Belief System - Tune your mind !!!

I believe we all consciously or unconsciously follow some belief system. To start, it is important to know what is belief? When we say “I believe” what does that imply? Is it reality of the subject about which we say I believe? OR it is something close to reality but not reality? Confused?

Let me try to define belief. “Belief is assuming something as reality which you might not have experienced, but people who create a perception of it being real have experienced it. This perception created in your mind conceives BELIEF SYSTEM” and you don’t have a reason, not to assume it as reality. Belief is cousin of Reality. Belief system can be related to personality, religion, ideology, societal, political etc. It could be truth or it could be illusion.

Taking a generic example, you haven’t visited Switzerland but, you believe Switzerland is beautiful & mesmerising. Because you have heard from people, seen it in movies so you virtually feel it is beautiful & develop this belief. Do you connect with the statement? I am sure you do.

Whereas, “reality is substantiated by facts, your own experience. Interchangeably we can call reality as FACT SYSTEM”. This case can go against your perception. Sometime back I went to Beijing with my boss who is a US citizen. Now, here I had a belief that US is more developed or advanced than Chinese cities & Beijing may not be even closer. Here comes the conflict of my experience in Beijing with the belief that it is equal or better than US cities, this belief is based on my boss’s experience. So, the Fact system took over the belief system and changed my perception. This isn’t as complex as it may sound. Go through above para again, you will get clarity.

One interesting thing is the conviction with which we speak about our beliefs or belief system. Take for example some spiritual guru, scores of people follow them without a doubt. This is based on their belief system where they find it as virtual reality. Look at any leader, whether Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Gandhi or anyone for that sake. Do you think people followed them based on their experience? No, not at all, it was belief system. Look at the youngsters falling trap to terrorist organisations, it is based on the belief system they have, may be manipulated as belief system could be based on someone else’s thoughts, experience or opinions.

Belief system is game of our mind. Perceptions are developed in mind and mind converts in to belief and tells you that this is reality, which may not be the case. It is also important to understand that you need to develop right belief system which you follow. This points out at the dire need to tune our mind. “Either you tune your mind, or the mind tunes your actions”

How do you check whether you have right belief system, do you need to change it? How do you change your belief system?

There will always be a tussle between logic & belief. Keeping it simple, the only way I find to tune mind is to continuously tell it to find logic before believing it to the core. Once you start doing it, for sure, many times you would be able to ascertain what is right and what is wrong and whether your actions should be tuned by your belief or you need to change your perceptions and hence belief system. This is more like course correction of your life’s ship. You need to have certain checkpoints, time to time introspection and once you identify that you are off track, you present yourself an opportunity to correct your own course, which can help you get wonderful results.

Right Belief System can work wonders. Imagine, your belief system tells you that you can be the best in whatever you do, this can motivate you to work harder, smarter, be disciplined and move in the direction of your own set goal. Is it really difficult to have right belief system? Right or wrong becomes subjective here, as it is going to be based on your own perspective. Question your perspective whether it is going to harm any relation, or emotions or people or your work etc. If your answer is yes, then you must correct your perspective to develop right belief system.

Belief system is like rudder of your life. You need to control rudder. If you leave it lose, you lose your direction and destination. That is why our it is said, better pave your own way than waiting for someone to do it for you