Very! Unbelievably so! So where did they come from? Were we born with them? Did we just decide on our own what we believed as we grew up? Or did they come from someone else? A parent? A babysitter? A cousin? A neighbor? Or maybe a previous/parallel life? A religion we were just born into? A school teacher that was just teaching what they were told to teach? And where did that belief come from that was passed on from someone else? From someone that was raised in the same pattern? Programming? Created by who? And if from someone else, why do we find it so hard for a belief to be challenged? Can you remember a time as a child when you questioned why something was this way or that because it didn’t really make sense to you? Only to be met with a stern reasoning, ‘Because that’s just the way it is!’? Have you ever even considered taking a good look at what beliefs you hold tight? And an even deeper look into when you took them on as your own? And why?
I’ve been intending to write a second blog since it has been a month since I first shared the first one, along with the launch of my website. The question was… about what? So many topics to choose from, but as I read today’s ACIM lesson this morning, there it was, the topic that is so easy to conceptualize, but oh so hard to truly perceive… that this world we find ourselves in, is an illusory world. And more so, it only seems that we were just dropped into this crazy world, by no choice of our own, with no way to control what happens to us. On the contrary, I believe that we desired to be here, we totally knew what we were getting into, and we do have control over our experiences, through our minds. Which is the tricky part to perceive and put into practice.
A Course In Miracles - Lesson 132 - Excerpt: “I loose the world from all I thought it was.
1. What keeps the world in chains but your beliefs? And what can save the world except your Self? Belief is powerful indeed. The thoughts you hold are mighty, and illusions are as strong in their effects as is the truth. A madman thinks the world he sees is real, and does not doubt it. Nor can he be swayed by questioning his thoughts’ effects. It is but when their source is raised to question that the hope of freedom comes to him at last.”
We are all free to change our minds, and all our thoughts and perceptions change with it. It helps greatly to take time to examine our beliefs, and when, how, and why we took them on as our own. It is seeing the source of, the situation, and possible misunderstanding of why we took on a particular belief, that can be the catalyst for releasing it. Which can lead to greater understanding of ourselves, and those responsible for our upbringing, which then leads to true forgiveness of ourselves and others. This is what I’ve seen and experienced in my own life with the study of ACIM, Rebecca Barron’s teachings through her Find The Light community, and in witnessing my own clients’ sessions.
This does take time and commitment, something that we are certainly programmed to not be spending in such ‘unproductive’ ways as this, getting to know and align with our true selves! We are instead encouraged to do all of those kinds of things that are detrimental to our natural state of being. Keep yourself busy with school, work, church, charities, etc., so you never have time to reflect on yourself, to discover your truly innocent, divine self. It is truly worth the time and effort to gain such clarity and peace. And it is important for us to remember that we are not responsible for anybody else's thoughts; we are only responsible for our own mind… and that is how we can best contribute to the whole! Best regards in your search and discovery! If you find yourself having difficulty in journeying back to find these sources of beliefs and shifting them, I would be honored to assist you with that.