The Unbelievable Mind

One of the most beautiful and terrifying things about being human is that we can believe anything... yes, literally absolutely anything.

I thought that this strange ability would have been viewed as a massive responsibility, but it isn’t.

It seemed to be dismissed as something that other people do. We see ourselves as the ones who have the correct beliefs. However, this isn’t the case.

And this overlooked psychological bias exists in the brain of every person.

This psychological phenomenon of being able to believe anything means that we should build a vigilant attitude toward our own minds. Because we are all human, and that means without responsibility, we can believe, rationalise, or justify absolutely anything.

Why is this a problem?

You might be thinking, well who cares. People can believe whatever they want. And true, people should have the freedom to believe whatever they want. But first, we need to know the heavy responsibility and burden this freedom costs. We should be less concerned with our rights and freedoms and more concerned with the responsibilities that come with those rights and freedoms.

The responsibility that comes with this particular human ability is that your beliefs manifest into your reality. It will express itself through your body and behaviour, and the broader behaviours of the community. These beliefs can influence our values, thoughts, emotions, and intuitions, not to mention our outlook and how we see & perceive things.

Scary thought:

Yes, that’s right, your thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and values could all be completely wrong about reality. So again, responsibility is required.

Ideally, this concept would be taught to people from an early age, but it isn't.

How does it present:

·         Many people have experienced fear when there was no threat or danger. (anxiety/mood disorder).

·         Some people have felt love or been in love with someone whom they shouldn’t have been with, or with someone who downright abused them. (delusion/false belief)

·         People believe in different  deities/gods. Some have killed in the name of their religion. (blind obedience/bias)

-          In all these cases, these people believed their experience to be true and based in reality.

Silver lining and the beauty:

These examples are why I have described this psychological phenomenon as terrifying.

But I also described it as beautiful, because it is also a magnificent gift; this is because it gives us a near infinite ability to imagine and to think beyond what is believable. This gift has given us science, exploration, ingenuity, art, music, literature, tools, spirituality, etc. 

These things are neither good nor bad, they all depending how we use them. Tools and technology are great until we use them to create weapons against one another. 

Perhaps this is the greatest thing we can do as a society: to control, nurture, and direct this psychological process of belief, but also find room for tolerance and respect in the beliefs of others, providing they also share tolerance.

What to do:

The important thing is that we believe things that are true. However, more importantly, that we believe things that are helpful to our lives and the lives of others, and therefore reject beliefs that are unhelpful to us and others.

So, if you would like, try writing down some helpful thoughts, beliefs, values, & virtues, etc. And start living by them today. Try and catch yourself when you have an unhelpful thought or feeling, and see if you can shift your perspective in that moment.

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Therapy is a great option for mood disorders like depression, anxiety, and trauma. These disorders can also be caused by incorrect beliefs, inner interpretations, or a simple overactive nervous system. All of which are treatable with practical and solution-driven psychotherapy, such as counselling and hypnotherapy. 

As always, I appreciate those who take the time to read my work.

Thank you

Evan J Haines 

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