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In this Article, I want to discuss Jou aling relative to discovering what we Believe and, perhaps, how our Belief Systems have affected and/or created our present Reality. It may come as a surprise, but few individuals know what it is they believe, only periodically becoming upset and angry when the Beliefs are challenges
In this Article, I want to talk about the significance of labeling what we experience on a moment-to-moment basis. In thinking about this, I called to mind the statement: "The Map is Not the Territory." This statement comes from General Semantics, which Alfred Korzybski created in, I believe, around the mid-'90's. The basis of Korzybski's approach to understanding human behavior is that we are enslaved by our language; as I recall, he was a mathematician.
In this article I want to ruminate around the power of our thoughts, as well as the words we use, to create our reality, which is what the Law of Attraction is about. It doesn't matter it we believe in it, or not, we are all living the Law of Attraction.
Few individuals give any thought to the question, "Who am I?" Even when some personal crises strikes, rarely does anyone ask this critical question of themselves. If pressured to come up with a verbal self-portrait, most would probably respond with a summary of what he/she believes, as well as what he/she has done in their lives.
Recently, I watched a short video presentation by Dan Dennett, a modern Western Philosopher, who considers himself a Philosopher of Consciousness. He indicated that other modern Philosophers look down on him with scorn, because they believe there is no such thing as, "human consciousness." In his presentation he quoted an idea of another modern Philosopher, to the effect that, "All philosophy is based on rational arguments." Professor Dennett then went on to explain that, in actuality, what people consider to be their consciousness is a, "bag of tricks."
"The first thing to do, when you find yourself in a hole, is to stop digging," quipped one of our most beloved figures from the past, Will Rogers. Our current nearest, less humorous, equivalent is to, "Think outside of the box." Just as people have a hard time understanding how they can, "think outside of the box," (because they don't understand that their Belief Systems are, "the box"), when in a hole, they can't figure out how to "stop digging," (because it is their habitual ways of functioning in the world, based on various Beliefs, that causes them to, "keep digging.").
How many times have you told yourself, "It's just your imagination"? How many times, particularly when you were young, were you told, "It was just your imagination"? Have you ever told anyone, when they confided an experience to you, "It was just your imagination"?
I consider myself to be a Philosopher of Consciousness; to my philosophical thinking, what is most basic is, "what is real." Our Reality, currently, is determined by what we in the Western World have bee Indoctrinated and Programmed to Believe it is.
There is overwhelming social pressure to identify who we are to others with labels, and to put labels on other people. For example, it is hard, when we meet others socially, to keep from asking that person what they do for a living, as well as tell them what we do to earn a living. Suggestions on how to overcome doing this in a social situation have been around for a long time now.
The statement, "We only use approximately ten percent of our abilities" is familiar to many of us who came of age, or lived through, the '60s. This idea was attributed to William James. William James, the older brother of Henry James, the writer, is considered, by some, to be the father of American Philosophy. Other than that, "tip of the hat," he has been, for all practical purposes, ignored. My personal opinion is that this is because his ideas go counter to what we are supposed to believe about ourselves and our abilities.
The current advice being given to, "think outside the box" has not noticeably changed the way the vast majority of people think, as far as I can determine. The primary reason for this is that the puzzle presented by the injunction to, "think outside the box" cannot be solved without understanding that, The Box is made up our personal Belief System.
To start taking responsibility for ourselves requires getting to know who we are. We take much for granted in our lives; the part we take most for granted is ourselves--who we are as individuals, and what we stand for, (believe in). The vast majority of what we believe, we have bee Indoctrinated/Programmed to believe. We literally live and die according to those beliefs. Therefore, in order to begin to take responsibly for our own lives, and discover, "who we are," we must discover what we believe.
Time has been called, "The 4th Dimension" by some thinkers, but, at minimum, it seems to shrink or expand, not obeying any kind of "Natural Law." Individually, few of us feel like we have enough of it to do all we want to do, let alone making space and time for ourselves.
Everything has a Belief System; "everything," in this writing refers to all sciences, all religions, all cultures, (including their languages), and all professions. It also includes all fields of study, referred to as the "soft sciences," such as psychology, biology, sociology, geography, anthropology, and political science, as well as all theories of human behavior.
A general definition of, "normal," according to the dictionary, is: "conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; not abnormal; regular; natural." The Psychology definition is: "approximately average in any psychological trait, as intelligence, personality, or emotional adjustment"; also, "free from any mental disorder; sane."
In general, most of us are very careless about the words we use, or consider how the words we use could be affecting our life experiences, let alone tale responsibility for them. Currently, only a relative few individuals would give credence to the possibility that the words that we use, and those used by others in our hearing, can have an affect on us psychologically as well as physically. It is believed--we have been conditioned to believe--that words are, "just words."