Some of our beliefs are common and some of them are unique to us. More than that we also have deep beliefs that are not always expressed or shown when we are interacting regularly with others. This brings us to the first two parts of our belief system: our working beliefs and our core beliefs. Working beliefs are what we believe when we encounter new information or have to compromise with others. As we work through our daily personal and public lives these beliefs keep us flexible and loyal to most of our core beliefs. It is in this area that we can believe our morals stay the same whether we are with our closest friends or with our boss at work. Our behavior may be very different in both situations but we have a sliding decision making process to juggle what we believe with the expectations put on our behavior. Our working beliefs are also where we work at believing new things to put into our core beliefs; our beliefs we believe deep within us. Our core beliefs are the beliefs we have collected throughout our life and the beliefs we choose to be our deeply held truth.
Both of our working and core beliefs have the same three things that inspire us to choose our beliefs: our desires, our intentions, and our philosophy of existence. In our working beliefs all three elements are more dependent on the current circumstances and in our core beliefs they are dependent on our private desires, intentions and how we believe life and existence really is. Our working desires shift around and are very unique in each of us. When we have fun and when we are busy and when we are with strangers and when we are at home what we want will change. Our core desires have three categories: our personal desires, our desires in our relationships, and our desires for collecting elements of our lives together. Our intentions are very dependent on our desires we mean to satisfy at the time. Our working belief intentions and our core belief intentions often betray each other. In childhood we start feeling the conflict between the way we intend to be all of the time and how our intentions in the moment can be so different from our usual intentions. It is usually to protect our core intentions. When we decide to grasp at a risky opportunity even though our usual intention is more careful it is because we believe this opportunity may help us meet a deeper desire. When we lie to protect our reputation we may have a core belief that lying is necessary to gaining our desires or we may intend to lie now to protect the trust we want others to keep in us.
Our intentions are also going to reflect our philosophy of existence. We may have different beliefs for why the world is the way it is. A lot of reality we don’t choose to believe we just see it and accept it but there is a lot more that is chosen and believed in what we think is reality than we may first realize. It becomes more obvious as we debate the direction our shared existence should take. It becomes very frustrating when others see “reality” in a way we do not or when they don’t see what we see. There are many ways our philosophies differ but all of our beliefs about how life works share a common pattern. We choose philosophies that are based on success, truth, and life. We may differ in how we interpret those elements but none of chooses to believe failure, lies, and death. Consider a person who believes that everything in his life is doomed to fail. He will add to his philosophy all the evidence he can to make his philosophy successful. If someone believes lies are essential to the way the world works then that is his truth. Someone who kills a lot will have a philosophy of life that is full of death. Suicidal thoughts will create reasoning for why their life is destined for death.
In the 2009 British independent film Exam* eight applicants are placed in a room for an exam in order to be selected for a very rare position in a successful company. So little information is given and so much pressure is placed on them that through the course of the film the candidates' desires, intentions, and philosphy of existence slowly, but intently, unfold for us to witness. By the time the nature of the exam is fully understood it is so clear that the chaos that was born of the suspense and pressure was just a reflection of themselves. It is a good movie to watch for examples of this area in all of us.
Our intentions as we decide what we believe will be strongly influenced by our philosophies and desires. Our intentions themselves are bound by three things: our abilities, our potential, and our level of cooperation and participation. We can’t seriously intend to be bullet proof or walk on walls like a superhero might if we do not have those abilities. As we go through life pressures will push us into abilities we did not know we have and human frailty will erase abilities we once had. All of this is a boundary to our serious core intentions. Or, maybe our core intentions can be unrealistic if we just keep our working intentions realistic. We can believe we can still run a 4 min. mile if we never try it anymore.
Physical abilities are a good place to look at how our potential is a boundary for what we intend. As far as our ability to run is concerned we may not currently have the ability to run like we intend to but it is possible to use our potential to change that ability. The only way to increase our abilities is to define and utilize our potential. The way to increase our potential is to make the most of it and push our abilities. If we maximize our abilities we will find our limits but also may find new or more potential.
The last part of our intentions is our level of cooperation and participation. If we were talking about our behavior then we would have to take a cautious and balanced approach for the level we should maintain when we cooperate and participate. Since we are discussing our belief system we can have a high level of cooperation and not be like vulnerable little lambs. Our intents are chosen. Choosing is a behavior. Intending is not a behavior. Participating in the consideration of beliefs is a boundary that shapes our intentions. This boundary is most effective when our level of cooperation is as high as we can maintain it. This participation in our beliefs is the participation level we have in our own lives. The lower it is the more ghost-like you are and the higher it is the more vulnerable and effective you will be. This place in us is not one dimensional. We have a collection of scales measuring our level in many different areas of our life. Places of confidence in our lives will make us feel comfortable with a high level. When we encounter a belief system that is very foreign to ours we naturally start with a low level of cooperation until we understand it more. Actually too many of us will not mentally participate at all with any belief system that is different than ours even just at a low level to evaluate any usefulness to our beliefs. Too many of us will not even participate enough with the evaluation of our own beliefs to see if they benefit or harm our lives. When our level of cooperation and participation is at the lowest non-participating point we cannot be reasoned with because no amount of evidence and reasons will affect our intentions. When we will not participate with risks, even at small levels, we sink into a stagnant swamp of our own fears and doubts. When we will not cooperate with the feelings or rights of others we easily become cruel. When we justify non-participation in the greater society or in the population of the world then we can believe others are lesser or are nothing. Participating and cooperating makes answers more difficult because more people and more variables will have to be accounted included. That messiness will prevent many people from having so much surety about what the answers for others have to be and so will have a softening effect on our egos. Having a high level makes life complex but the higher level we have the more equipped our beliefs can be for whatever surprises we might encounter. A high level will make it easier to see consistencies in belief systems and ideas and cultures that could only help point to that rumored Holy Grail we call the “Truth”. Having a high level could make us into a fertile ground for ideas and potential. Given all of this an argument could be made for a zero level of cooperation and participation being the root of evil humans do in this world and to each other. We don’t kill and torture each other with relish unless we refuse to participate with their humanity. Those of us who do participate in the humanity of others kill and are haunted and question our beliefs and wrestle against any one person or ideology having all of their answers. A high level makes us participate with pain and doubts as well as life and joy. There is a very strong argument for a zero level being what creates the evil in us.
The greatest evil most of us will do is not have a high enough level of cooperation and participation with our beliefs in our selves. In the 2010 Disney and Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland* Alice returns to Wonderland and is immediately told her destiny to be the heroic savior. She cannot believe it and does not want to believe any of the things she sees are anything other than a dream. This then throws into doubt whether or not she is the legitimate Alice after all. As the adventure continues Hatter tells her she has lost her "muchness". This is evident to us in the way she has been channeled into her arranged proposal at the beginning of the film in the real world. The muchness Hatter speaks of is her level of cooperation and participation of her intentions. She behaviorally cooperates as real life people and then Wonderland characters give her little choice but she does not participate with her beliefs, especially about her own strengths and worth. While this is a fantasy movie too many of us feel just like Alice and feel that we are only a shadow of the direction of our life and not the captain of it. By the time fate has arrived and Alice has to face terror willingly and forge a new direction for Wonderland she has chosen to believe. As her armor for her believing intentions she repeats to herself the six impossible things she believes. This is an act of participating fully with her own chosen beliefs. It is a fun fantasy as far as characters and setting but it is a very real story about a very real issue that has to be dealt with in all of us. This is where we get our "muchness" back.
*Both movies are available for streaming on Netflix
(This is a place for ideas. We will not be critics of spelling or grammar. Anyone leaving a comment has the responsibility of being as clear as they can be. Anyone reading a comment has the responsibility of understanding the message. The thought can be discussed but not typos or grammar. That's not a valid argument against thoughts anyway.)
Both of our working and core beliefs have the same three things that inspire us to choose our beliefs: our desires, our intentions, and our philosophy of existence. In our working beliefs all three elements are more dependent on the current circumstances and in our core beliefs they are dependent on our private desires, intentions and how we believe life and existence really is. Our working desires shift around and are very unique in each of us. When we have fun and when we are busy and when we are with strangers and when we are at home what we want will change. Our core desires have three categories: our personal desires, our desires in our relationships, and our desires for collecting elements of our lives together. Our intentions are very dependent on our desires we mean to satisfy at the time. Our working belief intentions and our core belief intentions often betray each other. In childhood we start feeling the conflict between the way we intend to be all of the time and how our intentions in the moment can be so different from our usual intentions. It is usually to protect our core intentions. When we decide to grasp at a risky opportunity even though our usual intention is more careful it is because we believe this opportunity may help us meet a deeper desire. When we lie to protect our reputation we may have a core belief that lying is necessary to gaining our desires or we may intend to lie now to protect the trust we want others to keep in us.
Our intentions are also going to reflect our philosophy of existence. We may have different beliefs for why the world is the way it is. A lot of reality we don’t choose to believe we just see it and accept it but there is a lot more that is chosen and believed in what we think is reality than we may first realize. It becomes more obvious as we debate the direction our shared existence should take. It becomes very frustrating when others see “reality” in a way we do not or when they don’t see what we see. There are many ways our philosophies differ but all of our beliefs about how life works share a common pattern. We choose philosophies that are based on success, truth, and life. We may differ in how we interpret those elements but none of chooses to believe failure, lies, and death. Consider a person who believes that everything in his life is doomed to fail. He will add to his philosophy all the evidence he can to make his philosophy successful. If someone believes lies are essential to the way the world works then that is his truth. Someone who kills a lot will have a philosophy of life that is full of death. Suicidal thoughts will create reasoning for why their life is destined for death.
In the 2009 British independent film Exam* eight applicants are placed in a room for an exam in order to be selected for a very rare position in a successful company. So little information is given and so much pressure is placed on them that through the course of the film the candidates' desires, intentions, and philosphy of existence slowly, but intently, unfold for us to witness. By the time the nature of the exam is fully understood it is so clear that the chaos that was born of the suspense and pressure was just a reflection of themselves. It is a good movie to watch for examples of this area in all of us.
Our intentions as we decide what we believe will be strongly influenced by our philosophies and desires. Our intentions themselves are bound by three things: our abilities, our potential, and our level of cooperation and participation. We can’t seriously intend to be bullet proof or walk on walls like a superhero might if we do not have those abilities. As we go through life pressures will push us into abilities we did not know we have and human frailty will erase abilities we once had. All of this is a boundary to our serious core intentions. Or, maybe our core intentions can be unrealistic if we just keep our working intentions realistic. We can believe we can still run a 4 min. mile if we never try it anymore.
Physical abilities are a good place to look at how our potential is a boundary for what we intend. As far as our ability to run is concerned we may not currently have the ability to run like we intend to but it is possible to use our potential to change that ability. The only way to increase our abilities is to define and utilize our potential. The way to increase our potential is to make the most of it and push our abilities. If we maximize our abilities we will find our limits but also may find new or more potential.
The last part of our intentions is our level of cooperation and participation. If we were talking about our behavior then we would have to take a cautious and balanced approach for the level we should maintain when we cooperate and participate. Since we are discussing our belief system we can have a high level of cooperation and not be like vulnerable little lambs. Our intents are chosen. Choosing is a behavior. Intending is not a behavior. Participating in the consideration of beliefs is a boundary that shapes our intentions. This boundary is most effective when our level of cooperation is as high as we can maintain it. This participation in our beliefs is the participation level we have in our own lives. The lower it is the more ghost-like you are and the higher it is the more vulnerable and effective you will be. This place in us is not one dimensional. We have a collection of scales measuring our level in many different areas of our life. Places of confidence in our lives will make us feel comfortable with a high level. When we encounter a belief system that is very foreign to ours we naturally start with a low level of cooperation until we understand it more. Actually too many of us will not mentally participate at all with any belief system that is different than ours even just at a low level to evaluate any usefulness to our beliefs. Too many of us will not even participate enough with the evaluation of our own beliefs to see if they benefit or harm our lives. When our level of cooperation and participation is at the lowest non-participating point we cannot be reasoned with because no amount of evidence and reasons will affect our intentions. When we will not participate with risks, even at small levels, we sink into a stagnant swamp of our own fears and doubts. When we will not cooperate with the feelings or rights of others we easily become cruel. When we justify non-participation in the greater society or in the population of the world then we can believe others are lesser or are nothing. Participating and cooperating makes answers more difficult because more people and more variables will have to be accounted included. That messiness will prevent many people from having so much surety about what the answers for others have to be and so will have a softening effect on our egos. Having a high level makes life complex but the higher level we have the more equipped our beliefs can be for whatever surprises we might encounter. A high level will make it easier to see consistencies in belief systems and ideas and cultures that could only help point to that rumored Holy Grail we call the “Truth”. Having a high level could make us into a fertile ground for ideas and potential. Given all of this an argument could be made for a zero level of cooperation and participation being the root of evil humans do in this world and to each other. We don’t kill and torture each other with relish unless we refuse to participate with their humanity. Those of us who do participate in the humanity of others kill and are haunted and question our beliefs and wrestle against any one person or ideology having all of their answers. A high level makes us participate with pain and doubts as well as life and joy. There is a very strong argument for a zero level being what creates the evil in us.
The greatest evil most of us will do is not have a high enough level of cooperation and participation with our beliefs in our selves. In the 2010 Disney and Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland* Alice returns to Wonderland and is immediately told her destiny to be the heroic savior. She cannot believe it and does not want to believe any of the things she sees are anything other than a dream. This then throws into doubt whether or not she is the legitimate Alice after all. As the adventure continues Hatter tells her she has lost her "muchness". This is evident to us in the way she has been channeled into her arranged proposal at the beginning of the film in the real world. The muchness Hatter speaks of is her level of cooperation and participation of her intentions. She behaviorally cooperates as real life people and then Wonderland characters give her little choice but she does not participate with her beliefs, especially about her own strengths and worth. While this is a fantasy movie too many of us feel just like Alice and feel that we are only a shadow of the direction of our life and not the captain of it. By the time fate has arrived and Alice has to face terror willingly and forge a new direction for Wonderland she has chosen to believe. As her armor for her believing intentions she repeats to herself the six impossible things she believes. This is an act of participating fully with her own chosen beliefs. It is a fun fantasy as far as characters and setting but it is a very real story about a very real issue that has to be dealt with in all of us. This is where we get our "muchness" back.
*Both movies are available for streaming on Netflix
(This is a place for ideas. We will not be critics of spelling or grammar. Anyone leaving a comment has the responsibility of being as clear as they can be. Anyone reading a comment has the responsibility of understanding the message. The thought can be discussed but not typos or grammar. That's not a valid argument against thoughts anyway.)
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