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:
