Where Do Our Beliefs Come From?

Our beliefs can come from a variety of sources.  They can come from the way we were brought up, from observing and copying significant people in our lives (such as our parents), from past events that have scared or traumatised us, or from repetitive experiences. 

We build our beliefs by having an experience of the world and other people and generalising it.

We may currently believe some things as a result of what we were told when we were growing up.  When you were young you had no way of knowing if these things were true or not.  The expectations that that people around us had during our childhood can instil beliefs.  Some of these beliefs may persist and influence you to this day.

When we believe something, we act as if it is true.  This makes it very difficult to disprove. 

Our beliefs act as very powerful filters on what we perceive.

What The Thinker Thinks…The Prover Proves

Leonard Orr models the human mind as having two main parts, a “thinker” and a “prover”.  The thinker is very flexible, and can think any number of things.  The thinker can think the earth is flat, the thinker can think the earth is round.  The thinker can think pretty much anything!
The prover, however, is far more predictable.  Whatever the thinker is thinking, the prover will search and sort for evidence to support the belief.  If someone believes that they lack intelligence (perhaps from comments made to them by their parents or teachers at an earlier stage of their life) then the prover will show that to be true.  Evidence to support the belief will be noted and evidence that contradicts the belief may be ignored or deleted.  In this way beliefs can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Beliefs are very powerful and help us to get a sense of certainty and direction in a world that can be anything but predictable. 

Beliefs can become so powerful that we don’t remember that they are not necessarily true – but we behave as if they are. 

Beliefs are not just “maps” of what happened in the past – we also use them as “blueprints” for our future actions.

Perhaps the point to reflect upon is not if your beliefs are true or not.  The question is: Are they useful or not?