Some Observations about Beliefs - Part 1

This is not about religious beliefs, but rather our beliefs about everything...

Everyone has a wide collection of Beliefs in their head. Further, we each have a dozen or so KEY Beliefs, that effectively run our life. Note that most of these are not religious in nature. (In Part 2 I share with you what mail list of Beliefs are. Part 3 is more about Beliefs, including how to get others to change their Beliefs.)

Beliefs are:

— “rules” (assumed truths) we use to respond to people and events, how we make decisions, etc. (i.e., how we understand and manage the world),

— the basis for our “self-talk”, (which most of us take for granted), and

— the foundation of our “values”.

Our Beliefs are learned from: our personal experiences, our thoughts, parents, friends, society, media, religion, etc.

Many of our Beliefs can be summarized into metaphors, proverbs, idioms, or axioms (e.g., “haste makes waste”). These exist not only because that have some truth to them, but also because they are memorable.

Beliefs can be very beneficial as they:

1) help us to conceptualize what we’ve learned in prior experiences,

2) save us the time and effort so we don’t have to “start from zero” in every situation, and

3) help us solve the challenges of life by giving us a basis for acting consistently.

Our Beliefs lead to our actions happening — and determine our happiness. Here’s the general sequence, starting with the fact that each of us has a unique set of Beliefs…

The problems with Beliefs are:

1) as generalities, they are rarely always correct, even though we assume they are,

2) since they are in our subconscious, we are often not aware of what they are,

3) most of us do not routinely examine our Beliefs for accuracy,

4) sometimes an otherwise correct Belief may be used where it is not appropriate,

5) when we are faced with evidence that contradicts one of our Beliefs, we tend to dismiss it as an exception, and

6) when we really want to change a Belief, it takes concerted effort to do it.

---------------------------------------------------

A key takeaway: Our Beliefs Control Our Happiness…

---

Here are other materials by this scientist that you might find interesting:

Check out the Archives of this Critical Thinking substack.

WiseEnergy.org: discusses the Science (or lack thereof) behind our energy options.

C19Science.info: covers the lack of genuine Science behind our COVID-19 policies.

Election-Integrity.info: multiple major reports on the election integrity issue.

Media Balance Newsletter: a free, twice-a-month newsletter that covers what the mainstream media does not do, on issues from COVID to climate, elections to education, renewables to religion, etc. Here are the Newsletter’s 2024 Archives. Please send me an email to get your free copy. When emailing me, please make sure to include your full name and the state where you live. (Of course, you can cancel the Media Balance Newsletter at any time - but why would you?

Thanks for reading Critically Thinking About Select Societal Issues! Please pass a link to this article on to other associates who might benefit. They can subscribe for FREE to receive new posts (typically about once a week).