222: Your Beliefs Are Stories

Humans are hardwired to feel that their beliefs are real. We filter all that we see and hear through our beliefs and think that the world we perceive is objective reality. There is so much evidence to prove that all beliefs are just made up stories. Why do we make them up? In order to feel that our lives are on solid ground. There is an upside to that. There is also a major downside. Our beliefs often clash with the beliefs of others. If we hold on to our narratives tightly we will experience discord, even violence and unhappiness. Also, if we insist that our beliefs are object reality, it becomes hard for us to empathize with and understand people with very different beliefs than others. And, our blindness makes us vulnerable to unconsciously adopting beliefs that can harm us and others. A great example of a belief that was passionately held as true was the idea that the German people were the master race,and that Jews were subhumans who should be exterminated. We must not forget that a large segment of German society embraced that belief without question. More importantly, the people who embraced Naziism were, for the most part, ordinary human beings like you and me. The moment we get beyond our fear of letting beliefs go and accepting that they are stories, we step into the power to create any narrative we want to enrich and empower our lives.