships
that occurred in their childhood.
While
one part of the personality seems to be actively engaged in trying to
redo the past in a more favorable or successful manner, another part
seems determined to make sure that the present turns out exactly the
same as the past. This is certainly a more difficult motive to
understand since it seems designed to continue a painful,
frustrating, even self-defeating situation.
Who
we are, our sense of self is a product of all the experiences that
have impinged upon us. Every time we say "I am good at writing,"
or "I can't play tennis," or "I am not very good at
arithmetic," or "Athletics are really my great strength"
we are making a statement about some aspect or ourself, our identity.
Over the years, we add to and modify parts of that identity. The
process goes on without our having to give it much thought. Often,
discovering who we are becomes a complicated process of reviewing
influences that have had an impact without our realizing it.
Sometimes, the review process--the getting to know ourselves--holds
some very real surprises as well as confrontation with some real
contradictions that exist within our personality.
