Shifting Consciousness
No doubt you've heard it said: "We create our own
reality" or "reality is whatever you believe."
Indeed, consciousness does play a role in shaping the
physical world.
But be careful. The truth is not so simple—or
as simplistic as the popular cliché would have you
believe.
In this new series, I explore the relationship
between belief and reality and show why it is
important to know the difference between "belief" and
"intention." Beliefs are mental habits that block our
power. Intention, however, is creative and has power
to change lives.
Be prepared to experience reality beyond belief.
Shifting
Paradigms
Q: I understand that paradigms shift over time, and
that cultures transition from one to the next.
But what if the “old” paradigm is
clearly crumbling, the “emerging”
paradigm makes sense, and yet we don't fully accept
the “new” because the “old”
is so deeply rooted? How do we make the shift
in ourselves? Why do we sometmes fight the
shift?
Here’s
the challenge: We are born into the dominant cultural
paradigm, and we swim in it unconsciously as a fish
in water. But sometimes we wake up. We have
experiences that don’t fit into the mold of the
“old” paradigm—i.e., we have
anomalous experiences. So what do we do?
I think the first thing is to discover as best we can
just what the dominant paradigm tells us about the
nature of reality, and then look to see which
elements of it we accept and align with.
Next, we identify those aspects of our own
experiences and beliefs that don’t fit the
dominant paradigm, and look to see in what ways the
dominant paradigm needs to shift in order to
accommodate these “anomalous”
experiences. (That’s what we investigate in my
“Paradigms of Consciousness” class
at
John F. Kennedy
University.)
What elements of the “emerging” paradigm
(systems holism and perennial philosophy) transcend
and include the “old” paradigm in ways
that make room for the kinds of
“anomalous” events experienced by
millions of people around the world?
Paradigms have great potency. They are, in effect,
the framework of beliefs and assumptions that shape
our understanding of reality and how we fit in. This
potency is amplified because for the most part the
beliefs we inherit from the paradigm are unconscious.
As long as we are unaware of them we have little or
no power to choose to do or believe anything
different. That’s why it is so difficult to
“shift” a paradigm. In fact, we cannot as
individuals shift a paradigm because it is a
collective phenomenon.
But we can honor our own experiences and refuse to
deny or invalidate them just because the dominant
paradigm has no place for them. If we do stand by our
own experiences and are willing to communicate and
live by them, then we play our part in
“seeding” the paradigm with
“anomalies” that, sooner or later, will
accumulate to the point where the old paradigm
buckles under their weight, and crumbles. At that
point, a paradigm shift occurs. But it is beyond our
control.
We make the shift in ourselves by following the
process I’ve outlined above:
1. Become aware of the elements of the current
dominant paradigm (materialism/mechanism).
2. Become aware of elements of what seem to be an
“emerging” paradigm (e.g., systems holism
and the perennial philosophy).
3. Observe and note any personal experiences that do
not fit the “old” paradigm.
4. Look to see if our “anomalous”
experiences are aligned with elements of the
“emerging” paradigm.
5. Cultivate the practice of experience beyond belief
to liberate ourselves from “buying into”
a whole new set of limiting beliefs.
Which leads me to the next question . . .
Changing Beliefs
Q: You ask us to take a look at our current beliefs,
so I do. Most of my beliefs seem sensible and
grounded, but a few are clearly ridiculous, and I
want to change these beliefs. Any suggestions about
how to go about this?
I’m
not sure you have quite grasped the essential point
I’ve been making about “experience beyond
belief.” Yes, by all means examine your current
beliefs. Even better, observe the process by which
you turn experiences into beliefs:
experience —> interpretation —>
belief —> dogma —>
action.
The point is not whether our beliefs are
“sensible and grounded” (many of them
are). The point is that they are
beliefs.
And beliefs are the residue of expired experiences;
they are fragments, habits of thought, and may have
no bearing on what is actually occurring in our
moment-by-moment experience.
So, what I’m suggesting is that for
psycho-spiritual liberation, changing our beliefs is
not enough. We need to get beyond beliefs by learning
to
experience our experience
as it is happening. Cultivation of this practice
involves learning to identify with and to focus
attention on our experiences rather than on our
beliefs. (This involves unlearning what we are taught
by our educational system and wider culture). So, my
mantra is: Cultivate experience beyond belief.
[See
Radical Knowing
for more on this.]
Experience
Beyond Belief
Q: I know who I am, and I know God and reality by my
beliefs. Without beliefs I would know
nothing.
I
suggest it’s the opposite: Holding onto beliefs
is what blocks you from really knowing who you really
are or what reality is.
Therefore,
I encourage you to give up attachment to your beliefs
(not any belief in particular—but to beliefs in
general—and especially those cherished beliefs
you just
know
to be true).
Beliefs are habits of mind, frozen fragments of
consciousness. They are static snapshots of reality.
Even if we change them, beliefs cannot embrace the
dynamics of ever-changing reality. In short, our
beliefs (all our beliefs—yours, mine,
everyone’s) inevitably and automatically
distort reality. So, a good spiritual practice is to
let them go.
We can’t help having beliefs (it’s what
our minds are evolved to do, and they do that job
very well). But we can choose whether or not to be
attached to our beliefs. We can choose whether or not
we
believe
our beliefs. I’m encouraging you not to believe
your beliefs. Rather, I suggest that you learn to
notice them, and then release them.
Wisdom resides in our moment-to-moment experience,
not in our beliefs. As habits of mind, beliefs are
conditioned by the past. Experience, on the other
hand, always occurs in the present moment—now.
I’ll meet you there . . .
Belief is not Truth
Q: I’ve been brought up to believe that my
beliefs are my truth. And the new quantum paradigm
teaches us that beliefs create reality. Yet you seem
to be saying that our beliefs are not a guide to what
is true.
First,
quantum science has nothing to say about beliefs, and
does not support the idea that beliefs create
reality. That’s just a “pop”
distortion of some complex and profound ideas
emerging from quantum physics.
People believe all sorts of things, but that
doesn’t make them true. Belief does not equal
truth.
People used to believe the world was flat. Many
people still believe God is a man with a white beard
sitting on a throne in the sky. Some people believe
in the tooth fairy. Some people believe the holocaust
never happened. A great many people believe their
particular religion is “the” one and only
way to salvation. Some people believe in God. Some
people don’t believe in God. Who’s right?
They can’t all be right, right? God either
exists or does not (there can’t be an in
between). Simply believing in something doesn’t
bring it into being—otherwise God would be
popping in and out of existence moment by moment at
the whims of the beliefs of theists and atheists.
That would make God little more than a puppet dancing
to the differing beliefs of humans.
Holding dearly to the belief that beliefs are true,
doesn’t make it so.
So experiment: Just try out living for a few
days
as if
your beliefs may not be true. What would that be
like? Would you disappear? Would you be lost? Would
you lose your identity? Would you die? Or would you
feel a new sense of liberation because instead of
beliefs you begin to trust your actual experience
moment to moment (being careful, of course, not to
turn those experiences into new beliefs!)? Try it.
You might be surprised.
In
my forthcoming book,
Consciousness:
From Zombies to Angels,
I explore more deeply this relationship between
beliefs, experience, and reality. Getting beyond your
beliefs is one of the seven steps to knowing who you
really are.
You can pre-order a copy by clicking here:
