Beliefs.  Only seven letters, but ever since I first read ‘Seth Speaks‘ nearly thirty years ago, that one word – beliefs – has had more impact on my life than any other.  On one hand, this knowledge that my beliefs were responsible for creating my life proved exciting because it opened the door to new worlds of probabilities.  On the other hand, this same idea meant that ‘I’, not some distant God, not fate, not chance was responsible for the path I took through life.

For a long time I felt as if my beliefs were somehow separate from me, and there was a period of several years where I felt that if my beliefs were preventing me from experiencing the things I wanted out of life, then what I had to do was to discover and eliminate these ‘limiting’ beliefs.  It was an exercise that I took to with some interest, and over the years I must have looked at hundreds if not thousands of individual beliefs covering every aspect of my life.  I became a ‘belief hunter’, mining my own thoughts, feelings, memories and ideas for those beliefs I felt must be lurking just below the surface of my consciousness.  I sought out those beliefs in quiet moments of contemplation, when driving, working, and pretty much any time I wasn’t actually involved with thinking about something else.  I was, in a word, obsessed.  My beliefs led me a merry chase, but I was ruthless in my pursuit – following them everywhere and anywhere my mental faculties would allow, and leaving no concept unexamined.

It was after some years of this that it finally dawned on me… my beliefs limited my reality as long as I believed they did.  This was in itself a belief, and a self-fulfilling one at that.  As long as I was looking for restrictive beliefs to uncover, I kept creating new beliefs to discover.  That awareness started me on a path to freedom.  Of course I’m not the only person to have followed this sort of path; many of my friends have their own stories.  Here’s one example by Kristen Fox.

Old beliefs… here’s something I wrote a year ago (February 11, 2009):

One thing I’ve learned is that it’s possible to run a long, long time on anger, even though that fire consumes you in the process.  And I’ve been looking for a way to explain these new feelings, of living in a universe where inner realms are loving and supportive rather than antagonistic, and where there’s more than simply an absence of the old anger, the old hurt, but something else in its place.  Love, trust, understanding, joy, and it just came to me to really fathom that there’s more than simply an absence of the negative, yet that’s largely been the case.  In our society we talk about fighting injustice, combating fear, or even living in a world without hate.  But what about welcoming justice, celebrating joy, or living in a world with love?  It’s as if the absence of the negative has become nothing more than a lull in a series of storms, a brief respite before the next onslaught – something to be treasured, savoured but not expected to last.  Of course when I speak of the world I’m really speaking of myself, and in a way that describes my journey – a transition from a world of darkness with fleeting glimmers of light to a world of light where storms are just temporary releases of built-up energy.  Knowing that this world of light and dark has been entirely self-created doesn’t change anything – if anything, looking at it analytically speaks to creative power, the power to create anything.

And in writing that I’ve realized something.  In the metaphysical community it’s common to say that positive energy is more powerful than negative energy, that the power of positive thought to create is worth many times the power of negative thought to destroy.  We say these things and I understand the value of them in helping someone change their thoughts, beliefs and patterns of behaviour, but it just came to me that it isn’t true.  Actually, that’s not quite right.  It is true at one level of experience for those who believe it (I know it was for me) but at larger levels of existence it becomes meaningless because at that larger level of existence there is only infinity.  Nothing can be more  than or less than when it comes to infinity.  It is, after all, infinite.  I finished reading the book ‘Introducing Fractal Geometry’ and it talks about the fractal properties of natural things, from cellular levels of organization out to the placement of galaxies.  One thing I’ve seen from my own playing with fractal software is that the pattern changes at random zoom levels, but whether I zoom in to 1,000,000% or zoom out to 0.000001%, everything is part of a pattern that continues at infinitely smaller and larger scales.  Hmmm…

One thought that comes to mind is of a people living in a hidden valley, generations of people living their lives in isolation, knowing what is and what isn’t, and unaware that a few miles away there is another valley and another village of people with their own ideas.  Richard Bach’s ‘river people’, (from ‘Illusions: Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah‘) clinging to their rocks, also comes to mind.  Even in today’s world where we have nearly instant communications all around the planet and we’ve peered at different stars and different galaxies, there are entire levels of existence that are far beyond what we know.  I won’t say they’re beyond what we can know, although I once would have.

So, back to me.  I’m feeling like I’ve walked out of the valley and climbed to the top of the mountain, or maybe floated up into the sky.  But it’s more than that, for from that perspective I’d have to come back down to earth to live my life.  This feels more like I’m living on different levels at the same time, incorporating all that I was as a part of who I am.  There’s so much more and I’m still trying to understand it.  I reminds me of the quote by astronaut Russell Schweickart (part of ‘No Frames, No Boundaries‘):

“And a little later on, your friend goes out to the moon. And now he looks back and he sees the Earth not as something big, where he can see the beautiful details, but now he sees the Earth as a small thing out there. And the contrast between that bright blue and white Christmas tree ornament and the black sky, that infinite universe, really comes through, and the size of it, the significance of it. It is so small and so fragile and such a precious little spot in the universe that you can block it out with your thumb. And you realize that on that small spot, that little blue and white thing, is everything that means anything to you – all love, tears, joy, games, all of it on that little spot out there that you can cover with your thumb. And you realize from that perspective that you’ve changed, that there’s something new there, that the relationship is no longer what it was.”

The relationship is no longer what it was…

Living a life based on loving cooperation and synchronicity is something I’ve asked for, but as I see this world forming around me I can’t help but think that this is going to take some getting used to.  Some days ago I had a thought come to me that asked if I was willing to accept the infinite love of Source energy and I admit (again) I found it daunting.  Not only because of the immensity of the question, but also, at least in part, because I had a choice in the matter.  I finally said ‘yes’, still unaware of all that choice contains.  Every so often I remind myself of that choice, and make the same one again.  I remember a story I was told one time about an experience this person had undergone and the question he had been asked: “Are there any among you who would be willing to surrender all that they are to become all that they can be?”  My answer was the same as his, “Yes”, with one difference.  All that I am is an integral part of all I can be.  I need never give up myself.

So, what are my new beliefs?  They change and shift as I shift and grow, but that’s to be expected.  Every day I do my best to accept the loving light of All That I Am, to be open to both impulses and synchronicities in my life.  As much as I can I remember to be a candle, allowing this light to flow out from me and touch others, receiving the gentle touches of their light as well.  Sometimes I fail, miserably, but even then I try not to get too bent out of shape about it.  I’m still learning to accept all of myself, including the lumps and bumps.  I am a fully aware, strong, powerful, loving multidimensional spiritual being.  And so are you.

Love,
Mike.

P.S.  I’m going to leave the last word to Seth:

“You are given the gift of the gods; you create your reality according to your beliefs; yours is the creative energy that makes your world; there are no limitations to the self except those you believe in.” ~ The Nature of Personal Reality, session 677.

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