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It is also the basic right of each individual to have the choice not to believe in any greater power than oneself. Sadly, people have a tendency to make others like themselves, and in some societies faiths and beliefs are not allowed to remain a matter of personal choice. How many people have ever really questioned what a belief is, how it occurs, or why we hold onto it? Society does not make it easy for anyone who thinks differently. Perhaps that is why few people appear to think very deeply.
We might agree that we have been, in many ways, collectively taken in by the shallow promises of success, trading our uniqueness for false security and materialism. We accept whole-heartedly the belief that our body will grow old, cease to function well and finally, within a particular timeframe, die. This belief is a deep-rooted concept as old as our memory, or the memory that we believe in. Yet we are capable of other memories of other times when this concept was not the only reality. Generally, we dismiss these thoughts of other possibilities and realities, even if they do occur to us. Our belief system is strong so we get what we believe, which can be very little. Almost all human beings have been indoctrinated with rigid concepts that define the society they form. Most believe that their answers will come from outside sources. Some believe that many lifetimes are spent living what appears to be a haphazard series of events. Often people imagine death as a dark, empty space at the end of so-called life, and accept this black and white, limited concept as reality.
Humanity is slowly moving on. There are some thinkers amongst us who have new ideas and are prepared to go beyond all that has ever been known, experienced, believed or conceived before. They do not accept that there is nothing new under the sun. Ideas such as the ability of man to fly or to harness electricity and invent television, might have seemed strange years ago, but this didn't stop them from becoming a reality. Even now, voices that are different may be hushed or ridiculed, but their time will come too. This is inevitable. These people, who dare to be different and go beyond ideas of the past, are indeed our future. They open doorways in the consciousness of us all, to ideas beyond what has already been realized.
The idea of reality created by past philosophers and thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, and more recently Freud and Einstein has been little challenged or changed, except by a select few. In some cases it has been followed blindly for thousands of years. This is quite understandable, when you think that so many people are too busy earning the basic necessities for life to have time or even the inclination to really think. Einstein said: "They are two ways to live your life. One is as though there are no miracles, the other is as though everything is a miracle." This shows us that he too recognized that there is more than one reality and way of life. Many people cannot envision enough belief in themselves to realize that they are just as capable of having original thoughts, and that they could go beyond all that is currently being accepted by mankind. "Concepts, which have been proved to be useful in ordering things easily, acquire such an authority over us that we forget their human origin and accept them as invariable." wrote Einstein. Humanity at large is based on the thought patterns of a few, and barely changes, even when it appears to do so. But on the positive side, people are now beginning to want to believe in themselves, and to reclaim the power they thought was lost, only to discover that it was there all of the time. This includes the power to heal.
Nothing is only ever as it seems
Have you ever been away from home, for say a week or 10 days, and noticed that everything looks and feels different when you return? You may notice objects and shapes that you had stopped noticing before. So to take a break from your present reality, to step out somehow is a good way to get a fresh perspective and to see things as new, or should I say, to see things in the present moment and more of how they actually are. When you are very young, your perception is very different. As small children, we revel in the imagination. But for most of us there comes a point, often starting when we begin school, where we begin to be taught what is real and what is not. We are taught by people doing a job, whether they believe or not in the concepts of the reality they are teaching. Most often, our parents go along with this process. An element of fear drives everyone involved, as no one wants the child not to be able to fit into the accepted reality by which we all live. What might be called an overactive imagination in children is deemed "undesirable," even if the words are not expressed as such. We are taught to be focused in the here and now, to have a firm grip on reality, and to be able to work with the mind in logical directions and patterns. These are all goals to be achieved and then praised for having achieved them. Yet at the same time, we see parents, teachers and others struck with a sense of awe when a child comes out with a statement which is deemed profound yet makes no logical sense. Even though these adults are perpetuating the importance of logical concepts, just for a moment they come back again to be in touch with themselves, as they listen with wonder to a child's profound, wise and magical thoughts. A child's imagination is often seen as wondrous, enjoyed from time to time, but is many times stifled and kept firmly in its place. It is no surprise that as adults many of us have difficulty in letting go and allowing our imagination to run free when we do give ourselves that freedom.
A child's reality is full of colors and vibrations, unformed thoughts all going on at the same time. And it is the same for all of us as adults, even if we are not aware of it. In early childhood it is clearer, simply because before a certain age is reached, and the mind begins to "make sense" of the fabulous and rich array of senseless matter, we see things how they are. The sense comes into play as we begin to learn, and are taught, that this is black and this is white. From then on, we accept that what we believe is order. In many ways, we stop looking and seeing. We no longer really look at a chair or a flower. We have no need to. We already believe we know exactly what it is. We have been told what it is and then later have told ourselves many times just what that object is, so we stop looking. Then we begin to believe that nothing is new, that there is nothing to look at. It could be many years later when perhaps for a moment we step out of our conditioning and happen to notice that a flower is giving off a light or subtle energy, that it feels and moves, and is very much alive. Then we are once again delighted and somehow surprised that we did not notice it before, yet this flower was always there to be noticed. We had just stopped looking.
Each and every day we have a choice of how to be and how to perceive reality. Yet most of the time we just go along with life and are not particularly aware. Reality even becomes boring and usual, made stale by custom, and also totally solid somehow. We may even feel imprisoned by that solidness. We search for things out there, things that are different and have other meanings, not even noticing all that is around us and before our very own eyes, because we simply stopped looking and seeing a long time ago. We grow also to see our lives and ourselves in very fixed ways. We grow to believe what we see is the sum total of us and how everything is. We become blasé. At times our perception can become so narrow that what we see is a very small picture indeed.
A wakeup call
Life does not have to mean pain. We can turn the corner of the path that mankind presently walks and choose instead to live in a state of bliss and joy. The choice is here, clearly in front of us. The time to make that choice is now. Yes, it is time to wakeup. Are you listening? Are you really listening now? You do not have to be sick, poor or in pain. You can say today: "No more pain! Sickness, poverty and pain are no longer a part of my reality."
It may often seem hard to be who you really are. I meet many people who are afraid of being perfect, brilliant, assertive or beautiful, simply because they have faced jealousy and aggression from others in the past. And yet, there is a part within each and every one of us that wants to shine and to be recognized. All of the time that we spend hiding and standing in the shadows, we make it harder for ourselves and for others to be who we really are, to be perfect. And worse, we build more strongly the walls, barriers and confines - the imperfect - that isolate us from our real self and blissful state of being. These confines and barriers become even more solid as we accept them, and as time goes by. They often have an anesthetizing effect on us. The truth is simple: we don't need these barriers and confines, and we don't have to accept them. One small step taken by individuals can bring a huge shift for humankind.
Self-belief
What makes us doubt ourselves and our self-healing abilities? Some people have doubts because of all the people around them who tell them to believe in others, rather than themselves. Others doubt because of all the small hurts, pains and disappointments that have accumulated throughout the years. Ask yourself where your doubts are coming from. You will need to look and deal with everything in your life that says you cannot practice self-healing or that it probably will not work. Sometimes the feeling and little voices of negativity and doubt within you will be loud, clear and easy to deal with. At other times, the doubts and fears may be subtle and not so easy to pinpoint. But there is an end to the process, so keep going. Remember, regardless of how it may seem, you do have the answers. How could you not? You are already "all that is," with access to all questions and answers. These may seem like empty words, but they form a truth and reality within us all.
During the self-healing process, it is important to realize how much belief exists in you the individual, or anyone else you may be helping to heal. Sometimes you may feel that you want to be well, that you have total belief in being well, and that you are following all the requirements necessary for healing to work, but you are not making the progress you want. In such a case, ask yourself how much you really believe in what you are doing, and what your blocks are. Blocks and non-beliefs will make themselves known at some point. Often people are surprised at finding their own blocks despite their belief that they were totally open to the process.
Even those of us who have had what we consider a perfect childhood and a relatively happy life have doubts, fears and mental or emotional blocks on some level, even if we don't recognize them. For others who have had difficult lives, these negatives are increased. For example, you might have moved and had to go to a new school. Perhaps you were popular and confident before the move, and then suddenly everything was gone. You felt very alone and insecure in your new school, and could not understand why people did not seem to like you. Perhaps a new brother or sister came along. You no longer felt secure in your family placement. Being told that you are stupid, not good enough or bad in any way, being beaten or abused on an emotional, physical or mental level, all take their toll on our self-belief.
There is no point in bringing blame for what we might have suffered at the hands of others in the past as children, but it is important to know that we can heal these emotional wounds as well as the physical ones. We can all move on and find happiness. But remember, even if you feel that you have had a perfect life, it's the small things that you may not even think affected you that really do leave their mark. These need to be healed and cleared.
In order to find and build self-belief again you will need to keep going, keep questioning and becoming aware of yourself. Remember also, these negative thought patterns about yourself do not only come from the past, but are developed often without awareness day by day. So be aware of your thoughts, because they are as real and solid as you are. I clearly remember some years ago, everything in my life was going great. I was on top of the world, feeling happy and having an absolutely perfect day. Just for a brief moment I thought: "It's almost too good to be true." Within hours, there was chaos; everything came crashing down around me and it took days to put things back together. I smile now when I remember that day; it was a good lesson for me to be aware of what one single thought can do.
Positive thoughts and the examination of your belief system are two simple but important aspects of self-healing. Remember, it's never too late to begin.
ADAPTED FROM THE ESSENCE OF SELF-HEALING: HOW TO BRING HEALTH AND HAPPINESS INTO YOUR LIFE. COPYRIGHT 2000 BY PETRENE SOAMES.
ISBN # 0-9700444-0-2.
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