WOW! He's Got Great Definition-s

No, I’m not talking about the guy that goes to the gym eight times a week. I’m going to talk about the definitions we find in our dictionary and how they relate to our beliefs, which in turn affect our perception. If you have been reading my posts you know that I believe that our perception creates our reality – all of it, and since our beliefs heavily influence our perception it seemed logical to address them.

What do definitions have to do with beliefs? Just about everything. The trouble with beliefs is that there are surface beliefs, mid-level beliefs and root beliefs. The root belief is the Big Lebowski, while the mid-level beliefs and the surface beliefs attach themselves to the Big Lebowski and act as influences. We can look at gravity, time, health and aging as examples of root beliefs. We take them as absolutes and therefore do not question them. Each one has near limitless influences. For instance, one belief that influences our belief in gravity is that falling one foot is not going to hurt as much as falling thirty feet. A belief that influences the root belief of time is that time moves more quickly when we are having fun than if we were watching the second hand go round. A belief that influences the root belief in health is that we can be invaded by infectious microbes. In this case our root belief in health holds that health is fragile and must be defended. It has occurred to few of us that health is our birthright and that it is only our beliefs that weaken that birthright.

One of our greatest root beliefs is our definition of who we are…humans. Other beliefs that have influenced that root belief is evolution, Darwinism, science and religion to name but a few. The dictionary defines human as having human form or characteristics. That doesn’t say much. The human form is pretty straight forward, but characteristics is chock full of beliefs that are influences on how we perceives ourselves and therefore create our reality. What might you draw as your experience if you hold as truth the influencing belief that humans are a blight on nature? My guess is that you will experience evidence of that belief everywhere. Or, consider the belief that humans are nothing more than a cosmic coincidence, an accidental mutation of a few Neanderthal genes, who in turn were a result of a few random gene mutations of Australopithecus. With these influencing beliefs our only power lies in the fact that we have larger brains than those who came before us. There is no real power in beliefs like that.

Consciousness is a mid-level belief that Seth has called core beliefs. We believe that consciousness exists and is contained within the brain and is actually generated by the brain. With these influencing beliefs it is no wonder that we ignore all the indications that say otherwise. Out of body experiences and brief glimpses through time become unreal and so imagination and therefore awareness is stifled. You get what you believe and I am not talking about believing through thought. You can’t say to yourself, “I believe I can walk through a wall,” and then walk through the wall. The root belief is still solid and that IS the root belief; matter is solid. Change our definitions of ourselves and of consciousness and everything else will fall in place. Nearly all that we experience can be traced back to those two root beliefs. Influencing beliefs can always be traced back to the root belief, but we must pay attention to what we do in the moment, for the influencing belief can only be identified in that moment. This is why it is so important to pay attention to the NOW.

What we do leads us to the influencing belief and from there we can climb down the ladder, first to the core belief and then to the root belief. Look at the layers of belief like a tree. The influencing belief in the moment can be likened to a leaf. We work our way backward to the twig upon which it grows and then to the branch. The branch leads to the core belief, which can be likened to the trunk of the tree, and then the trunk will lead us to the root. We operate within a forest of such metaphoric trees, for we live in a belief driven reality. It is part of our blueprint.

Let’s look at the root belief of aging and how the metaphor of a tree will influence how we age. The definition of the root belief is to grow old. We age from the moment we are born, but not all of us reach old age. It is the aging process that I am concerned with here, for aging is a process and that process is completely influenced by all the beliefs that form the trunk, the branches, the twigs and the leaves. All of us experience the various influences we individually hold as beliefs attached to the root. You know what yours are. Mine are probably similar, the differences being a matter of degree. The branches of the root belief of aging and of health interweave and affect each other, for our forest is dense. If one of your beliefs is that you are too old to kayak down a level four whitewater then you will not experience that, even though you may have noticed that some folks your age have experienced a level four kayak adventure. You probably couldn’t do it even if you tried because you have solidified your influencing belief into a truth.

You might say that individual has worked out all their lives and is a product of good genes (another influencing belief). Your thinking is influenced by your beliefs. I hold many of the beliefs that you hold regarding aging, but possibly unlike you I have always believed that you are as old as you feel. How I feel in any given moment, however, is also influenced by my beliefs attached to the root beliefs of aging and health. The difference now is that I have begun to identify those beliefs and the identification of them has allowed me to choose differently in each moment. They are beginning to loose their hold as fact and truth.

I am 63 years-old. I run on average 40 miles a week and will run a marathon in October. (I’ve run over 40 of them). As a 40 year-old I ran a 15:23 5K (4:57/mile pace) and recently ran a 21:19 5K (6:57/mile pace). The difference in time is in part a result of my influencing beliefs about aging. There are many others, but I’m sticking with aging here. I have a belief that me as a 63 year-old cannot run as fast as the me I was at 40. I believe that my body cannot withstand the same training that I did at 40 and that at 63 I will amplify the body effects of less training. At the same time that I hold these limiting beliefs I also hold the belief that my age will not limit me from doing what I want to do. I want to run, and within limits I don’t care how fast I run. It’s all interwoven. My resting heart rate is 55 and my maximum heart rate is 170. My body responds to my beliefs about my body. At 40 my resting heart rate was 40 and my max was 210. I have a belief that with a max heart rate of 170 I cannot run as fast as someone who has a max heart rate of 210. Influencing beliefs reside within every moment we create. I won’t get in to how preserved my body looks or doesn’t look. I’ll let those who know me decide for themselves. It is, after all, their individual perceptions of me.

One last point. What we consider to be facts are real, but they are real for each of us due to beliefs that we hold as absolutes. When you see a fact as a fact and not as a strongly held belief you will not be able to alter the fact. Find the influencing belief, follow it to its root belief, accept it and you just might find that the fact isn’t quit the fact you once believed. Happy hunting.

Bill Marshall