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:

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A colleague replied:

First of all I want to say that I am 100 per cent in alignment with your goal of “a saner, healthier, more equitable, more sustainable, more compassionate world for all species.”

I have explored these questions through living them. I have been a vegan, vegetarian, eating only “happy” animal products. I used to live on an organic farm. I have volunteered for Greenpeace, the Green Party (both in the U.S. and U.K.). I have explored deep and transpersonal ecology, social ecology, eco-feminism, eco-Marxism/Anarchism/Capitalism, animal rights, and welfare ethics, bioethics etc. I have protested fox hunting, climate change, global capitalism, marched for peace, etc.

So I share your concern that a holocaust has been unleashed on nature by humanity. It's heartbreaking, on top of all the inevitable heartbreaks of life—what a waste. Ultimately, my goal in life and for all people is to live in the mystery, to live in love—now.

Even if I am not able to articulate it fully in words, I have a sense that everything is especially special, and what is special about humans is this: We can consciously learn how to manifest beauty, love, joy, compassion, truth, authenticity, wildness, non-attachment, intimacy, trust, light, heat, health, life—Divinity.

My response: I’m with you all the way in your project to “live in the mystery” and “to learn to manifest beauty, love, joy, compassion . . .” Yes!

I'd like to explore two points you make: First, to say that every species is special makes sense. It means that every species has something unique that makes it that particular species. You could say it is part of the definition of what being a species is. But to say that all are “especially special” is a contradiction. It’s just not possible that everything is more special than everything else. The problem with the notion “humans are special" is that it implies we are especially special or uniquely unique. I think such self-aggrandizing hubris is the source of the “holocaust” on nature you mention. That is why I say we need to change our fundamental guiding story as a civilization. That is why I write my books. That is why I teach.

The other point, directly related, is when you say “what is special about humans is this: We can consciously learn to manifest beauty, love, joy, compassion, truth, authenticity, wildness, non-attachment, intimacy, trust, light, heat, health, life—Divinity.” I see this as just another version of the fundamentalist credo that God made humans “stewards” of the Earth.

What basis do you have for asserting (believing) only humans have the capacity to consciously learn to manifest beauty, love, joy, compassion . . .? Isn’t that just an assumption? (perhaps motivated by a deep-seated, unconscious urge to put humans above the rest of nature—and that, I think we both agree, is a recipe for ecological disaster). Anyone who has spent time with other species—such as dogs, dolphins, whales, parrots, chimps, gorillas, elephants—knows that they also appreciate and manifest love, joy, compassion, etc. How can you know whether or not this is accompanied by conscious intent? Why would you assume it is not?

What's the Evidence?

How much evidence do we need to show that every “special” quality attributed to humans is also exhibited by other species? These qualities evolve, and are on a spectrum. Humans shine brighter on some qualities; other species shine brighter on different qualities. The most recent example is the striking, even startling, evidence that young chimps have memory abilities far superior to humans’. Name any other “special” human quality, and then do the requisite interspecies research; you will find evidence for that trait in some other species, too.

If your commitment to human specialness is evidence-proof, that would make it pure ideology—just fundamentalist faith. If not, what evidence would shift your position?

Have you ever hung out with a dog, for example, and noticed his/her commitment to “joy, love, compassion, authenticity, wildness, non-attachment, intimacy, trust, light, heat, health, life?” How would you know whether a dog or any other species has a conscious commitment to beauty or divinity? Do dogs show appreciation for human notions of “beauty”? Hardly. But, then, when was the last time you or I rolled around in some deliciously smelly piece of decaying flesh, or licked a leaf where a raccoon had pissed the night before? I won’t even ask why you think humans are the only species with a hotline to divinity.

I’m urging us to nudge ourselves out of the (ultimately self-destructive) rut of anthropocentricism. Here’s a question: Are we the only species that has the capacity to shift our species perspective? Can dogs shift from canine-centricism? Chimps from chimp-centricism? Dolphins from cetacean-centricism? Can other species besides humans adopt the perspective that other species also have a valid perspective on reality? How would you test this? Or would you jump to the conclusion that there’s no need to test because you already “know” the answer? (fundamentalism).

When I engage in debates on this topic, and challenge the notion of “human specialness,” I have been accused of being a “traitor to my species.” Typically, I respond with a mix of obviousness and humor: “Some of my best friends are humans.”  I am not down on humanity per se. I do love the magnificence and spirit of humanity. I want us to survive as a species. But I do not want us to cling to a metaphysical story that elevates us above the rest of nature; a story that is doomed to fail us and bring down many other species with us. Seeing it happen all around the world, at a rapidly increasing rate, saddens my heart. And I'm often angry at our profound stupidity and self-serving greed.

Do Science and Spirituality Make Us Special?

Yes, there is something special about humans: We can ask these deep metaphysical questions. We can debate them. So what? Does it make us especially special? Does it make us superior?

Does an ability to construct complex and subtle abstract models—we call them “cosmologies,” “metaphysics,” “science”—mean we are superior to other species? Who decides that? How much of our civilization is, ultimately, created in the service of over-inflated human egos? And, really, why should we assume that even engaging in spiritual practices that lead to experiences of “unity,” “divinity,” “transcendence,” or “transformation” is a mark of superior or special consciousness?

Couldn’t it be that we humans feel a need to engage in such psychospiritual practices precisely because we are constitutionally out of sync with the rest of nature? I’ve never met a parrot who needs a priest, a rabbit longing for a rabbi, a gorilla searching for a guru, or a dog howling for the divine. What we assume to be great achievements of the human mind may, in fact, be magnificent expressions of a profound pathology. Maybe. I don’t assume I know the answer to this either way.  What I do know is that I don’t know of any evidence that marks humans as “especially special.” And certainly I do not know that humans have any “divine” or “natural” right to exploit other species.

I want us to recognize and acknowledge that we, necessarily, experience, perceive, and interpret the world, and our place in it, from a thoroughly human perspective. And part of that perspective, understandably, is self-serving. But we also have the ability to realize that what applies to us also applies to other species. They, too, naturally and inevitably, experience, perceive, and interpret the world, and their place in it, from their perspective. We simply have no right or reason to assume that our perspective trumps all others. That’s my bottom line.

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How About a Sacred Fish with Legs?

What if both science and religion are wrong about evolution?
What if both are right?

We’ve all seen them: bumper stickers and decals of a fish with legs symbolizing Darwin’s theory of evolution. And then, from religious creationists, the “counter-decals” of a fish-with-a-cross swallowing “Darwin’s” amphibious fish. The battle of the decals is just one way the debate between creationists and evolutionists overflows onto our streets.

But there’s an alternative: a philosophy that shows why both religion and science have got it wrong—and right.

To move beyond the sectarian clashes and wars in these troubled times—between fundamentalists in both religion and science—we need a wiser, more coherent, account of who we are and how we came to be. We need a revised and renewed vision of creation and evolution. We need a deeper and broader understanding of both religion and science.

Both Wrong and Right

Religion is wrong to place the “Creator” beyond nature (as supernatural).

Science is wrong to deny intelligence (consciousness or spirit) at work in evolution.

Religion is right to hold the view that there is creation and that creation possesses intelligence. And religion is right to deny that the birth and evolution of our world happened by chance.

Science is right to hold the view that evolution produces different species, including humans. And science is right to deny that some “supernatural” intelligent designer is responsible for the wondrous diversity and interconnectedness of living and non-living forms.

Best of Both

In the new view, creation is not the result of some “supernatural Creator.” Nor is creation a one-time event. Instead, creation is continuous and natural. Evolution is not random and unfolding without the guidance of a deep intelligence. Nature itself is naturally intelligent and creative. That’s how evolution occurs.

Instead of a “higher” intelligence, let’s be open to a deeper intelligence. Instead of “dead” and “dumb” matter, let’s be open to sentient and intelligent matter.

Then we can have the best of both worlds—integrating the great insights of both religion and science. The “missing link” is consciousness. The ability to have experience, to feel, to be aware is a complete mystery to science. Evolution cannot explain it. Religions take it for granted that this ability is unique to humans (or, at best, to creatures with brains). The fact of consciousness highlights the shortcomings of both science and religion, and it offers a way out of the seemingly endless debate between evolutionists and creationists.

New Worldview

We need a new worldview where religion recognizes that consciousness (intelligence or spirit) is not “supernatural,” but is part of the natural fabric of cosmos, Earth, and life, and where science recognizes that matter itself “tingles with the spark of spirit,” that evolution is guided from within. This “new” philosophy or worldview is called “panpsychism” or “radical naturalism.” We could also call it “intelligent evolution.” (Actually, it’s a very ancient philosophy, shared by indigenous cultures throughout the world.)

If we shift to such a view, then we can begin to transcend the squabbles between those who believe in supernatural “intelligent design” and those who believe in random evolution.

The biggest challenge facing modern science is to explain the mystery of consciousness. A science based on the assumption of “dead” insentient matter exploding from a random Big Bang cannot account for mind. Yet consciousness is the one thing we can be absolutely certain exists.

The biggest challenge facing mainstream religion is to remain relevant in a world increasingly dominated by scientific knowledge.

The philosophy of intelligent evolution can help science and religion meet these challenges. In a nutshell, it takes us beyond the dogmas of both:

Beyond Religion: The world was not created by a supernatural transcendent God (in seven days or 13.7 billion years).

Beyond Science: The world did not come into being from a random Big Bang followed by billions of years of random chemical and biological evolution.

Instead, the most coherent story about how the world came to be (a world where both matter and mind are real) recognizes that

* Spirit is not supernatural (above and beyond nature).

* Evolution is not without purpose or intelligence.

The new philosophy offers a way to honor the deep insights of both religion and science.

Intelligent Design

Yes, there is an “intelligent designer” at work in evolution. But the intelligence (call it “God” or “Spirit” or "Creative Ultimate") is intrinsic to nature. Nature itself is intelligent (has sentience and consciousness, purpose and meaning) “all the way down” to single cells, molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles.

Evolution

In this new view of nature and evolution, matter itself is intelligent. Matter is “adventurous.” Evolution is the great adventure of matter exploring its own creative potentials. As matter evolves, its native intelligence or consciousness evolves, too. So by the time human brains come on the scene, matter or nature has achieved the remarkable ability to be self-reflective—to know that it knows—and to ponder the eternal questions in religion, philosophy, and science: Where did we come from? Who are we? Where are we going? Why is there anything at all?

Intelligent Evolution: A Sacred Fish with Legs?

Instead of the amusing (and silly) bumper-stickers pitching Darwin against Jesus (evolution vs. religion), we can come up with a new set of symbols and sound-bytes:

Picture a decal that shows a fish with legs and a halo, indicating that evolution is a sacred process because spirit is active in the development of species. Evolution is natural and creative. We could say “Spirit Matters” or, just as meaningful, “Matter Spirits.”